Technology
press releases.

Technology6 Aug 2024

New study helps global MNCs weigh the pros and cons of implementing blockchain technology

Blockchain technology has become one of the most hyped advancements in recent years, but there hasn’t been a clear understanding of the potential trade-offs for its use by multinational corporations (MNCs). A new study published in the Global Strategy Journal provides a better understanding of blockchain merits and drawbacks by focusing on three particular applications of the technology in this sector: financial transactions, collaboration, and data analytics. The study, “A perspective on three trade-offs of blockchain technology for the global strategy of the MNC,” was authored by Tuuli Hakkarainen of the University of Liverpool, Anatoli Colicev of the University ...

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Technology6 Aug 2024

Texas Tech professor receives grant for printable semiconductors research

Minxiang “Glenn” Zeng, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas Tech University, has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (LEAPS-MPS) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further his research about printable semiconductors and electronics under extreme environments. The grant supports Zeng’s work in understanding and controlling the thermal degradation pathways of printed metal chalcogenides, which are semiconductor materials including selenides, tellurides and sulfides. His goal is to develop strategies to enhance the thermal stability ...

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Technology6 Aug 2024

Digital Olfaction Society 2024: Revolutionizing scent digitization and global transfer

The 8th Annual Meeting of the Digital Olfaction Society (DOS) will take place on December 5-6, 2024, in Tokyo, Japan, and Online. The DOS meeting is uniquely aimed at digitizing scents, transferring them, and re-creating them in different parts of the world. The two-day event includes one day dedicated to talks and another day for demonstrations. Under the slogan "Olfaction to Digital Olfaction", the congress will explore the latest advances in olfaction science and digital olfaction technologies, highlighting their transformative impact across multiple fields. The first day of the congress will focus on olfaction science, scent-based diagnosis and treatment ...

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Technology6 Aug 2024

New York City’s fireworks display prompts temporary surge of air pollution

In 2023, roughly 60,000 firework shells exploded above Manhattan’s East River as part of Macy’s Fourth of July show. The resulting air pollutant levels were many times higher in the hours after the display than those seen when smoke from a Canadian wildfire had blanketed the area a month before. This is according to the results of a new study, led by researchers at NYU Langone Health, which measured air quality just before and after the Independence Day event, one of the largest in the United States. Tiny particles of hazardous metals and organic compounds peaked at 3,000 micrograms per cubic meter at an air sampling site ...

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Technology6 Aug 2024

Demographic representation of generative AI images of physicians

About The Study: This study identifies demographic biases in artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of physicians with disproportionate representation of white and male physicians and concerning underrepresentation of other races and ethnicities (Asian and Latino) and female physicians in some platforms. This bias has the potential to reinforce stereotypes and undermine diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within health care. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sang Won Lee, MSc, email sangwon_lee@hms.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed ...

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Technology6 Aug 2024

Novel machine learning-based cluster analysis method that leverages target material property

In materials science, substances are often classified based on defining factors such as their elemental composition or crystalline structure. This classification is crucial for advances in materials discovery, as it allows researchers to identify promising classes of materials and explore new ones with similar functions and properties. A recent Advanced Intelligent Systems study led by Researcher Nobuya Sato and Assistant Professor Akira Takahashi from Tokyo Institute of Technology developed a new machine learning-powered clustering technique. This technique groups similar materials by taking into account both their ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

Wayne State University professor receives NSF grant to study quantum tunneling

DETROIT — A Wayne State University professor recently received a three-year, $626,467 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Physics. The project, “Probing Nonadiabatic Strong Field Ionization with Phase-Resolved Attoclock,” will research a quantum mechanical process known as quantum tunneling. Wen Li, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Wayne State’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and his research team propose a new technique they have developed to study the process of quantum tunneling, a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which an object such as an electron or atom passes through ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

Hydraulic lift technology may have helped build Egypt’s iconic Pyramid of Djoser

The Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest of Egypt’s iconic pyramids, may have been built with the help of a unique hydraulic lift system, according to a study published August 5, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Xavier Landreau from CEA Paleotechnic Institute, France, and colleagues. The new study suggests that water may have been able to flow into two shafts located inside the pyramid itself, where that water could have been used to help raise and lower a float used to carry the building stones. The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is believed ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

Tradition meets transformation for Maasai women

Few communities reveal both the challenges and opportunities presented by cultural globalism more than Maasai communities in northern Tanzania. Traditionally pastoralists, the Maasai ethnic group’s social structure is historically patriarchal, with a man’s prestige measured by the size of his family and by the livestock he owns. The shrinking world has brought change: Urban centers and the promise of jobs are luring young Maasai from communities, and new technologies such as mobile phones are shifting social patterns and structures that ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

Engineers develop general, high-speed technology to model, understand catalytic reactions

AMES, Iowa – Researchers have been studying the industrial production of ammonia for a century. But they’ve struggled to find ways to improve the low-yield, low-efficiency process. Atmospheric nitrogen, with the aid of an iron catalyst, reacts with hydrogen to produce ammonia. That reaction produces lots of ammonia – worldwide production is 160 million tons every year. Most is used in agriculture, especially as nitrogen fertilizer. It’s also used in many industries, including refrigeration ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

New $1.9 million PSU grant aims to improve outcomes for students with disabilities

Improving outcomes for students with disabilities as they transition from high school to postsecondary education and employment starts with effective training and development opportunities for the secondary educators who support them. Portland State University (PSU) has received a $1.9 million grant to redesign, implement and test a professional development model that aims to provide essential training for secondary educators. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education’s prestigious Institute of Education Sciences, will fund a four-year project titled "Transition Coalition Self-Study Plus (TCSS+): A ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

Physicists develop new method to combine conventional internet with the quantum internet

Four researchers from the Institute of Photonics at Leibniz University Hannover have developed a new transmitter-receiver concept for transmitting entangled photons over an optical fiber. This breakthrough could enable the next generation of telecommunications technology, the quantum Internet, to be routed via optical fibers. The quantum Internet promises eavesdropping-proof encryption methods that even future quantum computers cannot decrypt, ensuring the security of critical infrastructure. "To make the quantum Internet a reality, we need to transmit entangled photons via fiber optic networks,” says Prof. Dr. Michael Kues, Head of the Institute ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

Planting some tree species may worsen, not improve, NYC air, says new study

In line with longstanding initiatives to expand its green spaces, New York City is planting tens of thousands of trees each year. They provide shade, lower surface temperatures by releasing moisture, absorb a surprising amount of airborne carbon, scrub out soot and other floating pollutants, and provide wildlife habitat along with just plain beauty. What could go wrong? Actually, something could go wrong, according to a new study. Oaks and sweetgums, which currently account for a majority of the city’s trees, produce huge amounts of volatile compounds called isoprenes. Harmless by themselves, isoprenes interact rapidly with polluting nitrogen oxides emitted by vehicles, ...

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Technology5 Aug 2024

First measurement of electron- and muon-neutrino interaction rates at the highest energy ever detected from an artificial source

Neutrinos are fundamental particles in the Standard Model of particle physics, notable for their extremely small masses and weak interactions with matter. They are important for answering fundamental questions about the universe, including why particles have mass and why there is more matter than antimatter. Despite being abundant, their weak interactions make their detection difficult, and hence they are called “ghost particles.” At any given moment, numerous neutrinos freely pass through the Earth and our bodies, which originate from the Sun or cosmic rays. Understanding their rare interactions with matter is crucial for obtaining a more complete picture ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

A Bronze Age technology could aid the switch to clean energy

Technology with roots going back to the Bronze Age may offer a fast and inexpensive solution to help achieve the United Nations climate goal of net zero emissions by 2050, according to recent Stanford-led research in PNAS Nexus. The technology involves assembling heat-absorbing bricks in an insulated container, where they can store heat generated by solar or wind power for later use at the temperatures required for industrial processes. The heat can then be released when needed by passing air through channels in the stacks of “firebricks,” thus allowing cement, steel, glass, and paper factories to run on renewable energy even when wind and sunshine ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

BNP-Track algorithm offers a clearer picture of biomolecules in motion

It’s about to get easier to catch and analyze a high-quality image of fast-moving molecules. Assistant Professor Ioannis Sgouralis, Department of Mathematics, and colleagues have developed an algorithm that adds a new level to microscopy: super-resolution in motion. The cutting-edge advancement of super-resolution microscopy was recognized with the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for its groundbreaking innovation. It improves optical microscopy with a suite of techniques that overcome the inherent limitations set by the physics of light. The high-frequency oscillations of light waves escape detection ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

Sustainable green energy innovation! Development of new technology for energy device that heals itself from damage incurred while generating electricity

□ A team led by Professor Lee Joo-hyuk of the Department of Energy Engineering at DGIST (President Lee Kunwoo) has developed an ionic polyurethane-based triboelectric generator[1]with self-healing, biodegradable[2], and high electro-positive properties. The device has been designed as a green energy device that can minimize the impact on the environment by facilitating self-healing and biodegradability, while significantly enhancing power output performance through the use of ionic liquid. Based on these properties, it is expected to be used as a sustainable power source in next-generation soft electronic devices and wearable devices. - ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

White Matter May Aid Recovery From Spinal Cord Injuries: Study

Injuries, infection and inflammatory diseases that damage the spinal cord can lead to intractable pain and disability. Some degree of recovery may be possible. The question is, how best to stimulate the regrowth and healing of damaged nerves. At the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS), scientists are focusing on a previously understudied part of the brain and spinal cord — white matter. Their discoveries could lead to treatments that restore nerve activity through the targeted delivery of electromagnetic stimuli or drugs. As in the brain, the spinal cord is made up nerve cell bodies (gray matter), which process sensation and control voluntary movement, and ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

NSF awards new funding to bolster UVA research computing project

The National Science Foundation is awarding a new grant to support the Virginia Assuring Controls Compliance of Research Data project, known as ACCORD, a program that has helped students and faculty at universities across Virginia gain access to critical research computing resources. The ACCORD program has provided a platform for researchers to securely share and store data as well as take on projects that require the protection of sensitive data. Participants have included minority-serving institutions, those that do not grant Ph.D. degrees, and others that lack this computing infrastructure. Neal Magee, an associate professor with the University of Virginia’s ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

Cold antimatter for quantum state-resolved precision measurements

Why does the universe contain matter and (virtually) no antimatter? The BASE international research collaboration at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, headed by Professor Dr Stefan Ulmer from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), has achieved an experimental breakthrough in this context. It can contribute to measuring the mass and magnetic moment of antiprotons more precisely than ever before – and thus identify possible matter-antimatter asymmetries. BASE has developed a trap, which can cool individual antiprotons much more rapidly ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

Solving the doping problem: Enhancing performance in Organic Semiconductors

Cavendish physicists have discovered two new ways to improve organic semiconductors. They found a way to remove more electrons from the material than previously possible and used unexpected properties in an environment known as the non-equilibrium state, boosting its performance for use in electronic devices. “We really wanted to hit the nail and figure out what is happening when you heavily dope polymer semiconductors,’ said Dr Dionisius Tjhe, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Cavendish Laboratory. Doping is the process of removing or adding electrons into a semiconductor, increasing its ability to ...

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Technology2 Aug 2024

Turkey vultures fly faster to defy thin air

Mountain hikes are invigorating. Crisp air and clear views can refresh the soul, but thin air presents an additional challenge for high-altitude birds. ‘All else being equal, bird wings produce less lift in low density air’, says Jonathan Rader from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, USA, making it more difficult to remain aloft. Yet this doesn’t seem to put them off. Bar-headed geese, cranes and bar-tailed godwits have recorded altitude records of 6000 m and more. So how do they manage to take to the air when thin air offers ...

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Technology1 Aug 2024

ACM publishes first issue of Proceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has recently published the first issue of Proceedings of the ACM on Software Engineering (PACSME), a new Gold Open Access journal publishing top-quality, original research on all aspects of software engineering, from requirements elicitation to quality assessment, design, maintenance, evolution, and deployment. PACMSE covers a broad range of topics and methods that help conceive, create, and maintain better software be it embedded, cloud-based, mobile and ubiquitous, or runs on conventional computers. “The overarching goal of the new PACSME journal is to make ...

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Technology1 Aug 2024

China forges ahead with technological innovations in large-span arch bridge construction

The field of bridge engineering is witnessing a transformative era, as China leads the way with its recent advancements in constructing large-span arch bridges. Jielian Zheng, the member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering from Guangxi University, has authored a research article in Engineering, titled “Recent Construction Technology Innovations and Practices for Large-Span Arch Bridges in China.” The article elucidates the significant strides made in the construction of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) and steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) ...

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Technology1 Aug 2024

Towards smart cities: Predicting soil liquefaction risk using artificial intelligence

The development of human societies is concurrent with infrastructural changes, evidenced by rapid urbanization in recent years. We are moving towards the era of 'smart cities' powered by advanced technology—such as artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things, and big data analytics—for sustainable urban development. However, climate change has been hampering this growth—earthquakes and other natural hazards negatively impact buildings and other structures in their wake. Soil liquefaction is an example of a natural ...

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