Next Big Future

Tata Flat Packed $720 House should have broader deployment soon

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:22:33 PST

Economic Times of India - This is a follow up on the Tata Group flat-pack house that costs just $700 and can be built in a week.

The Tata group, maker of the $2,500 Nano car, said that the 20-square-metre (215-square-foot) home comes from a pre-fabricated kit that includes doors, windows and a roof.

"We have already prepared two-three different designs based on discussions with users and are gathering more feedback," Sumitesh Das, the head of the project at Tata.

The basic model of a so-called "Nano" house will cost 32,000 rupees ($720) and will use coconut fibre or jute for wall cladding and interiors. It has a life expectancy of 20 years.

The house, which is being tested in the state of West Bengal, will also be available in a larger 30-square-metre version and with additional features such as a solar panel for the roof and a verandah.

Tata hopes to sell the house to private buyers who have a plot of land available and also to state governments planning mass residential schemes for India's millions of destitute and homeless.

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Nobel prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek predicts Time Crystals

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:00:36 PST

Techology Review - If crystals exist in spatial dimensions, then they ought to exist in the dimension of time too, says Nobel prize-winning physicist Frank Wilczek

There is a low energy solution associated with the precipitation of a solid from a solution—the formation of crystals, which have a spatial periodicity. In this case the spatial symmetry breaks down.

Spatial crystals are well studied and well understood. But they raise an interesting question: does the universe allow the formation of similar periodicities in time?

Today, Frank Wilczek at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Al Shapere at the University of Kentucky, discuss this question and conclude that time symmetry seems just as breakable as spatial symmetry at low energies.

This process should lead to periodicities that they call time crystals. What's more, time crystals ought to exist, probably under our very noses.

Let's explore this idea in a bit more detail. First, what does it mean for a system to break time symmetry? Wilczek and Shapere think of it like this. They imagine a system in its lowest energy state that is completely described, independently of time.

Because it is in its lowest energy state, this system ought to be frozen in space. Therefore, if the system moves, it must break time symmetry. This is equivalent tot he idea that the lowest energy state has a minimum value on a curve on space rather than at a single isolated point

Arxiv - Quantum Time Crystals (6 pages)

Difficulties around the idea of spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry in a closed quantum mechanical system are identified, and then overcome in a simple model. The possibility of ordering in imaginary time is also discussed.

Arxiv - Classical Time Crystals (5 pages)

We consider the possibility that classical dynamical systems display motion in their lowest energy state, forming a time analogue of crystalline spatial order. Challenges facing that idea are identified and overcome. We display arbitrary orbits of an angular variable as lowest-energy trajectories for nonsingular Lagrangian systems. Dynamics within orbits of broken symmetry provide a natural arena for formation of time crystals. We exhibit models of that kind, including a model with traveling density waves.

That's actually not so extraordinary. Wilczek points out that a superconductor can carry a current—the mass movement of electrons—even in its lowest energy state.

The rest is essentially mathematics. In the same way that the equations of physics allow the spontaneous formation of spatial crystals, periodicities in space, so they must also allow the formation of periodicities in time or time crystals.

In particular, Wilczrek considers spontaneous symmetry breaking in a closed quantum mechanical system. This is where the mathematics become a little strange. Quantum mechanics forces physicists to think about imaginary values of time or iTime, as Wilczek calls it.

He shows that the same periodicities ought to arise in iTime and that this should manifest itself as periodic behaviour of various kinds of thermodynamic properties.

That has a number of important consequences. First up is the possibility that this process provides a mechanism for measuring time, since the periodic behaviour is like a pendulum. “The spontaneous formation of a time crystal represents the spontaneous emergence of a clock,” says Wilczek.

Another is the possibility that it may be possible to exploit time crystals to perform computations using zero energy. As Wilczek puts it, “it is interesting to speculate that a...quantum mechanical system whose states could be interpreted as a collection of qubits, could be engineered to traverse a programmed landscape of structured states in Hilbert space over time.”

Altogether this is a simple argument. But simplicity is often deceptively powerful. Of course, there will be disputes over some of the issues this raises. One of them is that the motion that breaks time symmetry seems a little puzzling. Wilczek and Shapere acknowledge this: “Speaking broadly speaking, what we're looking for looks perilously close to perpetual motion.”

1. Spontaneous formation of a time crystal represents the spontaneous emergence of a clock from a time-invariant dynamical system.

2. It is interesting to speculate that a (considerably) more elaborate quantum-mechanical system, whose states could be interpreted as collections of qubits, might be engineered to traverse, in its ground configuration, a programmed landscape of structured states in Hilbert space over time.

3. In general, fields or particles in the presence of a time crystal background will be subject to energy-changing processes, analogous to momentum-changing Umklapp processes of ordinary crystals. In either case the apparent non-conservation is in reality a transfer to the background. In our earlier model, O(1/N) corrections to the background motion arise.

4. The usual range of questions that arise in connection with any spontaneous ordering, including the nature of transitions into or out of the order at finite temperature, critical dimensionality, defects and solitons, and low-energy phenomenology, all pose themselves for time crystallization. In addition, there are interesting issues around the classification of space-time periodic orderings (roughly speaking, four dimensional crystals).

5. Semi-macroscopic oscillatory phenomena related in spirit to time crystallization are familiar in the a.c. Josephson effect. In that context, however, a voltage difference must be sustained externally.

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Defkalion would accept Dick Smith test challenge and other independent tests start February 24th, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:47:40 PST

Defkalion energy has indicated that they would accept any $1 million challenge to test their Hyperion energy catalyzer from Dick Smith

So far we have not officially received (through a telephone, letter, fax or e-mail) any such offer published in different sites. If the offer and the "donor" are real, we will accept the challenge, performing a test under the protocol we have announced in our last Press Release (viewtopic.php?f=4&t=926&start=210).

In case this is a real proposal, we will accept an official letter and a proof of donated funds from a prime bank before any such testing.

Also note that our first independent official tests are starting on 24th of February 2012. No "donations" or any money where required or offered for these independent tests.

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New system allows robots to continuously map their environment

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:20:34 PST

Robots could one day navigate through constantly changing surroundings with virtually no input from humans, thanks to a system that allows them to build and continuously update a three-dimensional map of their environment using a low-cost camera such as Microsoft’s Kinect

The system, being developed by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), could also allow blind people to make their way unaided through crowded buildings such as hospitals and shopping malls.

To explore unknown environments, robots need to be able to map them as they move around — estimating the distance between themselves and nearby walls, for example — and to plan a route around any obstacles, says Maurice Fallon, a research scientist at CSAIL who is developing these systems alongside John J. Leonard, professor of mechanical and ocean engineering, and graduate student Hordur Johannsson.

The researchers used at PR2 robot, developed by Willow Garage, with a Microsoft's Kinect sensor to test their system.
Image: Hordur Johannsson

The new approach, based on a technique called Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), will allow robots to constantly update a map as they learn new information over time, he says. The team has previously tested the approach on robots equipped with expensive laser-scanners, but in a paper to be presented this May at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in St. Paul, Minn., they have now shown how a robot can locate itself in such a map with just a low-cost Kinect-like camera.

As the robot travels through an unexplored area, the Kinect sensor’s visible-light video camera and infrared depth sensor scan the surroundings, building up a 3-D model of the walls of the room and the objects within it. Then, when the robot passes through the same area again, the system compares the features of the new image it has created — including details such as the edges of walls, for example — with all the previous images it has taken until it finds a match.

At the same time, the system constantly estimates the robot’s motion, using on-board sensors that measure the distance its wheels have rotated. By combining the visual information with this motion data, it can determine where within the building the robot is positioned. Combining the two sources of information allows the system to eliminate errors that might creep in if it relied on the robot’s on-board sensors alone, Fallon says.

Once the system is certain of its location, any new features that have appeared since the previous picture was taken can be incorporated into the map by combining the old and new images of the scene, Fallon says.

The team tested the system on a robotic wheelchair, a PR2 robot developed by Willow Garage in Menlo Park, Calif., and in a portable sensor suite worn by a human volunteer. They found it could locate itself within a 3-D map of its surroundings while traveling at up to 1.5 meters per second.

Ultimately, the algorithm could allow robots to travel around office or hospital buildings, planning their own routes with little or no input from humans, Fallon says.

It could also be used as a wearable visual aid for blind people, allowing them to move around even large and crowded buildings independently, says Seth Teller, head of the Robotics, Vision and Sensor Networks group at CSAIL and principal investigator of the human-portable mapping project. “There are also a lot of military applications, like mapping a bunker or cave network to enable a quick exit or re-entry when needed,” he says. “Or a HazMat team could enter a biological or chemical weapons site and quickly map it on foot, while marking any hazardous spots or objects for handling by a remediation team coming later. These teams wear so much equipment that time is of the essence, making efficient mapping and navigation critical.”

While a great deal of research is focused on developing algorithms to allow robots to create maps of places they have visited, the work of Fallon and his colleagues takes these efforts to a new level, says Radu Rusu, a research scientist at Willow Garage who was not involved in this project. That is because the team is using the Microsoft Kinect sensor to map the entire 3-D space, not just viewing everything in two dimensions.

“This opens up exciting new possibilities in robot research and engineering, as the old-school ‘flatland’ assumption that the scientific community has been using for many years is fundamentally flawed,” he says. “Robots that fly or navigate in environments with stairs, ramps and all sorts of other indoor architectural elements are getting one step closer to actually doing something useful. And it all starts with being able to navigate.”

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GPS enhanced with cheap cameras and cheap computers

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:15:19 PST

Australian researcher are making more reliable Global Positioning Systems (GPS) using camera technology and mathematical algorithms would make navigating a far cheaper and simpler task.

"At the moment you need three satellites in order to get a decent GPS signal and even then it can take a minute or more to get a lock on your location," he said.

"There are some places geographically, where you just can't get satellite signals and even in big cities we have issues with signals being scrambled because of tall buildings or losing them altogether in tunnels."

The world-first approach to visual navigation algorithms, which has been dubbed SeqSLAM (Sequence Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping), uses local best match and sequence recognition components to lock in locations.

"SeqSLAM uses the assumption that you are already in a specific location and tests that assumption over and over again.

"For example if I am in a kitchen in an office block, the algorithm makes the assumption I'm in the office block, looks around and identifies signs that match a kitchen. Then if I stepped out into the corridor it would test to see if the corridor matches the corridor in the existing data of the office block lay out.

"If you keep moving around and repeat the sequence for long enough you are able to uniquely identify where in the world you are using those images and simple mathematical algorithms."

Dr Milford said the "revolution" of visual-based navigation came about when Google took photos of almost every street in the world for their street view project.

However, the challenge was making those streets recognisable in a variety of different conditions and to differentiate between streets that were visually similar.

The research, which utilises low resolution cameras, was inspired by Dr Milford's background in the navigational patterns of small mammals such as rats.

"My core background is based on how small mammals manage incredible feats of navigation despite their eyesight being quite poor," he said.

"As we develop more and more sophisticated navigation systems they depend on more and more maths and more powerful computers.

"But no one's actually stepped back and thought 'do we actually need all this stuff or can we use a very simple set of algorithms which don't require expensive cameras or satellites or big computers to achieve the same outcome?'"

Dr Milford will present his paper SeqSLAM: Visual Route-Based Navigation for Sunny Summer Days and Stormy Winter Nights at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in America later this year.

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Lower Cost carrier grade Wireless Backhaul communication technology

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:49:27 PST

In the developing world, 96 percent of all households have no internet access. Even in Germany, many regions are still without broadband connectivity. But in future, a revolutionary new technology for wireless networks will allow the gaps in rural internet provision to be closed at significantly less cost.

WiBACK (wireless backhaul) provides the technology to connect infrastructure edge nodes to (many) user access points.

Examples for this deployment include temporary wireless networks for large events, fast network deployment in disaster areas, broadband Internet services for rural areas, and wireless wide-area infrastructures in emerging regions.

A researcher positions a WiBACK network antenna. © Fraunhofer FOKUS

Key features that make Fraunhofer’s WiBACK unique are the combination of

* a wireless network that can span huge distances (several hundred km);
* provisioning of carrier-grade (guaranteed) service qualities for voice and data traffic;
* low capital expenditure (CAPEX) due to the use of commercial off-the-shelf hardware (typically IEEE 802.11 mass-market components);
* low operational cost (OPEX) due to auto-configuration and self-management capabilities, as well as low energy consumption;
* the possibility to run most nodes in the network on solar energy due to their energy efficient hardware and software, and the integrated solar charger.

WiBACK is not an alternative to a mobile operator network. It provides a transport infrastructure and complements existing technology, rather than replacing it. While WiBACK supports different types of access technologies (including GSM) at the user front-end, it expects an IP-based network at the back-end. Typical mobile-operator services such as roaming or hand-over need to be implemented on-top of WiBACK.

The WiBack technology could also work with a solar mesh project for developing countries

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York researchers create ‘tornados’ inside electron microscopes

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:35:47 PST

Researchers from the University of York are pioneering the development of electron microscopes which will allow scientists to examine a greater variety of materials in new revolutionary ways.

The team, headed by Professor Jun Yuan and Professor Mohamed Babiker, from the University’s Department of Physics has created electron beams with orbital angular momentum – electron vortex beams – which will open the way to many novel applications including the more efficient examining of magnetic materials.

Electron microscopes use a beam of electrons to illuminate a specimen and produce a magnified image, allowing scientists to investigate atomic arrangements. Compared to conventional electron beams, electron vortex beams improve the resolution and sensitivity of imaging, which is key when determining the structure of biological specimens such as proteins. They also have applications in the manipulation of nano-scale objects such as atoms and molecules.

As the electron vortex consists of moving charged particles, there is a magnetic field associated with the vortex. This magnetic field will be invaluable in examining magnetic materials, enabling the nanoscale magnetic structure to be imaged.

The York team has created a design for a holographic mask to generate an electron vortex beam and now plans to use this to improve the imaging capabilities of the electron microscope in its York-JEOL nanocentre.

Arxiv - Quantised orbital angular momentum transfer and magnetic dichroism in the interaction of electron vortices with matter

Following the very recent experimental realisation of electron vortices, we consider their interaction with matter, in particular the transfer of orbital angular momentum in the context of electron energy loss spectroscopy, and the recently observed dichroism in thin lm magnetised iron samples. We show here that orbital angular momentum exchange does indeed occur between electron vortices and the internal electronic-type motion, as well as center of mass motion of atoms in the electric dipole approximation. This contrasts with the case of optical vortices where such transfer only occurs in transitions involving multipoles higher than the dipole. The physical basis of the observed dichroism is explained.

In conclusion, we have shown by direct analysis that it
is possible to transfer OAM between an electron vortex
beam and the internal electron states of an atom in the
dipole transition and we have checked by direct analysis that (orbital angular
momentum) OAM transfer occurs for quadupole transitions and in principle in the case of all higher multipoles. This is in direct contrast to the case of optical OAM transfer in the interaction with similar systems. It has been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that optical vortices are not speci c in their interaction with chiral matter. Here we have shown that although orbital angular momentum transfer can occur between electron vortices and matter in electric dipole transitions for a given topological charge, there is no intrinsic di fference in absorption for the two opposite helicities. We have concluded that the OAM dichroic electron energy loss spectroscopy of the type performed by Verbeeck et al. shows a dichroism due to the magnetic nature of the material, in which magnetic sublevels would be unequally populated.

Details of York’s latest work - part of the research by second year PhD student Sophia Lloyd - showing that orbital angular momentum of electron beams with vortex structure are more efficient than light for probing atomic magnetism, are published in the February edition of the Physical Review Letters.

Professor Yuan said: “The introduction of vortex beams into electron microscopy, with its screw-like revolving wave front – much like tornados, will revolutionise the study of magnetic nanostructures, as well as creating new applications in terms of nanoparticle manipulation and trapping, and edge contrast detection.”

Professor Babiker, an expert in light vortex research, added: “Optical vortex beams, created using beams of light photons, have been studied for the past 20 years. They have found a great many applications, most notably in fine scale manipulation of single molecules and nano-objects in so-called optical tweezers and optical spanners.

“Research being carried out at York is intended to further current understanding of electron vortices so that a similarly broad range of applications can be realised.”

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Major breakthrough in Nanosurgery and the fight against cancer:

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:43:15 PST

Researchers at Polytechnique Montréal have succeeded in changing the genetic material of cancer cells using a brand-new transfection method. This major breakthrough in nanosurgery opens the door to new medical applications, among others for the treatment of cancers.

A light scalpel to treat cancerous cells

The unique method developed by Professor Michel Meunier and his team uses a femtosecond laser (a laser with ultra-short pulses) along with gold nanoparticles. Deposited on the cells, these nanoparticles concentrate the laser's energy and make it possible to perform nanometric-scale surgery in an extremely precise and non-invasive fashion. The technique allows to change the expression of genes in the cancer cells and could be used to slow their migration and prevent the formation of metastases.

Biomaterials journal - Off-resonance plasmonic enhanced femtosecond laser optoporation and transfection of cancer cells

A femtosecond laser based transfection method using off-resonance plasmonic gold nanoparticles is described. For human cancer melanoma cells, the treatment leads to a very high perforation rate of 70%, transfection efficiency three times higher than for conventional lipofection, and very low toxicity (less than 1%). Off-resonance laser excitation inhibited the fracture of the nanoparticles into possibly toxic DNA intercalating particles. This efficient and low toxicity method is a promising alternative to viral transfection for skin cancer treatment.

The technique perfected by Professor Meunier and his colleagues is a promising alternative to conventional cellular transfection methods, such as lipofection. The experiment, carried out in Montréal laboratories on malignant human melanoma cells, demonstrated 70% optoporation effectiveness, as well as a transfection performance three times higher than lipofection treatment. In addition, unlike conventional treatment, which destroys the physical integrity of the cells, the new method assures cellular viability, with a toxicity of less than 1%. The study's results were published in the prestigious journal Biomaterials.

This major scientific breakthrough could lead to the development of promising applications, including new therapeutic approaches in oncology, neurology and cardiology.

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Is Commercial space transportation reaching a tipping point?

noreply@blogger.com (Sander Olson) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:23:33 PST

NASA’s budget during the next decade will either be flat or decline. Moreover, NASA is no longer planning on using Russian rockets to service the space station. As a result, the commercial space industry may be reaching a “tipping point” whereby the commercial space industry will need to take over the heavy lifting of supplying the space station and getting payloads into orbit. The 15th annual commercial space transportation conference, which took place on February 15-16 in Washington DC, grappled with the myriad issues associated with attracting private investment into commercial space exploration. There are numerous commercial space startups, such as SpaceX, Armadillo Aerospace, Bigelow, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin, but most of these corporations are currently dependent on Government financing. The question now is whether new technologies or new markets alone are sufficient to jumpstart the long-term exploration of space. Although long term visions exist, such as lunar or asteroid mining, in the short term the sub-orbital tourist markets may represent the best way to develop a self-sustaining industry. A number of promising new technologies are being developed, including space solar power satellites, active orbital debris removal, and orbital propellant storage.

The most surprising objective stated during the conference came from Steven Davis, the Director of Advanced Projects at SpaceX. Davis stated that SpaceX’s ultimate goal was to have fully reusable rockets, which he claimed might ultimately reduce launch costs to LEO to $10 per pound. Dr. Ajay Kothari, the President and CEO of Astrox corporation spoke about employing reusable winged rockets and planes for satellite servicing, debris removal, and orbital tourism. There is currently a debate within the aerospace community regarding whether reusable craft should contain wings or not. Armadillo aerospace and SpaceX have eschewed wings, whereas Astrox and Boeing plan to use them. The concept of space solar power also garnered attention. Unfortunately, the best current solar cells offer 30% efficiency, so removing the 70% waste heat would be problematic. Getting the huge amount of mass into orbit also presents a non-trivial challenge. Perhaps the most intriguing concept during the conference came from Jerome Pearson of Star Technology. Mr. Pearson proposed a concept for placing a propellantless, electrodynamically powered one ton motor into orbit. The motor would be able to shift its orbit to capture space debris with nets. The debris would be sent to lower orbits where they would soon re-enter the atmosphere. Pearson argued that by using such a scheme, the vast majority of large space debris could be safely removed from orbit within seven years of the launch of the motor. Pearson even claimed that high-grade aluminum structures could be sent to predetermined orbits, where the aluminum could be recycled.

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World Economic Forum Lists their Top Ten Emerging Technologies for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:10:53 PST

The Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies presents the technological trends expected to have major social, economic and environmental impacts worldwide in 2012. They are listed in order of greatest potential to provide solutions to global challenges:

1. Informatics for adding value to information

The quantity of information now available to individuals and organizations is unprecedented in human history, and the rate of information generation continues to grow exponentially. Yet, the sheer volume of information is in danger of creating more noise than value, and as a result limiting its effective use. Innovations in how information is organized, mined and processed hold the key to filtering out the noise and using the growing wealth of global information to address emerging challenges.

2. Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering

The natural world is a testament to the vast potential inherent in the genetic code at the core of all living organisms. Rapid advances in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are allowing biologists and engineers to tap into this potential in unprecedented ways, enabling the development of new biological processes and organisms that are designed to serve specific purposes – whether converting biomass to chemicals, fuels and materials, producing new therapeutic drugs or protecting the body against harm.

3. Green Revolution 2.0 – technologies for increased food and biomass

Artificial fertilizers are one of the main achievements of modern chemistry, enabling unprecedented increases in crop production yield. Yet, the growing global demand for healthy and nutritious food is threatening to outstrip energy, water and land resources. By integrating advances across the biological and physical sciences, the new green revolution holds the promise of further increasing crop production yields, minimizing environmental impact, reducing energy and water dependence, and decreasing the carbon footprint.

4. Nanoscale design of materials

The increasing demand on natural resources requires unprecedented gains in efficiency. Nanostructured materials with tailored properties, designed and engineered at the molecular scale, are already showing novel and unique features that will usher in the next clean energy revolution, reduce our dependence on depleting natural resources, and increase atom-efficiency manufacturing and processing.

5. Systems biology and computational modelling/simulation of chemical and biological systems

For improved healthcare and bio-based manufacturing, it is essential to understand how biology and chemistry work together. Systems biology and computational modelling and simulation are playing increasingly important roles in designing therapeutics, materials and processes that are highly efficient in achieving their design goals, while minimally impacting on human health and the environment.

6. Utilization of carbon dioxide as a resource

Carbon is at the heart of all life on earth. Yet, managing carbon dioxide releases is one of the greatest social, political and economic challenges of our time. An emerging innovative approach to carbon dioxide management involves transforming it from a liability to a resource. Novel catalysts, based on nanostructured materials, can potentially transform carbon dioxide to high value hydrocarbons and other carbon-containing molecules, which could be used as new building blocks for the chemical industry as cleaner and more sustainable alternatives to petrochemicals.

7. Wireless power

Society is deeply reliant on electrically powered devices. Yet, a significant limitation in their continued development and utility is the need to be attached to the electricity grid by wire – either permanently or through frequent battery recharging. Emerging approaches to wireless power transmission will free electrical devices from having to be physically plugged in, and are poised to have as significant an impact on personal electronics as Wi-Fi had on Internet use.

8. High energy density power systems

Better batteries are essential if the next generation of clean energy technologies are to be realized. A number of emerging technologies are coming together to lay the foundation for advanced electrical energy storage and use, including the development of nanostructured electrodes, solid electrolysis and rapid-power delivery from novel supercapacitors based on carbon-based nanomaterials. These technologies will provide the energy density and power needed to supercharge the next generation of clean energy technologies.

9. Personalized medicine, nutrition and disease prevention

As the global population exceeds 7 billion people – all hoping for a long and healthy life – conventional approaches to ensuring good health are becoming less and less tenable, spurred on by growing demands, dwindling resources and increasing costs. Advances in areas such as genomics, proteomics and metabolomics are now opening up the possibility of tailoring medicine, nutrition and disease prevention to the individual. Together with emerging technologies like synthetic biology and nanotechnology, they are laying the foundation for a revolution in healthcare and well-being that will be less resource intensive and more targeted to individual needs.

10. Enhanced education technology

New approaches are needed to meet the challenge of educating a growing young population and providing the skills that are essential to the knowledge economy. This is especially the case in today’s rapidly evolving and hyperconnected globalized society. Personalized IT-based approaches to education are emerging that allow learner-centred education, critical thinking development and creativity. Rapid developments in social media, open courseware and ubiquitous access to the Internet are facilitating outside classroom and continuous education

.

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Estimate of 100,000 objects heavier than Pluto per Star

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:07:02 PST

There may be up to 100,000 compact objects per main sequence star in the galaxy that are greater than the mass of Pluto. The mass function of the lowest-mass nomads is modeled from what we see in the Kuiper Belt and the distribution of diameters in KBOs (Kuiper Belt Objects), while at the higher end (corresponding to masses several times that of Jupiter), evidence exists that nomads in open clusters follow a smooth continuation of the brown dwarf mass function. The larger Earth and larger size objects would also likely have their own moons.

If there were one million planet sized compact objects in a 100,000 AU on a side cube, and they were evenly distributed then each would occupy its own 1000 AU (about 30 times the distance from the Sun to Pluto) on a side cube. 100,000 objects evenly distributed would be in cubes with about 2200 AU on a side. 253000 AU is equal to 4 light years. 2200 AU is about 2 light weeks

Oort cloud at wikipedia

The Oort cloud is thought to occupy a vast space from somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 AU (0.03 and 0.08 ly) to as far as 50,000 AU (0.79 ly) from the Sun. Some estimates place the outer edge at between 100,000 and 200,000 AU (1.58 and 3.16 ly). The region can be subdivided into a spherical outer Oort cloud of 20,000–50,000 AU (0.32–0.79 ly), and a doughnut-shaped inner Oort cloud of 2,000–20,000 AU (0.03–0.32 ly). The outer cloud is only weakly bound to the Sun and supplies the long-period (and possibly Halley-type) comets to inside the orbit of Neptune. Models predict that the inner cloud should have tens or hundreds of times as many cometary nuclei as the outer halo.

The outer Oort cloud is believed to contain several trillion individual objects larger than approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) (with many billions with absolute magnitudes brighter than 11—corresponding to approximately 20 km (12 mi) diameter), with neighboring objects typically tens of millions of kilometres apart. Its total mass is not known with certainty, but, assuming that Halley's comet is a suitable prototype for all comets within the outer Oort cloud, the estimated combined mass is 3×10^25 kg (7×10^25 lb or roughly five times the mass of the Earth). Earlier it was thought to be more massive (up to 380 Earth masses), but improved knowledge of the size distribution of long-period comets has led to much lower estimates.

The new theory is that there a lot more bigger wandering planets.

Arxiv - Nomads of the Galaxy (10 pages) (H/T Centauri Dreams)

We estimate that there may be up to 100,000 compact objects in the mass range 10^−8 − 10^−2 M per main sequence star that are unbound to a host star in the Galaxy. We refer to these objects as nomads; in the literature a subset of these are sometimes called free-floating or rogue planets. Our estimate for the number of Galactic nomads is consistent with a smooth extrapolation of the mass function of unbound objects above the Jupiter-mass scale, the stellar mass density limit, and the metallicity of the interstellar medium. We analyze the prospects for detecting nomads via Galactic microlensing. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will measure the number of nomads per main sequence star greater than the mass of Jupiter to ∼ 13%, and the corresponding number greater than the mass of Mars to ∼ 25%. All-sky surveys such as Gaia and LSST can identify nomads greater than about the mass of Jupiter. We suggest a dedicated drift scanning telescope that covers approximately 100 square degrees in the Southern hemisphere could identify nomads as small as 10−8M via microlensing of bright stars with characteristic lightcurve timescales of a few seconds.

A dedicated high cadence survey of the inner Galaxy, such as would be possible with Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), could measure the number of nomads greater than the mass of Jupiter per main sequence star to ∼ 13% , and the corresponding number greater than the mass of Mars to ∼ 25%. Also WFIRST can measure the minimum mass of the nomad population to about 30%. Large-scale surveys, in particular that of Gaia, could identify nomads in the Galactic disk that are greater than about the mass of Jupiter.

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Injecting liquid metal into channels for soft artificial skin

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:37:14 PST

Liquid metal (EGaIn) is injected into curved channels for artificial skin used for strain and pressure sensing.

Yong-Lae Park and Robert J. Wood
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Harvard Microrobotics Lab

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Pop Up MEMS for mass production of robots by the sheet

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:05:15 PST

Harvard - A new technique inspired by elegant pop-up books and origami will soon allow clones of robotic insects to be mass-produced by the sheet.

Devised by engineers at Harvard, the ingenious layering and folding process enables the rapid fabrication of not just microrobots, but a broad range of electromechanical devices.

In prototypes, 18 layers of carbon fiber, Kapton (a plastic film), titanium, brass, ceramic, and adhesive sheets have been laminated together in a complex, laser-cut design. The structure incorporates flexible hinges that allow the three-dimensional product—just 2.4 millimeters tall—to assemble in one movement, like a pop-up book.

The Harvard Monolithic Bee (or "Mobee") pops up within an assembly scaffold, which performs more than 20 origami assembly folds. Photos courtesy of Pratheev Sreetharan.

The entire product is approximately the size of a U.S. quarter, and dozens of these microrobots could be fabricated in parallel on a single sheet.

"This takes what is a craft, an artisanal process, and transforms it for automated mass production," says Pratheev Sreetharan (A.B. '06, S.M. '10), who co-developed the technique with J. Peter Whitney. Both are doctoral candidates at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

Sreetharan, Whitney, and their colleagues in the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory at SEAS have been working for years to build bio-inspired, bee-sized robots that can fly and behave autonomously as a colony. Appropriate materials, hardware, control systems, and fabrication techniques did not exist prior to the RoboBees project, so each must be invented, developed, and integrated by a diverse team of researchers.

Less than a year ago, the group was using a painstaking and error-prone method to fold, align, and secure each of the minuscule parts and joints.

"You'd take a very fine tungsten wire and dip it in a little bit of superglue," explains Sreetharan. "Then, with that tiny ball of glue, you'd go in under a microscope like an arthroscopic surgeon and try to stick it in the right place."

"Until recently, the manual assembly process was the state of the art in this field," Sreetharan adds.

The same result can now be achieved—without human error—through locking mechanisms and dip soldering. The new process also enables the use of cured carbon fiber, which is rigid and easy to align, rather than uncured carbon fiber, which Sreetharan compares to "wet tissue paper."

"Our new techniques allow us to use any material including polymers, metals, ceramics, and composites," says principal investigator Rob Wood, an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at SEAS and a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.

"The ability to incorporate any type and number of material layers, along with integrated electronics, means that we can generate full systems in any three-dimensional shape," Wood says. "We've also demonstrated that we can create self-assembling devices by including pre-stressed materials."

The implications of this novel fabrication strategy go far beyond these micro-air vehicles. The same mass-production technique could be used for high-power switching, optical systems, and other tightly integrated electromechanical devices that have parts on the scale of micrometers to centimeters.

Moreover, the layering process builds on the manufacturing process currently used to make printed circuit boards, which means that the tools for creating large sheets of pop-up devices are common and abundant. It also means that the integration of electrical components is a natural extension of the fabrication process—particularly important for the size- and weight-constrained RoboBees project.

"In a larger device, you can take a robot leg, for example, open it up, and just bolt in circuit boards. We're so small that we don't get to do that. I can't put a structural mechanism in here and have it serve no electrical function."

Pointing to the carbon-fiber box truss that constitutes the pop-up bee's body frame, Sreetharan says, "Now, I can put chips all over that. I can build in sensors and control actuators."

Essentially, tiny robots can now be built by slightly bigger robots. Designing how all of the layers will fit together and fold, however, is still a very human task, requiring creativity and expertise. Standard computer-aided design (CAD) tools, typically intended for either flat, layered circuit boards or 3D objects, do not yet support devices that combine both.

Once the design is complete, though, fabrication can be fully automated, with accuracy and precision limited only by the machining tools and materials.

"The alignment is now better than we can currently measure," says Sreetharan. "I've verified it to better than 5 microns everywhere, and we've gone from a 15% yield to—well, I don't think I've ever had a failure."

The full fabrication process will be described in the March issue of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Co-authors and collaborators, beside Whitney, Sreetharan, and Wood, include Kevin Ma, a graduate student at SEAS; and Marc Strauss, a research assistant in Wood's lab.

The Harvard Office of Technology Development is now developing a strategy to commercialize this technology. As part of this effort, they have filed patent applications on this work and are engaging with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and companies to identify disruptive applications in a range of industries.

A small portion of the CAD design for the Harvard Monolithic Bee illustrates the complexity of folds and joints necessary for its assembly. Using the old, manual process, every one of those parts would have to be cut, folded, assembled, and glued by hand. The bottom image illustrates the 18 layers of laser-cut materials that create the pop-up structure. Images courtesy of Pratheev Sreetharan.

8 page paper on Pop-up MEMS from October, 2011.

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Cancer Breath Test with 83% accuracy Enters Clinical Trials and next generation system is 100 times more sensitive

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:03:34 PST

Metabolomx, has developed technology enabling the identification of lung cancer from breath. Using the first generation of our breath analysis system, the Cleveland Clinic announced the results of a 237 subject trial at the American College of Chest Physicians conference in November 2010, reporting 81%, accuracy of lung cancer detection, comparable to CT scan, the present gold standard. This study, further reported that lung cancer subtype (small cell, adenocarcinoma, and squamous cell) is identified by the breath exam. The Cleveland Clinic has now commenced testing of the current generation Metabolomx sensor, over 100 times more sensitive than the version used in the study

Human breath contains hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced both endogenously and from external environmental sources. To detect the few metabolite biomarkers of disease in the background of hundreds of other VOCs a breath analysis system must be highly dimensional, able to distinguish the signature pattern of diverse VOC biomarkers in a diverse chemical background. The metabolite biomarkers are often important at very low part per billion (ppb) concentrations. Therefore it is critical the breath analysis system sensor be very sensitive, able to detect diverse VOC biomarkers often in low single digit ppb concentration. The Metabolomx sensor has the high dimensionality and sensitivity to capture the chemical signature pattern of the complex mixture of VOC’s present in breath.

Technology Review - Metabolomx, a startup in Mountain View, California, recently completed a clinical trial that shows that its breath test can spot lung cancer with 83 percent accuracy and can also distinguish between several different types of the disease, something that usually requires a biopsy. The accuracy of the test matches what's possible with low-dose computerized tomography imaging of the lungs.

Colorimetric sensor array

At the core of the Metabolomx breath analysis system is a novel, proprietary colorimetric sensor array (CSA). The CSA is a matrix of colored chemical indicators of diverse reactivities embedded in a nanoporous sol-gel matrix. Each indicator has distinct chemical reactivity with volatile species and changes color differently upon exposure to analytes. The resulting pattern of color changes comprises a high-dimensional chemical signature pattern. The image below demonstrates the patterns produced by 10 distinct bacteria, all 10 of which were identified accurately (98.8%) in 50 blind trials. Note that even different strains of the same species cause distinct patterns.

The sensor is constructed on a simple plastic or paper like media. The sensor is inexpensive and disposable. The cost and performance easily match the requirements for a one time use medical exam. The CSA exam card used in the Metabolomx breath analysis instrument is printed on a plastic substrate, contained in a tube, through which breath can be passed. The exam card is disposable, one is used with each patient exam.

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Rossi and Defkalion Energy Catalyzer Making Progress to Commercialization

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:24:09 PST

1. Defkalion Visited by PESN

Pure Energy Systems - Defkalion's 5-45 kilowatt modular heat reactor is not yet a product you can go out and purchase, but it is getting close to the market. It will provide competitively-priced thermal energy, but with very low fuel costs for the nickel and hydrogen used in the reaction chambers that will last for six months of continuous output without refuelling.

In the coming few weeks, they will be having at least seven different groups come in to test their device, beginning with the Greek government next week. The results from each group will be published. Each group will have 48 hours to test the device and a control to which they can compare it.

They showed me the experimental set-up -- running, producing heat. It includes a control chamber and an active reaction chamber. After the two are run simultaneously -- one with the low energy nuclear reaction (aka cold fusion), and one without -- showing that the low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) system produces at least 20 times more heat; they will then switch the reaction chambers, removing the nickel and hydrogen from one (cleaning it out to make sure there are no residual elements), and adding these ingredients to the other chamber, which previously was the 'control' or 'blank' chamber; to prove that the data remain the same. They will also show that some gamma radiation comes from the reaction chamber of the LENR system, as evidence that a low level nuclear reaction of some kind is indeed taking place (though not on a dangerous level to those operating the test). The final product will be fully shielded to prevent emission of stray radiation.

Defkalion is planning "very soon" to announce the first 18 licensees that are authorized to manufacture and distribute the technology in their respective countries, with an exclusive contract for those regions. Each license costs 40.5 million Euros. Many of those licensees are well under way in procuring the necessary permitting and other requirements for launching a production plant. Each factory is designed to be able to manufacture 300,000 units per year. The factory is pretty much like a franchise, where Defkalion will provide a blueprint for not just the technology but also the factory layout and operation.

The Hyperion contains nine reaction vessels, each producing 5 kW of heat. Whether you just want 5 kW or 45 kW, or any amount in between, you will purchase the same unit. If a person only wants 5 kW, then the reaction vessels will rotate one after another, until all reactants are used up. So the duration could be as much as 4.5 years (each vessel reactants are designed to last 6 months). But that doesn't take into consideration the inevitable loss of hydrogen. They agreed with me that this is yet an unknown -- how long the vessel will actually remain charged and ready to go.

In addition to the 5-45 kW heat system, Defkalion is also in the process of negotiating with companies to tackle specific applications, such as marine, transportation, utilities, etc., which may require larger systems up to 5MW, or larger; for which their commercial partners will obtain the rights to the manufacturing and distribution of that application worldwide.

They have nearly accomplished all the requirements to go commercial, having completed the reactor engineering, achieved approvals, and addressed security. They still have a few things to secure in their IP.

But as for their IP strategy, they realize that it will only be a matter of time before the technology is reversed engineered and someone else comes out as a competitor. They hope to be able to maintain the lead for a long time. Any competitors who reverse engineer the publicly-available technology are going to require time to engineer it, and Defkalion is already 3-6 months ahead of what's publicly available.

They have already done the safety testing required for such devices, subjecting them to things like fire, earthquake, hot, cold. Newcomers will yet have to jump through those hoops.

Furthermore, they will benefit substantially from the branding and respect that will come from being the first to market, which will benefit them for years to come. And they intend to stay on the cutting edge by being open to developing new breakthroughs that come along, though for now they are committed to focusing on the LENR technology until it is established in the market.

2. Rossi speaking at his website forum. He is not working with Defkalion

Rossi is building the production line for his energy catalyzer before the Underwriters lab (UL) certification has been made. UL may require that modifications be made to the E-Cat, which would mean changing his production setup.

Rossi indicated -

Yes, I am taking risks, but a robotized line is also reprogrammable for the particulars: we expect some modification, but, as you correctly wrote, if we wait the end of the certification process to start the preparation of the factory we risk to delay . As you correctly said, I am taking my risks, but are calculated risks: a delay would cost more than a modification.

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RFID tags made on paper could be five times cheaper which is as cheap as barcodes

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:49:45 PST

Eurekalert- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are an essential component of modern shopping, logistics, warehouse, and stock control for toll roads, casino chips and much more. They provide a simple way to track the item to which the tag is attached. Now, researchers in France have developed a way to deposit a thin aluminum RFID tag on to paper that not only reduces the amount of metal needed for the tag, and so the cost, but could open up RFID tagging to many more systems, even allowing a single printed sheet or flyer to be tagged.

RFID tags are an alternative technology to printed barcodes, which provide an automatic means of delivering product data without direct contact between the tag, or transponder, and the reader device. Indeed, unlike barcodes there is no requirement for the tag to be in the line of sight of the reader. RFID tags are, unfortunately, relatively expensive compared to barcodes and their uses are not as widespread. The ability to produce RFID tags at a fraction of the present cost could change that.

There are several techniques used to deposit an antenna on PET: etching, electroplating; and on paper: screen printing, flexography and offset lithography. Now, Camille Ramade and colleagues at the University of Montpellier have demonstrated how a simple thermal evaporation process can deposit an aluminum coil antenna on to paper for use as an RFID tag. Aluminum is a lot less expensive than copper or silver, which are used in some types of RFID tag. The researchers suggest that the approach would reduce the cost of RFID tagging to a fifth of current prices, which could represent significant savings for inventory users operating millions of RFID tags in their systems.

"Prototypes are functional and easily detected by the reader; the next step is to optimize the design for each family of RFID chips. This will significantly improve performance while maintaining the same low-cost technology on paper," the team say

s.

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Elon Musk wants a Spacex IPO in 2013

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:23:36 PST

Business Week - Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., wants the private rocket-launch business to have an initial public offering in 2013, the entrepreneur’s third such sale in about three years.

SolarCity, based in San Mateo, California, may file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as early as next month, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The IPO may value the company at more than $1.5 billion, the person said.

The offerings could catapult Musk into the ranks of the world’s billionaires. He owns a 26 percent stake in Tesla valued at more than $650 million, after adjusting for collateralized shares. His 25 percent of SolarCity would be valued at $375 million at the valuation the company is seeking.

Musk owns more than 70 million shares of closely held rocket maker SpaceX.

Recent transactions in the private market have pegged his stake in SpaceX at about $875 million.

Separately, Musk unveiled a Tesla battery-powered sport- utility vehicle the company plans to deliver next year on the heels of its Model S sedan. The SUV has so-called gull-wing doors -- described by Musk as “falcon wings” -- that swing open upward, reminiscent of auto designer John DeLorean’s namesake DeLorean DMC-12 sports car from the early 1980s, featured in the “Back to the Future” movies.

The Model X, touted by Tesla as quicker than Porsche AG’s 911 sports car and roomier than Audi AG’s Q7 SUV, will be built in 2013 at the company’s Fremont, California, plant that starts making the Model S this year. Deliveries will begin late next year, and increase throughout 2014, Musk said in an interview.

“The sensible thing to do is to extend the platform of the Model S into other applications, and the next application logically is the SUV/minivan arena,” Musk said yesterday. “For relatively little capital investment, maybe between a third and half of what we spent on Model S, we can bring the Model X to market.”

The company began taking reservations for Model X, a seven- passenger crossover that shares a platform and battery system with Model S.

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Spray on Antenna double cellphone transmission range for the same power

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:12:31 PST

Chamtech Enterprises has tested a spray on antenna on a tree, among other tests, and the team was able to send a VHF signal up to 14 miles away using only the treated tree. Rhett Spencer, chief technology officer of Chamtech, said the company’s spray-on technology could make cell phones work with 10 percent better efficiency.

The spray-on antenna was originally conceived when Chamtech was contacted by the US Military to help them create a conforming antenna for special ops since traditional antenna systems were bulky and hard to hide from the enemy. Chamtech came up with a solution which could be painted on to nearly any surface (trees, buildings and even existing antenna) which transmits and receives radio frequencies much better than standard copper wire solutions.

The end result is a technology which can enable a cell phone to transmit twice as far with the same amount of power or transmit the same distance with only half the power.

This spray-on antenna solution has been tested on RFID tags (increasing the effective range from 5 feet to 700 feet) and even an iPhone which saw an increase of 20 dBm (roughly a 40 percent increase). Chamtech is looking to collaborate with multiple industries and already has its spray-on antenna solution available for purchase.

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Non-magnetic materials can be magnetically doped in high concentrations in a highly controlled way

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:01:17 PST

Nanotechnologists from the University of Twente’s MESA+ and MIRA research institutes have developed a method for incorporating magnetic elements into non-magnetic materials in a highly controlled way. Using this technique, it is possible to drastically change the electrical behaviour of metals and even to give semiconductors magnetic properties.

University of Twente researchers were able to incorporate magnetic elements into a non-magnetic layer of gold in a highly controlled manner. They did so by coating the gold layer with a single layer of organic molecules, each containing a single metal ion: some containing cobalt and some containing zinc. The cobalt ions have an unpaired electron spin and therefore behave as an elementary magnet, while zinc ions do not have magnetic properties. By adjusting the relative concentration of cobalt and zinc ions, it is possible to fine tune the magnetic properties of the final material. Molecular self-assembly causes the metal compounds to spread homogenously over the layer of gold.

Unprecedentedly high concentrations

What makes the method so special is that it produces unprecedentedly high concentrations of magnetic "doping" without causing the magnetic elements to cluster. In the methods used to date, it was very difficult to spread the magnetic elements homogenously over the final material, particularly at high concentrations.

It is possible to create materials with completely new properties. This paves the way for semi-conductors with magnetic properties: one of the holy grails of physics. Semi-conductors of this kind could be used for both memory storage (magnetic) and data processing (electrical) in a new generation of computers

Nature Nanotechnology - Tunable doping of a metal with molecular spins

The mutual interaction of localized magnetic moments and their interplay with itinerant conduction electrons in a solid are central to many phenomena in condensed-matter physics, including magnetic ordering and related many-body phenomena such as the Kondo effect1, the Ruderman–Kittel–Kasuya–Yoshida interaction2 and carrier-induced ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors3. The strength and relative importance of these spin phenomena are determined by the magnitude and sign of the exchange interaction between the localized magnetic moments and also by the mean distance between them. Detailed studies of such systems require the ability to tune the mean distance between the localized magnetic moments, which is equivalent to being able to control the concentration of magnetic impurities in the host material. Here, we present a method for doping a gold film with localized magnetic moments that involves depositing a monolayer of a metal terpyridine complex onto the film. The metal ions in the complexes can be cobalt or zinc, and the concentration of magnetic impurities in the gold film can be controlled by varying the relative amounts of cobalt complexes (which carry a spin) and zinc complexes (which have zero spin). Kondo and weak localization measurements demonstrate that the magnetic impurity concentration can be systematically varied up to ~800 ppm without any sign of inter-impurity interaction. Moreover, we find no evidence for the unwanted clustering that is often produced when using alternative methods.

5 pages of supplemental material

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DARPA's budget and projects for Fiscal year 2013

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:47:38 PST

Wired Danger Room - In its new budget, unveiled on Monday, Darpa introduced a new $4 million investigation into technologies that will “manage the adversary’s sensory perception” in order to “confuse, delay, inhibit, or misdirect his actions.” Darpa calls the project “Battlefield Illusion.”

Battlefield Illusion” is one of several new Darpa programs that attempt to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum to the American military’s advantage. The $3.5 million “Electro-Optical Warfare” effort will look for ways to jam laser-based communications and sensor systems — just like today’s radio frequency jammers mess with cell phones and radars. As adversaries move from old-school radars to newer-school infrared and laser systems to target our planes, these enemies get harder to track; there’s no sonic “ping” to trace back. The goal of the $8.5 million “Multi-Function Optical Sensor” is designed to fill this gap, giving U.S. aircraft “an alternative approach to detecting, tracking, and performing non-cooperative target identification.”

2. Aviation Week - New programs to continue research into boost-glide hypersonic weapons for tactical and global precision strike are included in the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (Darpa) $2.82 billion budget request for fiscal 2013.

The agency’s top line is essentially unchanged from fiscal 2012, but this disguises significant ramp-ups in spending on research into advanced cybersecurity and information technology to protect military networks. Darpa is seeking $25 million for cyber-sciences and $50 million for cyber-technology programs in fiscal 2013, almost double the 2012 spending. Funding levels are planned to double again by fiscal 2016.

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Israel and Iran Shadow War - More attempted bombings

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:16:36 PST

Washington Post - A series of blasts in Bangkok wounded four Thai civilians and blew off the leg of an Iranian who had fled a house carrying what looked like grenades after a cache of explosives ignited there, apparently by mistake.

When police searched the Iranians’ home, the bomb squad found and defused two explosives, each made of three or four pounds of C-4 explosives inside a pair of radios, and National Police Chief Gen. Prewpan Damapong said the bombs were “magnetic” and could be stuck on vehicles.

The wounded Iranian was in police custody at a Bangkok hospital and immigration police detained a second Iranian as he tried to board a flight for Malaysia. Security forces hunted for a third Iranian suspect.

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had thwarted attacks in recent months in Azerbaijan, Thailand and unspecified other countries.

The first blast in Bangkok ripped off part of the roof of an explosives-filled house where the three Iranians were staying, police said.

Surveillance video from just after that blast showed separate images of each of the three suspects walking down the middle of a residential street.

One man — identified by police as Saeid Moradi — could be seen wearing a baseball cap and a dark jacket. He carried a large backpack over one shoulder and what appeared to be two portable transistor radios — one in each hand.

“He tried to wave down a taxi ... and the driver refused to take him,” Police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said. Moradi responded by hurling an explosive device — possibly a grenade — that partially destroyed the taxi and wounded its driver.

Police then tried to apprehend Moradi on a nearby street. He hurled a grenade at them, “but somehow it bounced back” and blew off his leg, Pansiri said.

Last month in Thailand, a Lebanese-Swedish man with alleged links to pro-Iranian Hezbollah militants was detained by Thai police. He led authorities to a warehouse filled with more than 8,800 pounds (4,000 kilograms) of urea fertilizer and several gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate.

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Startup Soraa thinks it can make LEDs cheap enough to replace regular bulbs

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:57:27 PST

Soraa, a startup based in Fremont, California, has developed a new type of LED that it says generates 10 times more light from the same quantity of active material used in other LEDs. (Technology Review) The company's first product is a 12-watt bulb that uses 75 percent less energy than a similarly illuminating 50-watt halogen bulb. Company officials would not disclose the cost of the bulb, but say it will pay for itself in less than one year through energy savings.

LEDs are usually made by growing a thin layer of gallium nitride on top of a sapphire, silicon carbine, or silicon substrate. Soraa takes a different approach. It uses gallium nitride for the substrate. This reduces a mismatch in the crystal structure between the two layers, which causes the performance of LEDs to diminish as current densities increase. By reducing such mismatches, or "dislocations," by a factor of 1,000, Soraa officials say they can push 10 times more current through a given area of active layer material. The increase in current density results in a tenfold increase in LED brightness.

Soraa's LEDs could prove to be expensive, however. Colin Humphreys, director of research at the University of Cambridge's Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, says growing gallium nitride in bulk is difficult and time-consuming.

"I pay about $30 for a six-inch-diameter silicon wafer or a two-inch-diameter sapphire wafer, and about $500 for a one-inch-diameter gallium-nitride wafer," he says. Humphreys founded CamGaN, a startup developing LEDs that use gallium nitride on a silicon substrate. The company was recently acquired by Plessey Semiconductors. "[Soraa] may well be able to produce gallium-nitride wafers more cheaply, but surely not at the same price as for silicon and sapphire."

Kim says Soraa has a novel method of fabrication that significantly reduces the cost of gallium-nitride production. He adds that the cost of the substrate is only a "single digit percent" of the total cost of the company's bulbs. Soraa has received more than $100 million in startup funding, and plans to ship its first bulbs for commercial applications by the end of this quarter.

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Moderate 2.5 micron Particulate exposure increases stroke risk by 34% within 12-14 hours

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:05:56 PST

Air pollution, even at levels generally considered safe by federal regulations, increases the risk of stroke by 34 percent, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers have found.

Writing in the Feb. 14, 2012 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers who studied more than 1,700 stroke patients in the Boston area over a 10-year period found exposure to ambient fine particulate matter, generally from vehicle traffic, was associated with a significantly higher risk of ischemic strokes on days when the EPA’s air quality index for particulate matter was yellow instead of green.

Researchers focused on particles with a diameter of 2.5 millionths of a meter, referred to as PM2.5. These particles come from a variety of sources, including power plants, factories, trucks and automobiles and the burning of wood. They can travel deeply into the lungs and have been associated in other studies with increased numbers of hospital visits for cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks.

The team was able to calculate that the peak risk to patients from pollution exposure occurs 12-14 hours before a stroke. That information may be useful to researchers who want to trace how PM2.5 might be working in the body to increase the likelihood of stroke.

They also found that black carbon and nitrogen dioxide, two pollutants associated with vehicle traffic, were closely linked with stroke risk, suggesting that pollution from cars and trucks may be particularly important.

Researchers estimate reducing PM2.5 pollution by about 20 percent could have prevented 6,100 of the 184,000 stroke hospitalizations in the northeastern United States in 2007.

Archives of Internal Medicine - Ambient Air Pollution and the Risk of Acute Ischemic Stroke

Researchers analyzed the medical records of more than 1,700 patients who went to the hospital for treatment of confirmed strokes between 1999 and 2008. They matched the onset of stroke symptoms in each patient to hourly measurements of particulate air pollution taken at the nearby Harvard School of Public Health’s environmental monitoring station.

The team was able to estimate the hour the stroke symptoms first occurred, rather than relying on the more coarse measure of when patients were admitted to the hospital. They also included only strokes confirmed by attending neurologists, rather than relying on more vague insurance billing codes.

Meanwhile, Harvard’s hourly measurements of pollution within 13 miles of 90 percent of the stroke patients’ homes allowed for close matching in time of exposure and stroke onset.

“We think that this study is novel in that it has high-quality data on both air pollution exposure and stroke diagnosis,” Wellenius says.

The estimated odds ratio (OR) of ischemic stroke onset was 1.34 following a 24-hour period classified as moderate (PM2.5 15-40 µg/m3) by the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Air Quality Index compared with a 24-hour period classified as good (less than 15 µg/m3). Considering PM2.5 levels as a continuous variable, we found the estimated odds ratio of ischemic stroke onset to be 1.11 per interquartile range increase in PM2.5 levels (6.4 µg/m3). The increase in risk was greatest within 12 to 14 hours of exposure to PM2.5 and was most strongly associated with markers of traffic-related pollution.

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability and the third leading cause of death in the United States. An estimated 795,000 Americans suffer a new or recurrent stroke every year, resulting in more than 135,000 deaths and 829,000 hospital admissions.

The finding that days of moderate air quality substantially elevate stroke risk compared to days of good air quality suggest that the Environmental Protection Agency may need to strengthen the language it uses to describe the health consequences of moderate air quality, researchers say.

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OECD Electricity in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 17:03:05 PST

IEA Monthly Electricity Statistics for November 2011

In December 2011, the United States had 70.2 TWh of generation to end the year with 789.3 billion kWh and capacity factor was 88.9 percent in 2011.

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Large Hadron Collider will take risks to run at 8 trillion electron volts instead of 7 to increases chances to find Higgs and SUSY

noreply@blogger.com (bw) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:44:18 PST

CERN1 today announced that the LHC will run with a beam energy of 4 TeV this year, 0.5 TeV higher than in 2010 and 2011. This decision was taken by CERN management following the annual performance workshop held in Chamonix last week and a report delivered today by the external CERN Machine Advisory Committee (CMAC).

The Large Hadron Collider managers have decided to increase the energy of collisions to 4 TeV per beam, for a total energy of 8 TeV. Last year, the LHC smashed two beams of protons together at an energy of 3.5 teraelectronvolts (TeV) each, resulting in collisions with a total energy of 7 TeV.

Running at 8 instead of 7 TeV should boost the machine's sensitivity to Higgs particles – assuming they are really there – by 30 to 40 per cent, says Greg Landsberg of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, who is involved in CMS, one of the LHC's two main detectors.

The decision is described in this 61 page powerpoint

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