Category Archives: Technology

March 6, 2017 Schematic sketch of the thermionic energy convertor prototype with a graphene collector. Credit: Elsevier

Satellite-powering technology that was abandoned decades ago has been reinvented to potentially work with traditional power stations to help them convert heat to electricity more efficiently, meaning we would need less fossil fuel to burn for power. A new study in Nano Energy presents a prototype energy converter, which uses graphene instead of metal, making it almost seven times more efficient.

The researchers behind the study, led by Prof. Roger Howe at Stanford University, say new materials could reignite the field of thermionic energy conversion, improving the way we produce electricity and reducing the impact the process has on the environment.

Energy is one of the most challenging problems society faces today, with an estimated 1.2 billion people having no access to electricity. Thermal energy is one of the most abundant, cheap and widely used energy sources in the world, but it is harvested using old technology: more than 80 percent of the electricity generated in the US comes from mechanical heat engines and turbines based on the 19th century technology that can only be used in large power stations.

Alternatively, the thermionic energy convertor (TEC) can convert heat to electricity more efficiently without the need for big, expensive equipment through the phenomenon of thermionic emission. TECs were first developed in the 1950s for use in space programs, but scientists had not managed to make TECs efficient enough to apply to industrial electricity production. Now, with modern materials and approaches, it is possible to improve their efficiency significantly.

The TEC is composed of two electrodes, namely the emitter and collector, separated by a small vacuum gap. The researchers tested a prototype TEC made using a single sheet of carbon atoms - graphene - instead of tungsten as the collector material. They found the new material improved the efficiency of the TEC, making it 6.7 times more efficient at converting heat into electricity at 1000?C

"TEC technology is very exciting. With improvement in the efficiency, we expect to see an enormous market for it," commented lead author Dr. Hongyuan Yuan from Stanford University. "TECs could not only help make power stations more efficient, and therefore have a lower environmental impact, but they could be also applied in distributed systems like solar cells. In the future, we envisage it being possible to generate 1-2 kW of electricity from water boilers, which could partially power your house."

Existing TEC technology faces two obstacles: a high loss of energy at the anode surface, which leads to reduced output voltage, and high electrical barriers against electrons moving in the gap between the collector and the emitter, which results in reduced output current. For the first time, the new prototype tackles both of these problems simultaneously. The findings of the study reveal an electronic efficiency in energy conversion of 9.8 percent - by far the highest efficiency at 1000?C.

The technology is not yet ready for use in power stations or people's homes - the prototype works in a vacuum chamber but not in a normal setting. The researchers are now working on a vacuum packaged TEC to test the reliability and efficiency of the technology in real applications.

"This prototype is just the first step - there is a lot more to do," said Dr. Yuan. "But our results so far are promising and reflect a happy marriage between modern materials science and an old-fashioned energy technology, which provides a route for re-sparking the field of thermionic energy conversion."

Explore further: Researchers report new thermoelectric material with high power factors

More information: Hongyuan Yuan et al, Back-gated graphene anode for more efficient thermionic energy converters, Nano Energy (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.12.027

Journal reference: Nano Energy

Provided by: Elsevier

With energy conservation expected to play a growing role in managing global demand, materials and methods that make better use of existing sources of energy have become increasingly important.

Solar cells convert light into electricity. While the sun is one source of light, the burning of natural resources like oil and natural gas can also be harnessed.

Anton Pischagin, a graduate student of the Faculty of Radiophysics advised by Professor Andrey Kokhanenko, is developing nanostructures based on silicon for converting solar energy into electricity. These materials will allow ...

Picture a device that can produce electricity using nothing but the ambient heat around it. Thanks to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science today, this scenario is a step closer a team ...

When scientists Daniel Riley and Jared Schwede left Stanford University last year to join Cyclotron Road, a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) program for entrepreneurial researchers, their vision was to ...

(Phys.org) Scientists working at the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) have improved an innovative solar-energy device to be about 100 times more efficient than its previous design in converting ...

Satellite-powering technology that was abandoned decades ago has been reinvented to potentially work with traditional power stations to help them convert heat to electricity more efficiently, meaning we would need less fossil ...

Sometimes understanding how a problem arises in the first place is key to finding its solution. For a team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, taking this approach led them ...

Michael Siminovitch, director of the California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis, wasn't looking for enlightenment when he wandered into a Buddhist temple in Thailand a few years ago. He was touring Thailand as a distinguished ...

Three-dimensional printing makes all conceivable varieties of layered, three-dimensional objects possible, a benefit appreciated by industry and private users alike. However, once an object is printed, any freedom of design ...

Although data scientists can gain great insights from large data setsand can ultimately use these insights to tackle major challengesaccomplishing this is much easier said than done. Many such efforts are stymied from ...

Global carmakers, stung by emissions scandals, are racing to hunt down every gram of harmful CO2 spewed out on the roads as tougher pollution rules kick in.

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

Original post:

Space energy technology restored to make power stations more efficient - Phys.Org

Forbes

What Is Digital Twin Technology - And Why Is It So Important? Forbes While the concept of a digital twin has been around since 2002, it's only thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) that it has become cost-effective to implement. And, it is so imperative to business today, it was named one of Gartner's Top 10 Strategic ...

Read the original:

What Is Digital Twin Technology - And Why Is It So Important? - Forbes

Philip Hammond will put money into areas including electric cars and artificial intelligence to boost the growing sector

PHILIP Hammond is toset aside 500m for technology, innovation and robotics to help Britain compete after Brexit.

The Chancellor will use Wednesdays budget to give more money to fund research and development of electric vehicles, robotics and artificial intelligence.

PA:Press Association

He will use the cash to help British scientists and developers to compete with the rest of the world as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.

Ministers hope it will help to bring new jobs to the UK and attract foreign investment.

The money will include 270m for research and development for British business and universities.

Getty Images

And 90m will be to fund 1,000 PhD places in science, technology and engineering.

200m will go towards fellowships for researchers, and 50m for programmes to attract global talent to Britain.

The Chancellor is also set to announce more investment in broadband including a hub to test 5G technology. The Government could offer incentives for super-fast broadband too to help local businesses take up new networks and upgrades.

Mr Hammond is also set to use Wednesdays budget to announce he will put away money to help protect the economy from any turbulence as a result of Brexit.

He told Andrew Marr on Sunday he wanted to make sure Britain has enough gas in the tank as the UK prepared to start Brexit talks later this month.

He went on: My job as chancellor is making sure our economy is resilient as we embark on the journey well be taking over the next couple of years confident that we have enough gas in the tank to see us through.

PA:Press Association

But he is also under pressure to give money to businesses to help offset the cliff edge of new business rates.

And campaigners are calling for more money to go into the struggling NHS and social care systems.

EPA

See the original post here:

Budget 2017: Chancellor to set aside 500million for technology, innovation and robotics to help Britain compete as ... - The Sun

Technology for the people, by the people.

No, its not a reworked line from Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address, but the theme of Accentures 2017 Technology Vision (Tech Vision) report, the companys annual prediction of technology trends that will shape the future of companies in the next three years.

In 2017, were seeing that technology is really being shaped by people, for people, says JP Palpallatoc, Accenture digital group lead of the Philippines delivery center.

Basically, the theme is a call to action for business and technology leaders to actively design and direct technology to augment and amplify human capabilities.

To help companies respond to this call, Tech Vision lists down five emerging technology trends that companies should take note of to succeed in todays digital economy:

AI (artificial intelligence) is the new UI (user interface);

ecosystems as macrocosms;

workforce marketplace

design for humans;

the uncharted.

AI is getting simpler, making the interaction with customers and employees more intuitive, Palpallatoc says of the first trend, citing the Amazon Alexa, the virtual assistant created by the company.

For companies, AI could become their spokesperson, says Palpallatoc, citing how chat bots have already started taking on this role when it comes to customer service.

As more people interact with AI, were going to see how they could eventually represent brands and be the digital spokesperson, he says.

The second trend, Palpallatoc continues, is all about companies building an ecosystem of partners that will allow them to diversify their operationslike how General Motors invested $500 million in ride-hailing startup Lyft Inc. with plans of creating a network self-driving cars.

When we surveyed executives, 75 percent said that their competitive advantage does not solely rely on their strengths, but on the strengths of their partners and their ecosystem, says Palpallatoc. They can even have multiple ecosystems, so they need to create a strategy to know which partners, which ecosystem they can work with.

The next Tech Vision trend, according to Palpallatoc, is something that is very relevant to the country: workforce marketplace. With the rise of on-demand labor platforms such as freelancer.com and raket.ph, companies are given the opportunity to have a healthy talent mix by tapping into these external sources, aside from their direct hires. A very good example of this would be Procter & Gamble, which is experimenting by mixing borrowed resources from external talent marketplaces with their own internal recruits, he says. And the results have been very positive: projects have been developed with higher quality and faster pace. So companies need to redesign their contracts with people, to provide jobs that will allow [employees] to pursue their passions.

Closely related to the first trend is the fourth, which is designing technology for humans.

This entails understanding human behavior, says Palpallatoc, with the help of data analytics, which could be gathered using AI.

Every application, customer interaction generates data, [which allows one] to see peoples preferences, wants, needs. These can be used to tailor technology according to ones behavior, he adds.

Lastly, Palpallatoc emphasizes that companies should also keep in mind the unchartedinventing new industries and new technology standards. Sixty-eight percent of the executives which we surveyed said regulations, especially in the area of technology, had not kept pace with the changes, he says. Here in the Philippines, the most relevant experience weve had was the entry of Uber and Grab. So were seeing that technology leaders have also become pioneers, redefining standards in different industries.

The rest is here:

'People-first' technology on the rise - Inquirer.net

Credit: Mrsk Line

IBM and Maersk will partner to use blockchain technology to conduct, manage and track transactions in the shipping supply chain.

The companies said they collaborated on creating blockchain tools for cross-border transactions among shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, ports and customs authorities.

According to Maersk and IBM, the blockchain effort, built on the Linux Foundation's open source Hyperledger platform, will aim to replace paper-heavy manual processes with blockchain to improve transparency and secure data sharing.

Related: IBM, Northern Trust partner on financial security blockchain tech | How to use blockchain to build a database solution | Disney, yes Disney, becomes blockchain's biggest proponent | How it works: Blockchain explained in 500 words | Stop overhyping blockchain

Maersk and IBM will work with the shipping supply chain to build a blockchain digital platform that will go into production later in 2017.

Blockchain has potential for supply chain applications because the private and secure transactions can digitize processes, cut fraud, bolster inventory management and save time and money.

Just improving visibility and workflow with trade documentation processing can save billions of dollars. Here's how the blockchain process will work in the context of shipping:

Maersk, which has a supply chain services unit, and IBM have run a few proof-of-concept pilot with Maersk Line container vessels, the Port of Rotterdam, Port of Newark and Customs Administration of the Netherlands. That pilot, conducted as part of a EU research project, also included U.S. agencies.

Follow this link:

IBM, Maersk aim to speed up shipping with blockchain technology - ZDNet

Mashable

Why won't Trump talk about technology? Mashable Vice President Mike Pence's embarrassing use of an AOL email account is just another painful reminder of something that should be crystal clear to everyone: this administration doesn't understand or care a lick about technology. It's an especially ... and more »

See the original post here:

Why won't Trump talk about technology? - Mashable

Featured Historians of South Asia have often examined large technologies but emerging research suggests that small technologies were equally important.

Cutting-edge technology does not necessarily have the largest impact. Credit: Nathan Oakley/Flickr, CC BY 2.0

Im just old enough to remember the click-clack of typewriters and the smell of Tippex that used to pervade office spaces, the sewing machines that were pressed into service in homes to darn and alter, and bikes that didnt look like they belonged in a velodrome (in college I rode what my friends called a doodhwala cycle). I havent been to a rice mill, but have eaten milled rice all my life. In his recent book Everyday Technology (2013), David Arnold traces the history of these four small-scale technolog[ies] that were central to the daily lives of Indians from the late nineteenth century to the early post-Independence period decades. He explores how Indians, including non-elite consumers, absorbed these (initially) imported machines, assigned new uses and cultural significance to them, and, in the process, renegotiated their own positions in society.

What makes Arnolds choice of subject important is that by and large, historians of South Asia have focused on large, highly visible technologies such as the railways and dams. That focus tells us much about the priorities and nature of the colonial state, and the thinking of Indian intellectuals. Arnolds work, on the other hand, aims to reconstruct the impact of more humble technologies on the lives of the masses. Through it a wider range of actors comes into view: not just the dam engineer and the industrial expert, but also the darzi, the roadside cycle-repair-wala, and the office secretary.

That these machines were mostly imported is not surprising given the imperial economic regime at the time. Yet, Arnold, argues, it is more interesting to study how these foreign machines were adopted and Indianised. At the end of the First World War, fewer than one in a hundred Indian homes had a sewing machine, but Singers and Pfaffs intersected with the lives of millions. Tailor shops invariably possessed one, and local servicing facilities sprang up in many places. The machines were visible not only in the cities, but also in the countryside, where they were carried by itinerant tailors.

In fact these foreign-made articles were often mobilised to promote the Swadeshi sentiment. Arnold shows that bicycles were not manufactured in India until the 1950s, but that did not stop swadeshi-minded entrepreneurs from setting up companies to assemble imported components or carving a niche for themselves in the sales networks that carried the bicycle across the subcontinent. Meanwhile, as the typewriter became more popular across India in government and other offices, an ancillary industry grew up [in India] supplying typewriter parts.

Typewriters were Indianised in other ways: by the 1910s, Remingtons with keyboards in various Indian-language scripts were available. Two decades later, Hindi typists had become a regular part of the government establishment in northern India. In 1955, Godrej and Boyce introduced their All-Indian typewriter.

This is not to say that small technologies were seen as an unalloyed good. If they were depicted as pleasant objects to use, easing the burdens of daily living, the factories that produced them were envisioned as healthier, safer environments for labour than the large, sooty, dangerous factories associated with textiles, railway workshops, or steel-making. Yet the reality was that many of these factories, such as rice mills, witnessed their fair share of accidents, fatal or otherwise they were often too small to be regulated effectively. While the ambiguous relationship of Gandhi and others with large-scale technologies is well known, Arnold argues that the critique of technological modernity extended to small machines, like the rice mill, and was not confined to large industrial undertakings and expensive objects, like automobiles and airplanes.

Everyday Technology is not a chronological, narrative history of the technologies in question, so the book, despite being clearly and elegantly written, is not easy to read at one go. Instead it is a book of ideas; an extended essay that wears its learning lightly, combining business-historical details (sales figures, the role of agents and sales representatives, advertising messages) with frequent references to contemporary literary fiction that illustrate how small technologies were viewed by different sections of Indian society.

One of the ideas emerging from Arnolds discussion is that technology is all around us, not just in laboratories, R&D centres and high-maintenance equipment. A related but distinct point was developed in the late 1990s and 2000s by the historian of technology David Edgerton, who argued persuasively that one needs to study technologies that are in wide use and are not necessarily so whizzy or so new. Cutting-edge technologies, in other words, are not necessarily the ones that have the largest impact.

What would a list of everyday technologies look like in todays India? We cannot ignore the mobile phone, certainly, but the bicycle continues to be ubiquitous. The automobile proliferates, but scooters are central to the lives of millions. Genetically modified crops take up column inches, but refrigeration alone would make a world of a difference to the average potato farmer. The gas stove, the pressure cooker, indoor plumbing, the rubber chappal, chalk and blackboard, ready-made clothes: these are part of the range of technologies that underpin life in this age of space missions and smart cities.

This is not necessarily a return to the appropriate technology argument of the 1970s, or a reiteration of the old trope that a country like India cannot afford research into basic science, aeronautics or semiconductor devices. It is merely a reminder that the canvas of technology is vast, and that humans have a say in which ones are developed and how. In other words, you cant take the political out of technology; and as Einstein is supposed to have said, politics is more difficult than physics.

Aparajith Ramnath is a historian of modern science, technology and business.

Categories: Featured, History, Tech

Tagged as: Aparajith Ramnath, bicycle, Boyce, clothes, David Arnold, Everyday Technologies, Godrej, Pfaff, plumbing, Remington, rice mill, technology, typewriter

Go here to read the rest:

The Small Technologies That Have Powered India Just Like Dams and the Railways Have - The Wire

Local News

Mar 5, 2017

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson Rhonda Chambers, director of aviation, shows off the latest checkpoint screening technology at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport, recently.

The latest checkpoint screening technology is in use at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

AIT-2 next-generation technology screens passengers for metallic and nonmetallic threats, including weapons, explosives and other objects concealed under layers of clothing.

AIT stands for Advanced Imaging Technology.

The screening is done without physical contact.

The TSA began using the technology in Fort Dodge about a week ago.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson Rhonda Chambers, director of aviation, demonstrates how the new screening technology at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport is used.

Fort Dodge was the first of the other six Iowa commercial service airports to have the new smaller AIT-2 units installed.

The Des Moines International Airport and the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids have the larger AIT-1 units.

In addition to software upgrades that enable the detection of smaller objects, AIT-2 systems take up less space than the original AIT-1 units.

Advanced imaging technology is an important tool in detecting current and evolving threats, David Dailey, TSAs federal security director for Iowa, said. We are pleased to offer this technology to passengers flying out of Fort Dodge.

All AIT units have automated target recognition software, designed to enhance privacy.

This is done by eliminating passenger-specific images, while streamlining the checkpoint screening process.

That means the system generates the same generic image for all passengers, regardless of gender, height or weight.

As a smaller commercial service airport, we are truly grateful to have this new technology installed at our airport, Rhonda Chambers, director of aviation, said. The AIT-2 will provide our passengers with an improved screening experience and reduce the need for pat down searches.

Advanced Imaging Technology is equipped with millimeter wave technology, which uses electromagnetic waves to perform a single scan.

The technology meets all known national and international health and safety standards.

The energy emitted by the millimeter wave technology is 1,000 times less than the international limits and guidelines, the TSA said.

A total of 735 AIT-1 systems and 85 AIT-2 systems have been deployed at 215 airports.

TSA began using Advanced Imaging Technology in 2008.

BADGER - A man is dead after the vehicle he was in rolled near Badger. The man's identity has not been released ...

Read more here:

New scan technology in use at FD airport - Fort Dodge Messenger

Date published: Saturday 4th March 2017 5:08

Swansea boss Paul Clement called for the introduction of video technology over penalty decisions after Burnley were awarded a bizarre spot-kick at the Liberty Stadium.

Fernando Llorente was the Swansea hero as his stoppage-time winner secured a 3-2 home victory and lifted Clements side five points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.

But the games main talking point centred on the 20th-minute penalty referee Anthony Taylor awarded Burnley, even though television replays showed it was Clarets striker Sam Vokes who had handled the ball.

I spoke to him (Taylor) at half-time and he said he made, what was in his opinion, an honest decision, Swansea head coach Clement said,

I dont think it would be any other way. It was clearly a mistake.

I realised 30 seconds after the incident what had happened. Someone told me from the backroom staff, who were able to see it.

Asked whether video technology should be introduced for such incidents, Clement said: Id 100 per cent welcome it.

I dont understand why its taking so long, its been spoken about for years and years.

I feel for referees. I referee in training and sometimes I guess and sometimes I go off the reaction of the players.

What is bizarre is the referee, the assistants and fourth official are the only people in the stadium who do not have the help they need.

Media have got it, technical staff can get it, fans have got it real-time on their mobile devices. The only one who doesnt get the help is the one who needs it the most.

In a see-saw game, Spain striker Llorente gave Swansea a 12th-minute lead before Grays controversial leveller.

Gray then fired Burnley ahead just after the hour mark, but Martin Olsson equalised before Llorente struck for the 11th time this season.

Im not sure there is a better player in Europe at attacking crosses, and Ive worked with some good ones, Clement said.

Thats some key goals Fernando has come up with now. There was the header against Liverpool and now this one.

He has a hand in goals too, hes put in some great assists.

But he gets big help from the team too, they put some fantastic deliveries in for him today.

Read more:

Clement calls for video technology after 'mistake' - Football365.com

The fast pace of technology is bleeding into every aspect of contemporary life, including the artists trying to make sense of the surrounding world. The Verge visited The Armory Show and the NADA art fair during New York Art Week, where both established and emerging artists are experimenting with digital technology and its impact on the arts. We spoke with emerging artists about the way screens, science, and cyberpunk culture informs their work.

The fairs run through Sunday, and you can see a schedule here.

Technology, consumerism, and violence are the cornerstones of the work. I feel like Im facilitating the creation of the work. The scanner is recording the images and I think of my role as mediating all of those reactions, almost like Im collaborating with the machines. Theres this dystopian cyberpunk video game called Syndicate. Its like a single shooter game; its really violent, this fucked up dark future. I made a video of a work of mine, so its like a gif of my own paintings and theres imagery from the spinal reconstruction website looking at the spine and various shape and systematic text on top. I really think of these being screen-based paintings, so having a moving image alongside the painting made sense. They interact really well and work together. The underlying idea is how technology sees the world and how we see things and how the lens records the world we live in. What happens when you put a Cadillac ad in a front of a machine that doesn't care about the content? Its reading the information and recording it. I have an archive of images that goes back to the 50s. Post war until now is what Im interested in. Im into that compression of time.

Chris Dorland

All of my work starts out with me archiving thousands of my mothers drawings that she made in the 90s. I pick like 10 or 15 of the drawings trace them and Ill composite these worlds together using 3D animation. I work on graphite drawing, use a tablet to trace them and use 3d to build something that comes from an analogue process. The second phase is going around the country and filming portraits of people on the green screen. Basically I collect disparate archives and synthesize them together to make incongruent sources and to build a harmonious narrative, using what I have, fixed language, their bodies and their narratives, and my dance performance. Its like an interdisciplinary network coming together to form one harmonious sculptural 3d animated still image virtual reality experience. I want to do a 3d animated video where a safe space is being destroyed. Its a beginning of a series. Right now Im on chapter one. Its a destruction narrative. Its a hieroglyphic legend like what they do with the Hobbit or J.R.R. Tolkien, or like a punk fantasy. I flesh it out I as go. Its going to be like a VR album. I hate how crystallized it is sometimes. Its an epic meta narrative.

Jacolby Satterwhite

The Amsterdam-based artist duo Studio Drift used Microsoft HoloLens to create Concrete Storm, a mixed reality installation commissioned by Artsy Projects on view at the Armory Show. (Studio Drift will be doing a talk at 4 pm today (March 4th), which you can watch live.)

Photography by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Read this article:

Technology and art meet at New York Art Week - The Verge