Optipedia
Search Google more effectively - 10 tips
2009 Horizon Report Profiles Six “Key Emerging Technologies” for Higher Education
New technology improves cost efficiency of hybrid and electric vehicles
Pioneering scientists discover new material - graphane
The Army's Remote-Controlled Beetle, the insect's flight path can be wirelessly controlled via a neural implant.
New Catalyst Paves the Path for Ethanol-Powered Fuel Cells January
Personal Rapid Transit
VERDiCT: Viscosity Enhancers Reducing Diffusion in Concrete Technology
WorldWideScience internet portal
Move over platinum, carbon nanotubes containing nitrogen are cheaper and work better in fuel cells
Ricardo technology achieves breakthrough efficiency for ethanol-fuelled engines
Optipedia
Optipedia takes pages directly from popular SPIE Press books and links them together to create your open-access resource for trusted optics and photonics information. Search for topics using the above search box (use SEARCH: Optipedia Content), browse with the below index, or jump from topic to topic using the embedded keyword links. With Optipedia, you get: Authoritative technical information from the experts. Pages linked via keywords. A preview of popular and forthcoming SPIE Press books. New pages posted regularly. More functionality coming soon, including user interactivity!
See it at http://spie.org/x32276.xml?WT.mc_id=KOPTIPEDIABE
Search Google more effectively - 10 tips
" In this article, Googlepedia author Michael Miller presents his top ten tips for finding just the information you want when searching Google, the top search site on the web. Google is the Internet's most popular search engine; every day millions of people use it to search for important information. But as we all know, it's often difficult to find the one best site out of the hundreds or thousands returned in Google's search results. How can you search more effectively on Google? Here are ten tips that can help you find what you're looking for—without having to wade through less relevant results. "
Use these from http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1315437
2009 Horizon Report Profiles Six “Key Emerging Technologies” for Higher Education
"Today the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) jointly released the 2009 Horizon Report at the ELI Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. The annual Horizon Report describes the continuing work of the NMC’s Horizon Project, a research-oriented effort that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have considerable impact on teaching, learning, and creative expression within higher education. A collaboration between the NMC and ELI, the 2009 Horizon Report is the sixth in the annual series."
Read it at http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/2009HorizonReport/48003?time=1235690560
Purdue Research Park company's new technology improves cost efficiency of hybrid and electric vehicles
" Noblesville, IN - January 16, 2009 - An energy management company has made a technological discovery that could reduce the cost and improve the efficiency of hybrid and electric vehicles. Indy Power System's Multi-Flex™ Energy Management System could potentially reduce the cost of batteries – the most expensive component in electric cars – by more than 50 percent per vehicle according to internal company tests that combined power from lithium-ion batteries and lead-acid batteries. The system's hardware platform uses embedded software that manages the flow of energy between multiple types of power units – including different types of rechargeable batteries and fuel cells – and optimizes the price and performance characteristics of each."
Read about it at http://www.indypowersystems.com/labels/news.html
Pioneering scientists discover new material - graphane
" 30 Jan 2009 Researchers at The University of Manchester have produced a ground-breaking new material, graphane, which has been derived from graphene. Graphene, which was discovered at the University in 2004, is a one-atom-thick crystal with unusual highly conductive properties, which has quickly become one of the hottest topics in physics and materials science. It is also tipped for a number of future applications in electronics and photonics. But research published today (Friday 30 January, 2009) by Professor Andre Geim and Dr Kostya Novoselov, who led the group that discovered graphene in 2004, suggests its uses could be far greater. That's because the scientists, from the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, have found that graphene will react with other substances to form new compounds with different properties - opening up further opportunities for development in the field of electronics."
Read about it at http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=4353
The Army's Remote-Controlled Beetle, the insect's flight path can be wirelessly controlled via a neural implant.
"By Emily SingerA giant flower beetle with implanted electrodes and a radio receiver on its back can be wirelessly controlled, according to research presented this week. Scientists at the University of California developed a tiny rig that receives control signals from a nearby computer. Electrical signals delivered via the electrodes command the insect to take off, turn left or right, or hover in midflight. The research, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), could one day be used for surveillance purposes or for search-and-rescue missions. "
Watch it at http://www.technologyreview.com/video/?vid=217&a=f and read about it at http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22039/?nlid=1733&a=f
New Catalyst Paves the Path for Ethanol-Powered Fuel Cells January
" 25, 2009 UPTON, NY — A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial, and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidize ethanol and produce clean energy in fuel cell reactions. Their results are published online in the January 25, 2009 edition of Nature Materials. Model of a ternary electrocatalyst for ethanol oxidation consisting of platinum-rhodium clusters on a surface of tin dioxide. This catalyst can split the carbon-carbon bond and oxidize ethanol to carbon dioxide within fuel cells. Like batteries that never die, hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and, as part of the process, produce electricity. However, efficient production, storage, and transport of hydrogen for fuel cell use is not easily achieved. As an alternative, researchers are studying the incorporation of hydrogen-rich compounds, for example, the use of liquid ethanol in a system called a direct ethanol fuel cell. “Ethanol is one of the most ideal reactants for fuel cells,” said Brookhaven chemist Radoslav Adzic. “It’s easy to produce, renewable, nontoxic, relatively easy to transport, and it has a high energy density. In addition, with some alterations, we could reuse the infrastructure that’s currently in place to store and distribute gasoline.” "
Read about it at http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/pubaf/pr/PR_display.asp?prID=898
Personal Rapid Transit
"Personal rapid transit (PRT), also called personal automated transport (PAT) or podcar, is a public transportation concept that offers on-demand, non-stop transportation, using small, independent vehicles on a network of specially-built guideways. Several different designs have been proposed, and in October 2008, construction of the guideway of a pilot project at London Heathrow Airport based on ULTra was completed.[1] With completion of the guideway, fit out of the stations and track can begin. The operators now expect the system to open to airport users in Autumn of 2009." Quote from Wikipedia, viewed 3 March 2009
Read more at http://www.personalrapidtransit.com/
VERDiCT: Viscosity Enhancers Reducing Diffusion in Concrete Technology
"Many attempts to increase the service life of reinforced concrete structures have focused on producing less permeable concrete to limit the ingress of deleterious elements. These mixture modifications, however, also typically increase the concrete’s propensity for early-age cracking. A new approach to increasing concrete service life involves the use of carefully selected viscosity modifiers to substantially increase the viscosity of the concrete pore solution and slow the diffusion of elements through the pore solution. " by Dale P. Bentz, Max A. Peltz, Kenneth A. Snyder, and Jeffrey M. Davis
Read more at http://ciks.cbt.nist.gov/~bentz/CI3101Bentzreadonly.pdf
WorldWideScience internet portal
"WorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases and portals. " It has just added additional material from Sri Lanka Journals Online (SLJOL), Indonesia Journals Online (IJO), and the European Organization for Nuclear Research CERN Document Server and a database from the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) .
Use it at http://worldwidescience.org/
Move over platinum, carbon nanotubes containing nitrogen are cheaper and work better in fuel cells
" (Nanowerk News) Liming Dai, the University of Dayton's Wright Brothers Institute endowed chair in nanomaterials, and fellow scientists have taken a step toward a more efficient fuel cell that can be affordably mass-produced. They found that carbon nanotubes containing nitrogen are cheaper and work better than platinum in providing long-term fuel cell power. Science Magazine will publish the findings Friday, Feb. 6. Fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen to electrical power and water with no air pollution, hazardous waste or noise. "Traditionally, fuel cells employ expensive platinum-based electrocatalysts, which cost about $4,000 for a passenger car," Dai said. "The goal is to reduce the major cost of a fuel cell in order to compete with current market technologies, including gasoline engines. Our finding is a major breakthrough toward commercialization of fuel cell technology for various applications."
read more at http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=9178.php
Ricardo technology achieves breakthrough efficiency for ethanol-fuelled engines
"06 February 2009 System surpasses gasoline efficiency, reaches near-diesel levels and reduces operational costs compared to current fuels Ricardo today revealed the development of technology that optimizes ethanol-fuelled engines to a level of performance that exceeds gasoline engine efficiency and approaches levels previously reached only by diesel engines. The technology, called Ethanol Boosted Direct Injection or EBDI, takes full advantage of ethanol’s best properties – higher octane and higher heat of vaporization – to create a truly renewable fuel scenario that is independent of the cost of oil. Work on this research project has been carried out at the Detroit Technology Campus of Ricardo Inc. “Developing renewable energy applications that can lead to energy independence is a top priority at Ricardo,” said Ricardo Inc President Dean Harlow. “We’ve moved past theoretical discussion and are busy applying renewable energy technology to the real world. The EBDI engine project is a great example because it turns the gasoline-ethanol equation upside down. It has the performance of a diesel at the cost of a gasoline engine, and runs on ethanol, gasoline, or a blend of both.“ "
Read about it at http://www.ricardo.com/media/pressreleases/pressrelease.aspx?page=148