October 6, 2009, 5:18 PM CT

Report on Cowboys facility collapse

A fabric-covered, steel frame practice facility owned by the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys collapsed under wind loads significantly less than those mandatory under applicable design standards, as per a report released on October 6 for public comment by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Located in Irving, Texas, the facility collapsed on May 2, 2009, during a severe thunderstorm. Twelve people were injured, one seriously.

Based on the national standards for determining loads and for designing structural steel buildings, NIST scientists studying the Cowboys facility observed that the May 2 wind load demands on the building's frameworka series of identical, rib-like steel frames supporting a tensioned fabric coveringwere greater than the capacity of the frame to resist those loads.

Assumptions and approaches used in the design of the Cowboys facility led to the differences between the values originally calculated for the wind load demand and structural frame capacity in comparison to those derived by the NIST researchers. For instance, the NIST scientists included internal wind pressure due to the presence of vents and multiple doors in their wind load calculations because they classified the building as "partially enclosed" rather than "fully enclosed" as stated in the design documents. The NIST scientists also determined that the building's fabric could not be relied upon to provide lateral bracing (additional perpendicular support) to the frames in contrast to what was stated in the design documents and that the expected wind resistance of the structure did not account for bending effects in some members of the frame......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

October 6, 2009, 5:15 PM CT

A Magnet With Only One Pole

Any child can tell you that a magnet has a "north" and a "south" pole, and that if you break it into two pieces, you invariably get two smaller magnets with two poles of their own. But researchers have spent the better part of the last eight decades trying to find, in essence, a magnet with only one pole. A team working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has found one.*.

In 1931, Paul Dirac, one of the rock stars of the physics world, made the somewhat startling prediction that "magnetic monopoles," or particles possessing only a single poleeither north or southshould exist. His conclusion stemmed from examining a famous set of equations that explains the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Maxwell's equations apply to long-known electric monopole particles, such as negatively charged electrons and positively charged protons; but despite Dirac's prediction, no one has found magnetic monopole particles.

Now, a research team working at NIST's Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), led by Hiroaki Kadowaki of Tokyo Metropolitan University, has found the next best thing. By creating a compound that under certain conditions forms large, molecule-sized monopoles that behave exactly as the predicted particles should, the team has found a way to explore magnetic monopoles in the laboratory, not just on the chalkboard. (Another research team, working simultaneously, published similar findings in Science last month.**)......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

October 6, 2009, 7:39 AM CT

Renewable hydrogen production at winery

The first demonstration of a renewable method for hydrogen production from wastewater using a microbial electrolysis system is underway at the Napa Wine Company in Oakville. The refrigerator-sized hydrogen generator will take winery wastewater, and using bacteria and a small amount of electrical energy, convert the organic material into hydrogen, as per a Penn State environmental engineer.

"This is a demonstration to prove we can continuously generate renewable hydrogen and to study the engineering factors affecting the system performance," said Bruce E. Logan, Kappe professor of environmental engineering. "The hydrogen produced will be vented except for a small amount that will be used in a hydrogen fuel cell." Eventually, Napa Wine Company would like to use the hydrogen to run vehicles and power systems.

Napa Wine Company's wastewater comes from cleaning equipment, grape disposal, wine making and other processes. The company already has on-site wastewater therapy and recycling and the partially treated water from the microbial electrolysis system will join other water for further therapy and use in irrigation.

"It is nice that Napa Wine Company offered up their winery and facilities to test this new approach," said Logan. "We chose a winery because it is a natural tourist attraction. People go there all the time to experience wine making and wine, and now they can also see a demonstration of how to make clean hydrogen gas from agricultural wastes"......... Posted by: Tom      Read more         Source

October 6, 2009, 7:25 AM CT

Lighter, cheaper, and more-flexible solar cells

Small bits of metal may play a new role in solar power.

Scientists at Ohio State University are experimenting with polymer semiconductors that absorb the sun's energy and generate electricity. The goal: lighter, cheaper, and more-flexible solar cells.

They have now discovered that adding tiny bits of silver to the plastic boosts the materials' electrical current generation.

Paul Berger, professor of electrical and computer engineering and professor of physics at Ohio State, led the team that reported the results online in the journal Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.

Berger and his team measured the amount of light absorbed and the current density -- the amount of electrical current generated per square centimeter -- generated by an experimental solar cell polymer with and without silver nano-particles.

Without silver, the material generated 6.2 milli-amps per square centimeter. With silver, it generated 7.0 -- an increase of almost 12 percent.

The small silver particles help the polymer capture a wider range of wavelengths of sunlight than would normally be possible, which in turn increases the current output, Berger explained.

He added that with further work, this technology could go a long way toward making polymer solar cells commercially viable......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

September 29, 2009, 10:23 PM CT

Breaking the one-megawatt barrier

The Department of Energy's Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), already the world's most powerful facility for pulsed neutron scattering science, is now the first pulsed spallation neutron source to break the one-megawatt barrier.

"Advances in the materials sciences are fundamental to the development of clean and sustainable energy technologies. In reaching this milestone of operating power, the Spallation Neutron Source is providing researchers with an unmatched resource for unlocking the secrets of materials at the molecular level," said Dr. William F. Brinkman, Director of DOE's Office of Science.

SNS operators at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory pushed the controls past the megawatt mark on September 18 as the SNS ramped up for its latest operational run.

"The attainment of one megawatt in beam power symbolizes the advancement in analytical resources that are now available to the neutron scattering community through the SNS," said ORNL Director Thom Mason, who led the SNS project during its construction. "This is a great achievement not only for DOE and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, but for the entire community of science."

Before the SNS, the world's spallation neutron sources operated in the hundred-kilowatt range. The SNS actually became a world-record holder in August 2007 when it reached 160 kilowatts, earning it an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most powerful pulsed spallation neutron source......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

September 28, 2009, 7:28 AM CT

How would Einstein use e-mail?

You're not as different from Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin after all, at least when it comes to patterns of correspondence.

A new Northwestern University study of human behavior has determined that those who wrote letters using pen and paper -- long before electronic mail existed -- did so in a pattern similar to the way people use e-mail today.

The study, published recently (Sept. 25) by the journal Science, demonstrates the similarity of these two seemingly different activities, with the underlying pattern of human activity linking letters and e-mails.

The scientists examined extensive letter correspondence records of 16 famous writers, performers, politicians and scientists, including Einstein, Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Ernest Hemingway, and observed that the 16 individuals sent letters randomly but in cycles.

The same mathematical model the Northwestern team used in a prior study to explain e-mail behavior now has been shown to apply to the letter writers. This refutes the rational model, which says that people are driven foremost by responding to others.

No matter what their profession, all the letter writers behaved the same way. They adhered to a circadian cycle; they tended to write many letters at one sitting, which is more efficient; and when they wrote had more to do with chance and circumstances than a rational approach of writing the most important letter first......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

September 28, 2009, 7:27 AM CT

New Type of Fast Computers Closer to Reality

Physicists at UC San Diego have successfully created speedy integrated circuits with particles called "excitons" that operate at commercially cold temperatures, bringing the possibility of a new type of extremely fast computer based on excitons closer to reality.

Their discovery, detailed this week in the advance online issue of the journal Nature Photonics, follows the team's demonstration last summer of an integrated circuit-an assembly of transistors that is the building block for all electronic devices-capable of working at 1.5 degrees Kelvin above absolute zero. That temperature, equivalent to minus 457 degrees Fahrenheit, is not only less than the average temperature of deep space, but achievable only in special research laboratories.

Now the researchers report that they have succeeded in building an integrated circuit that operates at 125 degrees Kelvin, a temperature that while still a chilly minus 234 degrees Fahrenheit, can be easily attained commercially with liquid nitrogen, a substance that costs about as much per liter as gasoline.

"Our goal is to create efficient devices based on excitons that are operational at room temperature and can replace electronic devices where a high interconnection speed is important," said Leonid Butov, a professor of physics at UCSD, who headed the research team. "We're still in an early stage of development. Our team has only recently demonstrated the proof of principle for a transistor based on excitons and research is in progress"......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

September 28, 2009, 6:40 AM CT

Pushing the cold frontier in an orderly fashion

Physicists are continually reaching new lows as they reduce the temperatures of samples in their laboratories. But even nano-kelvins are not low enough to overcome the entropy (a measure of the disorder in a system) that stands between them and the discovery of exotic states of ultra-cold matter. Now physicists at two Italian universities have developed a technique that siphons entropy out of a collection of atoms in much the same way that a kitchen refrigerator removes heat from the food stored inside. The new method is described in Physical Review Letters and highlighted in the September 28 issue of Physics (physics.aps.org).

The system that Jacopo Catani (University of Florence) and his colleagues assembled begins with a cloud of potassium and rubidium atoms held in a magnetic trap. They selected a laser with a wavelength of light that interacted with the potassium atoms, but had little effect on the rubidium atoms. They then compressed the potassium atom cloud by focusing the laser to a point in the trap. Compressing a gas commonly increases its temperature, but the surrounding rubidium kept things in check, allowing the scientists to hold the temperature roughly constant as entropy was shifted from the potassium to the rubidium atoms.

The novel technique should work with other combinations of atoms as well, offering scientists a new tool to aid them in their pursuit of physics at ultra-low temperatures and entropies......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:48:24 GMT

Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 coming soon

Details of a new Samsung Smartphone known as Omnia Pro B7330 have been leaked on the web. It looks like a business device similar to Blackberry & Nokia Eseries devices and will feature the new Windows Mobile 6.5 OS and a physical QWERTY keyboard. It is expected to be available in the European region in October this year.

Here are the details known so far:

Dimensions: 115 x 59 x 10.8 mm
Display: 2.63 inch TFT display (320 x 320 pixels)
Camera: 3.2MP
Connectivity: HSDPA, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth
Memory: MicroSD support
Battery: 1500 mAh battery

Source: Unwired View
Posted by: Kevin      Read more     Source

September 24, 2009, 7:04 AM CT

Genetic discovery could break wine industry bottleneck

One of the best known episodes in the 8000-year history of grapevine cultivation led to biological changes that have not been well understood until now. Through biomolecular detective work, German scientists have uncovered new details about the heredity of Vitis varieties in cultivation today. In the process, they have opened the way to more meaningful classification, accelerated breeding, and more accurate assessment of the results, potentially breaking a bottleneck in the progress of the wine industry. Their discovery removes a major obstacle to a development already under way that is, a shift toward grapevine breeding guided by highly specific genetic markers. It may even point the way toward production of European-tasting wines from North American cultivars, free of the "musty" or "foxy" flavors linked to New World grapevines.

In response to the "great European wine blight" of the mid-1800s, growers aimed at preserving the most desirable qualities of European grapes while breeding in the hardiness of North American varieties. These were naturally resistant to native pests that had found their way by steamship, most likely across the Atlantic to Europe. Beginning around 1860, the introduction of two North American pests an aphid and a fungus nearly destroyed the wine industry, especially in France. A century ago, a number of hybrids were in use, but the wine they produced was judged to be so inferior in flavor that winemakers were prohibited from blending them with higher-quality traditional wines......... Posted by: Kevin      Read more         Source