Shanghai Ranking again taps TUM as Germany's top university

08-24-2012: The Technische Universit?t M?nchen has once again been ranked as the best German university in the latest Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai Ranking). It came in at 53rd place worldwide and held its position above all other universities in Germany, including the so-called "full universities." In rankings by individual subjects, TUM placed 12th worldwide in chemistry and was unchallenged nationally in computer science. In comparisons of broader disciplinary areas, TUM was tops nationwide in natural sciences/mathematics, engineering sciences, and life sciences.

The ranking by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University evaluates the research achievements of universities worldwide. The assessment is based above all on publications in important journals and scientists' citation ratings, as well as the number of scientists and alumni with Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals.

TUM ranked higher than LMU Munich (60th place), the University of Heidelberg (62nd place) and the University of Freiburg (99th place). None of Germany's other technical universities made a showing above ranks 201-300. TUM was ranked fourth-best among all technical universities in Europe.

Chemistry at TUM advanced one more position from last year's ranking and now stands, at 12th place worldwide, ahead of Oxford University. With respect to the broader disciplinary areas, TUM ranked among the top 50 in natural sciences and mathematics (43rd place) and was the only German university to place among the world's top 100 inengineering sciences (ranks 51-75).

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HBT: Colon's suspension doesn't mean sky is falling

I have a sneaking suspicion that Bartolo Colon?s drug suspension coming a week after Melky Cabrera?s is gonna be like manna from hack commentator heaven. The story line ? and it will be treated as one, seamless story line ? is gonna break down thusly:

Angle: Here we go again! The Bay Area is once again the center of the PEDs universe!

Comment: It is true, Colon plays on one side of the San Francisco Bay and Melky plays on the other. It is also true that Jose Canseco played on one side of the San Francisco Bay and Barry Bonds played on the other. This is an accident of geography and nothing more. ?I?ll allow this as a viable angle if any evidence is revealed connecting the old Bay Area drug cases and these new ones. But that?s extremely unlikely.

There is almost certainly no connection at all between the old BALCO things and these testosterone tests. There is likely even no connection between Colon?s test and Cabrera?s. As such, linking all of these things together, or even just linking Cabrera and Colon together in some sort of grand ?the Bay Area and PEDs? kind of thinkpiece without any actual factual basis for doing so is pretty good evidence that someone is mailing in a column. It?s the equivalent of writing a story about a murder in New York and spending several paragraphs on the Son of Sam killings.

Angle: Major League Baseball has a serious drug problem and has to do something now!

Comment: I bet Tom Verducci is kicking himself for writing this story yesterday instead of tomorrow, because it?s always way better to write a ?the world is ending? trend piece when there is more than a single data point. ?But now that there are two positive drug tests involving prominent players this year ? sorry Freddy Galvis, Guillermo Mota and Marlon Byrd, you just don?t rate ? we?re twice as far along into epidemic territory as we were yesterday.

That said, I still can?t see how the fact of a positive test and a player being penalized can serve as evidence that Major League Baseball?s drug testing program is flawed. Now, maybe it is flawed. Maybe the tests are done haphazardly and too seldomly. Maybe the whole thing is a farce. But the one thing that is not evidence of that is someone getting caught. No, to make the case that the system is broken, you have to actually explain what about it is broken. To do otherwise is the same as saying that the criminal justice system is broken because that guy who robbed the liquor store was caught and punished.

Angle: The Oakland A?s are sunk/The Oakland A?s are rallying

Comment: With all apologies to Mike Krukow, this line of thinking is post-hoc nonsense. It?s not going to help the A?s to have lost Colon, but in a world where people seem to think that even Stephen Strasburg is a non-essential part of a playoff team?s roster, I have a hard time buying Bartolo Colon?s absence as the tipping point. Especially now that they have Brett Anderson back to take his place.

If the A?s lose the wild card now, people will blame Bartolo Colon being gone. If they win it, they will credit the A?s rallying around the loss and/or betrayal and/or whatever of Colon and say it was the season?s turning point. ?In reality, the A?s wild card hopes have a lot more to do with their offense, Brandon McCarthy?s health, the Tigers, the Orioles, the Angels and the Rays. ?Colon is not a serious factor for anyone except someone searching for an easy storyline.

There. Now that you?ve read that, you can ignore everything else. Isn?t that a relief?

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/22/and-now-tomorrows-bartolo-colon-commentary-today/related/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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Low-income Seniors Receive Tax Refund Cheques | novascotia.ca


The province is returning provincial income tax to more than 16,000 seniors this week as part of its commitment to help make life more affordable.

For the second year, Nova Scotia seniors who receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement will be refunded their provincial income tax for the 2011 taxation year.

The cheques will provide eligible seniors an average of $457, and at least $50.

"We're putting this money back into the hands of seniors who need it, because we know that every dollar counts," said Premier Darrell Dexter. "Some of Nova Scotia's seniors need a little extra help to make ends meet. Initiatives like this one help make life more affordable for thousands of low-income seniors."

Seniors do not have to apply for this refund, but they must file a tax return each year. The Department of Finance uses information from tax returns to assess eligibility and to process the refunds.

"We are committed to helping provide seniors with the means to age positively," said Denise Peterson-Rafuse, Minister of Seniors. "Through this tax refund, and other initiatives, we are working hard to give our seniors the support they need."

As additional tax-return information is received from the Canada Revenue Agency, more refund cheques will be processed and mailed. Those who did not file a return for the 2011 taxation year, but who are eligible, can still receive the refund when they file a tax return.

In addition to the 2011 tax year refunds being mailed this week, the department will also be sending cheques to more than 400 seniors for the 2010 tax year after receiving additional data from the Canada Revenue Agency.


FOR BROADCAST USE:

?????The province is returning provincial income tax to over

16-thousand seniors as part of its commitment to help make life

more affordable.

?????Seniors who receive the Guaranteed Income Supplement will

be refunded their 2011 provincial income tax. Eligible seniors

will receive, on average, 4-hundred and 57 dollars.

?????Premier Darrell Dexter says this puts money back into the

hands of thousands of low-income seniors, and will help make

life a little better for them.

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Media Contacts: Brooke Armstrong
????????????????Premier's Office
????????????????902-424-2402
????????????????E-mail: armstrbj@gov.ns.ca

????????????????Michelle R. Lucas
????????????????Department of Finance
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????????????????E-mail: lucasmx@gov.ns.ca

Source: http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20120822002

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More sophisticated wiring, not just bigger brain, helped humans evolve beyond chimps, geneticists find

ScienceDaily (Aug. 22, 2012) ? Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin?

A new UCLA study pinpoints uniquely human patterns of gene activity in the brain that could shed light on how we evolved differently than our closest relative. Published Aug. 22 in the advance online edition of Neuron, these genes' identification could improve understanding of human brain diseases like autism and schizophrenia, as well as learning disorders and addictions.

"Scientists usually describe evolution in terms of the human brain growing bigger and adding new regions," explained principal investigator Dr. Daniel Geschwind, Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics and a professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Our research suggests that it's not only size, but the rising complexity within brain centers, that led humans to evolve into their own species."

Using post-mortem brain tissue, Geschwind and his colleagues applied next-generation sequencing and other modern methods to study gene activity in humans, chimpanzees and rhesus macaques, a common ancestor for both chimpanzee and humans that allowed the researchers to see where changes emerged between humans and chimpanzees. They zeroed in on three brain regions -- the frontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum.

By tracking gene expression, the process by which genes manufacture the amino acids that make up cellular proteins, the scientists were able to search the genomes for regions where the DNA diverged between the species. What they saw surprised them.

"When we looked at gene expression in the frontal lobe, we saw a striking increase in molecular complexity in the human brain," said Geschwind, who is also a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior at UCLA.

While the caudate nucleus remained fairly similar across all three species, the frontal lobe changed dramatically in humans.

"Although all three species share a frontal cortex, our analysis shows that how the human brain regulates molecules and switches genes on and off unfolds in a richer, more elaborate fashion," explained first author Genevieve Konopka, a former postdoctoral researcher in Geschwind's lab who is now the Jon Heighten Scholar in Autism Research at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "We believe that the intricate signaling pathways and enhanced cellular function that arose within the frontal lobe created a bridge to human evolution."

The researchers took their hypothesis one step further by evaluating how the modified genes linked to changes in function.

"The biggest differences occurred in the expression of human genes involved in plasticity -- the ability of the brain to process information and adapt," said Konopka. "This supports the premise that the human brain evolved to enable higher rates of learning."

One gene in particular, CLOCK, behaved very differently in the human brain. Considered the master regulator of Circadian rhythm, CLOCK is disrupted in mood disorders like depression and bipolar syndrome.

"Groups of genes resemble spokes on a wheel -- they circle a hub gene that often acts like a conductor," said Geschwind. "For the first time, we saw CLOCK assuming a starring role that we suspect is unrelated to Circadian rhythm. Its presence offers a potentially interesting clue that it orchestrates another function essential to the human brain."

When comparing the human brain to the non-human primates, the researchers saw more connections among gene networks that featured FOXP1 and FOXP2. Earlier studies have linked these genes to humans' unique ability to produce speech and understand language.

"Connectivity measures how genes interact with other genes, providing a strong indicator of functional changes," said Geschwind. "It makes perfect sense that genes involved in speech and language would be less connected in the non-human primate brains -- and highly connected in the human brain."

The UCLA team's next step will be to expand their comparative search to 10 or more regions of the human, chimpanzee and maque brains.

Geschwind and Konopka's coauthors included Tara Friedrich, Jeremy Davis-Turak, Kellen Winden, Fuying Gao, Leslie Chen, Rui Luo, all of UCLA; Michael Oldham of UC San Francisco; Guang-Zhong Wang of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; and Todd Preuss of Emory University.

The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (R37MH060233) and (R00MH090238); a NARSAD Young Investigator Award, the National Center for Research Resources (RR00165) and Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/OD (P51OD11132); and a James S. McDonnell Foundation grant (JSMF 21002093).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Health Sciences, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Genevieve Konopka, Tara Friedrich, Jeremy Davis-Turak, Kellen Winden, Michael?C. Oldham, Fuying Gao, Leslie Chen, Guang-Zhong Wang, Rui Luo, Todd?M. Preuss, Daniel?H. Geschwind. Human-Specific Transcriptional Networks in the Brain. Neuron, 2012; 75 (4): 601 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2012.05.034

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/zvpfFoZ-kBg/120822124708.htm

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NHS set to go international under new govt scheme

The National Health Service could be expanding abroad as the government invites hospitals to set up profit-making branches overseas to raise funds for patients in England, officials said Tuesday.

Under the scheme, set to be launched jointly by the Department of Health and UK Trade and Industry this autumn, famous hospitals such as Great Ormond Street could create new branches in foreign countries.

The announcement comes a month after NHS staff including those from Great Ormond street played a starring role in the opening ceremony for the London Olympics, drawing international attention.

The Independent newspaper reported that upfront investment would only be drawn from income from private patients and any profits made overseas would be channelled back to England.

The proposal was reportedly inspired by hospitals in the US, including Baltimore's Johns Hopkins, which have taken similar steps.

Health Minister Anne Milton said: "This is good news for NHS patients who will get better services at their local hospital as a result of the work the NHS is doing abroad and the extra investment that will generate.

"This is also good news for the economy, which will benefit from the extra jobs and revenue created by our highly successful life sciences industries as they trade more across the globe."

Others criticised the move. Jamie Reed, a health spokesman for the opposition Labour party, said: "At a time when staff are losing their jobs and waiting times are rising, the Government's priority should be sorting out the mess it has created in our NHS."

The plan draws on a scheme first introduced under Labour which has seen hospitals expand abroad including London's Moorfields Eye Hospital, which has a branch in Dubai.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nhs-set-international-under-govt-scheme-083425757.html

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Quackery and Mumbo-Jumbo in the U.S. Military

Woman lying face down having cupping acupuncture. A cupping procedure

Photo by Keith Brofsky/Digital Vision.

The military uses some of the most technologically sophisticated machinery and innovative medical techniques in history. But a disturbing current of pseudoscience in the military is wasting money, perpetuating myths, and putting our troops in danger. I am a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, so this hits close to home. An organization I was once proud to belong to has become a source of embarrassment.

The most appalling episode was the bomb detector scandal. Iraq's military was trying to protect its soldiers and civilians with dowsing rods?very expensive, deceptively high-tech-looking electronic wands that worked no better at detecting bombs than would a forked stick or a coin toss.* Aside from being supremely unintelligent, the whole episode was tainted with conflicts of interest. Mother Jones reported that a high-powered Pentagon official and her family had money invested in these bogus devices.

An ongoing DoD failure is the infiltration of quackery into military medicine. It?s not as dangerous to our troops as a bomb detector that can?t detect bombs, but it?s wasting tax dollars and medical resources on unscientific mumbo-jumbo that ?works? only as a placebo. In some cases, it is demonstrably harmful.

Acupuncture is based on a mythical, nebulous energy called qi that has never been detected, even though scientific instruments are capable of measuring quantum energies at the subatomic level. It is said to flow through hypothetical meridians and to be altered by sticking needles into hypothetical acupuncture points. Originally, there were 360 acupuncture points, corresponding to the days of the year, which is not surprising since the idea grew out of astrology. Now so many acupoints have been described that one wag suggested there was no place left on the skin that wasn?t an acupuncture point in someone?s system.

Many proponents of acupuncture reject the esoteric explanations but believe acupuncture has a real physiological effect. Various mechanisms have been proposed, but none is convincing. Needling can release pain-killing endorphins in the brain, but that?s a nonspecific effect: Placebo pills do the same thing, and just throwing a stick for a dog releases endorphins in the dog?s brain.

We don?t need to know how it works to know if it works. Acupuncture has been tested repeatedly and found wanting. Studies have shown that it doesn?t matter where you stick the needles, and it doesn?t matter whether you pierce the skin. Stimulating intact skin with toothpicks or electricity works just as well. The crucial factor seems to be whether patients believe they are getting acupuncture.

The claimed benefits of acupuncture range from treating infertility to aiding smoking cessation, but the evidence argues against its usefulness for anything but easing pain and possibly nausea. A recent comprehensive review of the literature by Edzard Ernst found little evidence that acupuncture is even truly effective for pain. He also found 95 published cases of serious adverse effects, including death. There is a double standard here: The quality of evidence offered to support acupuncture would not pass muster for a proposed prescription drug.

Some acupuncturists have accepted that the evidence is lacking and are now saying: ?Maybe it?s just a placebo, but let?s use it anyway. Placebos are good.? But placebos amount to lying to the patient. Surely our troops deserve better.

The Air Force is training its doctors in ?battlefield acupuncture,? mainly due to the efforts of one man, Col. Richard Niemtzow. He reports that there are 40 physicians practicing acupuncture in the military, and that he and one other practice it full-time. He teaches ear acupuncture, a modern variant invented in 1957 by Paul Nogier, a French doctor. Nogier imagined that the external ear looked something like a fetus curled up in the womb. He imagined that every part of the body was represented on the auricle, the outer part of the ear, and that stimulating points on this homunculus could affect distant corresponding organs. (This kind of thinking was parodied in the BMJ in John McLachlan?s butt reflexology spoof, in which he pretended to have found that all parts of the body were represented on the buttocks and that inserting needles there was more effective than using the traditional acupuncture points.) Niemtzow has further refined ear acupuncture to five points on the ear stimulated with short needles that fit under a helmet. He has published no credible clinical research to show that this works.

The Navy offers a training course for physicians that was enthusiastically described by Capt. Elwood Hopkins in a three-part article for Navy Medicine Live. It is a sad account of a doctor being led down the garden path by a charismatic acupuncturist. The teacher offered biased information, and the student succumbed to a series of logical fallacies, allowing himself to be seduced by anecdotal evidence.

It can?t be stressed often enough that the plural of anecdote is not data. Uncontrolled observations usually lead us astray. Observing that some number out of 1,000 patients improved with acupuncture is meaningless unless we know how many would have improved without it. Hopkins admits that some patients don?t respond, saying it is ?never clear why.? I think I can guess why.

The Army has been using acupuncture to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, despite a lack of evidence that it works. And now it is hiring acupuncturists for its pain clinic at Fort Sam Houston at an annual salary of $68,809 to $89,450. The job description says the candidate will ?offer a full array of the most current and emerging evidenced based approaches in integrative medicine for patients with acute and chronic pain who have not responded well to conventional treatment modalities.?

One could argue that acupuncturists have nothing ?evidence-based? to offer in the first place, but what is really alarming are the duties listed for the position. They include things acupuncturists are clearly not trained to do, like prescribing orthotics and braces and counseling patients on nutrition. Worse, the duties include providing cupping, moxibustion, and visualization techniques, none of which are effective and two of which directly injure patients. Cupping is the application of glass bulbs filled with heated air to the skin. It creates a vacuum as the air cools, sucking up wads of skin into the bulbs and leaving ugly bruises. Moxibustion involves burning mugwort on or near the skin and can cause burns and permanent scars (and does so deliberately in some forms of moxibustion).

The DoD is not only wasting tax dollars but is also condoning deliberate injuries to the skin of military patients under the fiction of medical treatment. At Change.org there is a petition begging Congress to put a stop to this nonsense.

In this modern era, we should be looking at the best science, not reverting to anecdotal evidence and pre-scientific belief systems. We should be looking at comparative effectiveness and evidence-based treatments and ways to reduce costs. The adoption of acupuncture by military medicine is a step backward. But with strong advocates of alternative medicine on both sides of the aisle, we?re not likely to see changes any time soon.

Correction, Aug. 21, 2012: This article originally stated that the U.S. military was using dowsing rods. It was the Iraqi military. (Return to the corrected sentence.)

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=642fb6af94bcc2b872b3eb265058e325

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Get Ready for Kick Butt #5 | Kick Butt for Colorectal Cancer

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  • Organized by patients, family members and survivors, in support of the?Cancer Care Manitoba Foundation?Charitable donation number 88688 6746 RR0001
  • There is?no entry fee?for participants ? instead,?they contribute by raising money?to support the Foundation
  • 100% of all money?collected goes directly to colorectal cancer to help raise awareness and advocate for the needs of people who have colorectal cancer.
  • To raise awareness, participants are urged to wear boxer shorts, pyjamas, bathing suits, etc.
  • There will be prizes for the best?BUTT COVER!

?

Registration will be available on race day.

There will be a Silent Auction.

Tax receipts will be issued for all donations over $15.00

Information: (204) 918-6926

photo6581?ColonCheck_Logo_CMYK-300x60

Email:?sid@kickbuttrun.com
Website:?http://www.kickbuttrun.com

Help Us Kick Colorectal Cancer?s Butt!!!

Register at?CancerCare Manitoba foundation


All cheques payable to:
CancerCare Manitoba Foundation


Send completed registration forms or cheques to:
Kick Butt ? 225 Yale Avenue ? Winnipeg, MB ? R3M 0L3

?

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Source: http://kickbuttrun.com/wordpress/?p=6

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Self-charging power cell converts and stores energy

ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2012) ? Researchers have developed a self-charging power cell that directly converts mechanical energy to chemical energy, storing the power until it is released as electrical current. By eliminating the need to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy for charging a battery, the new hybrid generator-storage cell utilizes mechanical energy more efficiently than systems using separate generators and batteries.

At the heart of the self-charging power cell is a piezoelectric membrane that drives lithium ions from one side of the cell to the other when the membrane is deformed by mechanical stress. The lithium ions driven through the polarized membrane by the piezoelectric potential are directly stored as chemical energy using an electrochemical process.

By harnessing a compressive force, such as a shoe heel hitting the pavement from a person walking, the power cell generates enough current to power a small calculator. A hybrid power cell the size of a conventional coin battery can power small electronic devices -- and could have military applications for soldiers who might one day recharge battery-powered equipment as they walked.

"People are accustomed to considering electrical generation and storage as two separate operations done in two separate units," said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "We have put them together in a single hybrid unit to create a self-charging power cell, demonstrating a new technique for charge conversion and storage in one integrated unit."

The research was reported Aug. 9, 2012 in the journal Nano Letters. The research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The power cell consists of a cathode made from lithium-cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) and an anode consisting of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes grown atop a titanium film. The two electrodes are separated by a membrane made from poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) film, which generates a piezoelectric charge when placed under strain. When the power cell is mechanically compressed, the PVDF film generates a piezoelectric potential that serves as a charge pump to drive the lithium ions from the cathode side to the anode side. The energy is then stored in the anode as lithium-titanium oxide.

Charging occurs in cycles with the compression of the power cell creating a piezopotential that drives the migration of lithium ions until a point at which the chemical equilibrium of the two electrodes are re-established and the distribution of lithium ions can balance the piezoelectric fields in the PVDF film. When the force applied to the power cell is released, the piezoelectric field in the PVDF disappears, and the lithium ions are kept at the anode through a chemical process.

The charging cycle is completed through an electrochemical process that oxidizes a small amount of lithium-cobalt oxide at the cathode to Li1-xCoO2 and reduces a small amount of titanium dioxide to LixTiO2 at the anode. Compressing the power cell again repeats the cycle.

When an electrical load is connected between the anode and cathode, electrons flow to the load, and the lithium ions within the cell flow back from the anode side to the cathode side.

Using a mechanical compressive force with a frequency of 2.3 Hertz, the researchers increased the voltage in the power cell from 327 to 395 millivolts in just four minutes. The device was then discharged back to its original voltage with a current of one milliamp for about two minutes. The researchers estimated the stored electric capacity of the power cell to be approximately 0.036 milliamp-hours.

So far, Wang and his research team -- which included Xinyu Xue, Sihong Wang, Wenxi Guo and Yan Zhang -- have built and tested more than 500 of the power cells. Wang estimates that the generator-storage cell will be as much as five times more efficient at converting mechanical energy to chemical energy for as a two-cell generator-storage system.

Much of the mechanical energy applied to the cells is now consumed in deforming the stainless steel case the researchers are using to house their power cell. Wang believes the power storage could be boosted by using an improved case.

"When we improve the packaging materials, we anticipate improving the overall efficiency," he said. "The amount of energy actually going into the cell is relatively small at this stage because so much of it is consumed by the shell."

Beyond the efficiencies that come from directly converting mechanical energy to chemical energy, the power cell could also reduce weight and space required by separate generators and batteries. The mechanical energy could come from walking, the tires of a vehicle hitting the pavement, or by harnessing ocean waves or mechanical vibrations.

"One day we could have a power package ready to use that takes advantage of this hybrid approach," Wang said. "Almost anything that involves mechanical action could provide the strain needed for charging. People walking could be generating electricity as they move."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Communications, via Newswise. The original article was written by John Toon.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Xinyu Xue, Sihong Wang, Wenxi Guo, Yan Zhang, Zhong Lin Wang. Hybridizing Energy Conversion and Storage in a Mechanical-to-Electrochemical Process for Self-Charging Power Cell. Nano Letters, 2012; 120809113842007 DOI: 10.1021/nl302879t

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/Pu7t1lxGOXg/120821143614.htm

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Court docus show Cruise-Holmes divorce case closed

NEW YORK (AP) ? The Tom Cruise-Katie Holmes divorce case is closed.

Court records filed in a New York City court indicate the case was closed Monday.

Holmes and Cruise said in July they had reached an agreement less than two weeks into their headline-dominating divorce case. Their lawyers and representatives wouldn't disclose details.

The couple were married in Italy in 2006. They have a 6-year-old daughter, Suri.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-docus-show-cruise-holmes-divorce-case-closed-191454639.html

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