Vibration energy the secret to self-powered electronics

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A multi-university team of engineers has developed what could be a promising solution for charging smartphone batteries on the go — without the need for an electrical cord.Incorporated directly into a cell phone housing, the team’s nanogenerator could harvest and convert vibration energy from a surface, such as the passenger seat of a moving vehicle, into power for the phone. “We believe this development could be a new solution for creating self-charged personal electronics,” says Xudong Wang, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.Wang, his Ph.D. student Yanchao Mao and collaborators from Sun Yat-sen University in China, and the University of Minnesota Duluth described their device, a mesoporous piezoelectric nanogenerator, in the January 27, 2014, issue of the journal Advanced Energy Materials.The nanogenerator takes advantage of a common piezoelectric polymer material called polyvinylidene fluoride, or PVDF. Piezoelectric materials can generate electricity from a mechanical force; conversely, they also can generate a mechanical strain from an applied electrical field.Rather than relying on a strain or an electrical field, the researchers incorporated zinc oxide nanoparticles into a PVDF thin film to trigger formation of the piezoelectric phase that enables it to harvest vibration energy. Then, they etched the nanoparticles off the film; the resulting interconnected pores — called “mesopores” because of their size — cause the otherwise stiff material to behave somewhat like a sponge.That sponge-like material is key to harvesting vibration energy. “The softer the material, the more sensitive it is to small vibrations,” says Wang.The nanogenerator itself includes thin electrode sheets on the front and back of the mesoporous polymer film, and the researchers can attach this soft, flexible film seamlessly to flat, rough or curvy surfaces, including human skin. In the case of a cell phone, it uses the phone’s own weight to enhance its displacement and amplify its electrical output.The nanogenerator could become an integrated part of an electronic device — for example, as its back panel or housing — and automatically harvest energy from ambient vibrations to power the device directly.Wang says the simplicity of his team’s design and fabrication process could scale well to larger manufacturing settings. “We can create tunable mechanical properties in the film,” he says. “And also important is the design of the device. Because we can realize this structure, phone-powering cases or self-powered sensor systems might become possible.”Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. …


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#Advancedenergy, #Agriculture, #Alzheimer, #Development, #Health, #Journal, #Material, #Materials, #Minnesota, #Piezoelectric, #University

Using holograms to improve electronic devices

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A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering and Russian Academy of Science have demonstrated a new type of holographic memory device that could provide unprecedented data storage capacity and data processing capabilities in electronic devices.The new type of memory device uses spin waves — a collective oscillation of spins in magnetic materials — instead of the optical beams. Spin waves are advantageous because spin wave devices are compatible with the conventional electronic devices and may operate at a much shorter wavelength than optical devices, allowing for smaller electronic devices that have greater storage capacity.Experimental results obtained by the team show it is feasible to apply holographic techniques developed in optics to magnetic structures to create a magnonic holographic memory device. The research combines the advantages of the magnetic data storage with the wave-based information transfer.”The results open a new field of research, which may have tremendous impact on the development of new logic and memory devices,” said Alexander Khitun, the lead researcher, who is a research professor at UC Riverside.There are three co-authors of the paper: Frederick Gertz, a graduate student who works with Khitun at UC Riverside, and A. Kozhevnikov and Y. Filimonov, both of the Russian Academy of Sciences.Holography is a technique based on the wave nature of light which allows the use of wave interference between the object beam and the coherent background. It is commonly associated with images being made from light, such as on driver’s licenses or paper currency. However, this is only a narrow field of holography.The first holograms were designed in the last 1940s for use with electron microscopes. A decade later, with the advent of the laser, optical holographic images were popularized. Since, other fields have significantly advanced by using wave interference to produce holograms, including acoustic holograms used in seismic applications and microwave holography used in radar systems.Holography has been also recognized as a future data storing technology with unprecedented data storage capacity and ability to write and read a large number of data in a highly parallel manner.Khitun has been working for more than nine years to develop logic device exploiting spin waves. Most of his initial research was focused on the development of spin wave-based logic circuits similar to the ones currently used in the computers.A critical moment occurred last year when he decided the device didn’t need to replace the computer’s electronic circuits. …


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Roots to shoots: Hormone transport in plants deciphered

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Plant growth is orchestrated by a spectrum of signals from hormones within a plant. A major group of plant hormones called cytokinins originate in the roots of plants, and their journey to growth areas on the stem and in leaves stimulates plant development. Though these phytohormones have been identified in the past, the molecular mechanism responsible for their transportation within plants was previously poorly understood.Now, a new study from a research team led by biochemist Chang-Jun Liu at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory identifies the protein essential for relocating cytokinins from roots to shoots.The research is reported in the February 11 issue of Nature Communications.Cytokinins stimulate shoot growth and promote branching, expansion and plant height. Regulating these hormones also improves the longevity of flowering plants, tolerance to drought or other environmental stresses, and the efficiency of nitrogen-based fertilizers.Manipulating cytokinin distribution by tailoring the action of the transporter protein could be one way to increase biomass yield and stress tolerance of plants grown for biofuels or agriculture. “This study may open new avenues for modifying various important crops, agriculturally, biotechnologically, and horticulturally, to increase yields and reduce fertilizer requirements, for instance, while improving the exploitation of sustainable bioenergy resources,” Liu said.Using Arabidopsis, a small flowering plant related to mustard and cabbage that serves as a common experimental model, the researchers studied a large family of transport proteins called ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, which act as a kind of inter- or intra-cellular pump moving substances in or out of a plant’s cells or their organelles. While performing gene expression analysis on a set of these ABC transporters, the research team found that one gene — AtABCG14 – is highly expressed in the vascular tissues of roots.To determine its function, they examined mutant plants harboring a disrupted AtABCG14 gene. They found that knocking out this transporter gene resulted in plants with weaker growth, slenderer stems, and shorter primary roots than their wild-type counterparts. These structural changes in the plants are symptoms of cytokinin deficiencies. Essentially, the long-distance transportation of the growth hormones is impaired, which causes alterations in the development of roots and shoots. …


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Zebrafish neurons may lead to understanding of birth defects like spina bifida

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The zebrafish, a tropical freshwater fish similar to a minnow and native to the southeastern Himalayan region, is well established as a key tool for researchers studying human diseases, including brain disorders. Using zebrafish, scientists can determine how individual neurons develop, mature and support basic functions like breathing, swallowing and jaw movement. Researchers at the University of Missouri say that learning about neuronal development and maturation in zebrafish could lead to a better understanding of birth defects such as spina bifida in humans.”We are studying how neurons move to their final destinations,” said Anand Chandrasekhar, professor of biological sciences and a researcher in the Bond Life Sciences Center at MU. “It’s especially critical in the nervous system because these neurons are generating circuits similar to what you might see in computers. If those circuits don’t form properly, and if different types of neurons don’t end up in the right locations, the behavior and survival of the animal will be compromised.”The scientists studied zebrafish embryos, which are nearly transparent, making internal processes easy to observe. Using modified zebrafish expressing green fluorescent jellyfish protein, Chandrasekhar and his team were able to track neuronal migration.”This approach is used extensively to visualize a group of cells,” Chandrasekhar said. “In our study, clusters of green cells glowed and indicated where motor neurons were located in the brain. Some groupings are shaped like sausages while others are round, but each cluster of 50 to150 cells sends out signals to different groups of jaw muscles.”These motor neurons that Chandrasekhar studied are located in the hindbrain, which corresponds to the human brainstem and controls gill and jaw movement in these tiny fish. Genes controlling the development and organization of these neurons in zebrafish are functionally similar to genes in higher vertebrates including mammals.Chandrasekhar’s work contributes to a better understanding of how neuronal networks are organized and “wired” during development. These studies also may provide insight into birth defects like spina bifida, which affects 1 in every 2,000 births, according to the National Institutes of Health.”One of the hallmarks of spina bifida is an open neural tube in the spinal cord,” Chandrasekhar said. …


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#Biology, #Birth, #Chandrasekhar, #Development, #Health, #Human, #National, #Process, #Researchers

Rice seed treatments effective, worth investment: Study

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When every extra expense makes a difference in profitability, farmers often wonder which management decisions are worth the extra cost.One recent example is the development of seeds treated with insecticides to discourage early damage by crop pests. Researchers at Mississippi State University have been evaluating the effectiveness of rice seed treatments to find out what producers can expect from the extra investment. Their research saves farmers time and money while helping them make informed decisions about managing their fields.After testing scores of samples taken from rice fields across the state, MSU scientists found that seed treatments are effective in managing the crop’s most troublesome insect pests.”In Mississippi, we’ve been evaluating seed treatments for about five years,” said Jeff Gore, entomologist with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station and MSU Extension Service. “Our research has shown that rice grown with a seed treatment typically yields from 8 to 12 bushels more per acre than untreated rice. The main reason for that yield increase is rice water weevil control.” Gore said seed treatments are effective in both conventional rice varieties and hybrids.”Although they do not provide 100 percent control of rice water weevil, seed treatments do provide significant benefits in rice,” he said. “Because control is not absolute, a foliar insecticide application may be necessary to maximize control in some situations.”Insect managementGore works at the Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville. He said researchers take core samples about 4 inches in diameter and 8 inches deep from farms across the Delta, wash them and count the rice water weevil larvae.”An infestation of one larva per core will result in about a 1 percent yield loss,” Gore said. “Typical infestations in the Delta range from 10 to 25 weevils per core in untreated fields, resulting in a 10 to 25 percent yield loss.”Gore said that seed treatments provide other benefits to rice producers, too.”Seed treatments provide good control against a whole complex of other rice pests,” he said. “Seed treatments help manage chinch bugs, grape colapsis, thrips and soil insects, such as wire worms and white grubs, and get the plants off to a good, healthy start.”Performance under floodSeed treatments for row crops, such as corn, cotton or soybean, target early-season pests that are in the soil when the seed is planted. But rice seed treatments are different.”We’re targeting primarily rice water weevils, and they only move into the field when producers establish the permanent flood about three to six weeks after planting,” Gore said. …


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#Agriculture, #Alzheimer, #Cruiser, #Decisions, #Development, #Farmers, #Flushing, #Management, #Profitability, #Result, #Science

Early childhood education can pay big rewards to families, society

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High quality early childhood education for disadvantaged children can simultaneously reduce inequality and boost productivity in America, contends James Heckman, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and one of the nation’s leading experts on early childhood education.”With the global rise in income inequality, children born into disadvantaged environments are at much greater risk of being unskilled and facing many obstacles in life — which is bad for individuals and bad for societies,” said Heckman, who delivered a talk “Giving Kids a Fair Chance Early in Life: A Strategy that Works” on Feb. 14 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual meeting in Chicago.He pointed out that economic and socially related gaps in cognitive and non-cognitive skills emerge early, and can be traced in part to adverse early environments.”With smart policies we can arrest the polarization between skilled and unskilled, focusing on early years when change is possible,” he said. Strong early childhood education programs can help overcome the gaps and help children become better prepared for success in life, he said.Heckman spoke at a seminar titled “Talking to Kids Really Matters: Early Language Experience Shapes Later Life Chances.” At the session, scholars discussed the importance of verbal engagement by caretakers in the development of children’s language and cognitive abilities.Researchers have found that the timing, quality and quantity of talking with children are crucial to the development of language and cognitive abilities. In one study, some mothers spoke many thousands of words a day to children, while another spoke only 600 words to her infant over a 10-hour day, organizers of the seminar pointed out.The gap reduces the children’s vocabularies and undermines their performance in school, scholars contend. Early childhood education programs can make up for some of the differences.Heckman has studied extensively early childhood programs, including the Perry Preschool Project and the Abecedarian Project, and found that they were especially effective in helping children from disadvantaged families succeed in school and later in life.When the oldest participants were studied (at age 40 for the Perry program and age 35 for Abecedarian), the people who received services when they were younger scored higher on achievement tests, attained higher levels of education, required less special education, earned higher wages, had better physical health, were more likely to own a home, and were less likely to go on welfare or be incarcerated than other children from similar backgrounds.Non-cognitive skills, which can be fostered at an early age, are as important in the children’s futures as are academic preparation, Heckman said. Those skills include perseverance, attentiveness, motivation, and self-confidence. Those skills help students perform better in school and later on jobs, he has found.Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by University of Chicago. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.


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Embryology: Scientists crack open "black box" of development and see a "rosette"

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We know much about how embryos develop, but one key stage — implantation — has remained a mystery. Now, scientists from Cambridge have discovered a way to study and film this ‘black box’ of development. Their results — which will lead to the rewriting of biology text books worldwide — are published in the journal Cell.Embryo development in mammals occurs in two phases. During the first phase, pre-implantation, the embryo is a small, free-floating ball of cells called a blastocyst. In the second, post-implantation, phase the blastocyst embeds itself in the mother’s uterus.While blastocysts can be grown and studied outside the body, the same has not been true from implantation. And because embryos are so closely connected to their mothers, implantation has also been difficult to study in the womb.According to study author Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of the University of Cambridge: “We know a lot about pre-implantation, but what happens after implantation — and particularly the moment of implantation — is an enigma.”Scientists are interested in studying implantation because the embryo undergoes huge changes in such a short space of time.”During these two days, it goes from a relatively simple ball to a much larger, more complex cup-like structure, but exactly how that happens was a mystery — a black box of development. That is why we needed to develop a method that would allow us to culture and study embryos during implantation,” she explained.Working with mouse cells, Professor Zernicka-Goetz and her colleague Dr Ivan Bedzhov succeeded in creating the right conditions outside the womb to study the implantation process.To be able to support development, they created a system comprising a gel and medium that, as well as having the right chemical and biological properties, was of similar elasticity to uterine tissue. Crucially, this gel was transparent to optical light, allowing then to film the embryo during implantation.This new method revealed that on its way from ball to cup, the blastocyst becomes a ‘rosette’ of wedge-shaped cells, a structure never before seen by scientists.”It’s a beautiful structure. This rosette is what a mouse looks like on the 4th day of its life, and most likely what we look like on the 7th day of ours, and it’s fascinating how beautiful we are then, and how these small cells organise so perfectly to allow us to develop.”As well as answering a fundamental question in developmental biology, the new method will allow scientists to study embryo growth and development at implantation for the first time, which could help improve the success of IVF, and extend our knowledge of stem cells, which could advance their use in regenerative medicine.The findings also mean developmental biology text books will need rewriting. “The text books make an educated guess of what happened during this part of development, but we now know that what I learned and what I teach my students about this was totally wrong,” said Professor Zernicka-Goetz.Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by University of Cambridge. …


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#Biology, #Body, #Cambridge, #Development, #Ecology, #Goetz, #Journal, #King, #Pregnancy, #Science, #Scientists, #Zernicka

Healthy habits pay off in long term

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Can initial modes of behavior be used to predict how fit and healthy a person will be 18 years later? This question was in the focus of studies performed by researchers of KIT, Technische Universitt Mnchen, and the universities of Konstanz and Bayreuth. A basic survey covered about 500 adults over a longer term. The result: Initial habits determine physical fitness and health in the long term. The study is now reported by the scientists in the journal Psychology of Sport and Exercise.”The results of our study reveal how important it is to acquire health-promoting habits at early adult age already. This should also be in the focus of prevention measures,” Professor Alexander Woll, Head of the KIT Institute of Sports and Sport Science, explains. Initial habits concerning nutrition and physical exercise will influence physical fitness and health in a statistically significant way in the long term.In their study, the researchers used a four-stage biopsychosocial model to identify mutual interactions of health-relevant factors. On the first level, distal, environment-related factors, such as the migration background and socioeconomic status, can be found. The second level covers proximal, personal factors, such as social support, stress management strategies, and the coherence feeling. The third level includes behavioral factors, such as nutrition habits, smoking, and physical exercise. …


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Oil composition boost makes hemp a cooking contender

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Scientists at the University of York today report the development of hemp plants with a dramatically increased content of oleic acid. The new oil profile results in an attractive cooking oil that is similar to olive oil in terms of fatty acid content having a much longer shelf life as well as greater heat tolerance and potentially more industrial applications.Researchers in the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) in the Department of Biology at York say that high oleic acid varieties are a major step towards developing hemp as a commercially attractive break crop for cereal farmers. The research is published in Plant Biotechnology Journal.Using fast-track molecular plant breeding, the scientists selected hemp plants lacking the active form of an enzyme involved in making polyunsaturated fatty acids. These plants made less poly-unsaturated fatty acids and instead accumulated higher levels of the mono-unsaturated oleic acid. The research team used conventional plant breeding techniques to develop the plants into a “High Oleic Hemp” line and higher oleic acid content was demonstrated in a Yorkshire field trial.Oil from the new line was almost 80 per cent oleic acid, compared with typical values of less than 10 per cent in the standard hemp line. This high mono-unsaturated/low poly-unsaturated fatty acid profile increases the oil’s thermal stability and oil from the new line was shown to have around five times the stability of standard hemp oil. This not only makes the oil more valuable as a cooking oil but also increases its usefulness for high temperature industrial processes.As oilseed rape faces declining yields and increasing attacks from pest and disease, UK farming needs another break crop to ensure the sustainability of its agriculture and maintain cereal yields. An improved hemp crop, yielding high quality oil would provide an excellent alternative. Hemp is a low-input crop and is also dual-purpose, with the straw being used as a fibre (for bedding, composites and textiles), for biomass and as a source of high value waxes and secondary metabolites.Professor Ian Graham, from CNAP, said: “The new line represents a major improvement in hemp as an oil crop. Similar developments in soybean and oilseed rape have opened up new markets for these crops, due to the perceived healthiness and increased stability of their oil.”In 2014 field trials of the new High Oleic Hemp are being rolled out across Europe in order to establish agronomic performance and yield under a range of environmental conditions in advance of launching a commercial crop.Story Source:The above story is based on materials provided by University of York. …


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#Agriculture, #Biotechnology, #Centre, #Department, #Development, #Europe, #Major, #Plant, #Pregnancy, #Research, #Standard, #York