Credit: Matthew Henry
The recent power outages in Texas brought attention to its power grid being separated from the rest of the country. While it is not immediately clear whether integration with other parts of the national grid would have completely eliminated the need for rolling outages, the state s inability to import significant amounts of electricity was decisive in the blackout.
A larger power grid has perks, but also has perils that researchers at Northwestern University are hoping to address to expedite integration and improvements to the system.
An obvious challenge in larger grids is that failures can propagate further in the case of Texas, across state lines. Another is that all power generators need to be kept synchronized to a common frequency in order to transmit energy. The U.S. is served by three separate grids: The Eastern interconnection, the Western interconnection and the Texas interconnection, interlinked only by direct-current power lines. Any persisten
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IMAGE: Dr. Wylie, the director of the Rocco Ortenzio Neuroimaging Center at Kessler Foundation, conducts research in cognitive fatigue in healthy individuals and populations with multiple sclerosis, brain injury, and Gulf. view more
Credit: Kessler Foundation/Jody Banks
East Hanover, NJ. April 1, 2021. A team of New Jersey researchers has shown that changes in perceptual certainty and response bias, two central metrics of signal detection theory (SDT), correlate with changes in cognitive fatigue. They also show that SDT measures change as a function of changes in brain activation. This finding was reported in
The authors are Glenn Wylie, DPhil, Brian Yao, PhD, and John DeLuca, PhD, of Kessler Foundation, and Joshua Sandry, PhD, of Montclair State University.
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IMAGE: SEM micrograph of vertically standing, flat micromirror array with an inset of magnified area. Credit: Hillmer et al. view more
Credit: Hillmer et al.
Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of primary energy consumption and 36 percent of total CO2 emissions. And, as we know, CO2 emissions trigger global warming, sea level rise, and profound changes in ocean ecosystems. Substituting the inefficient glazing areas of buildings with energy efficient smart glazing windows has great potential to decrease energy consumption for lighting and temperature control.
Harmut Hillmer et al. of the University of Kassel in Germany demonstrate that potential in MOEMS micromirror arrays in smart windows for daylight steering, a paper published recently in the inaugural issue of the
Osaka University researchers have developed 3D porous nanocarbon materials through the pyrolysis of chitin nanofiber papers derived from crab shells. The properties of the pyrolyzed chitin nanofiber papers could be controlled using the pyrolysis temperature, and the materials were successfully used as photosensors, as well as supercapacitor electrodes for energy storage. It is hoped that the high performance achieved using the renewable raw material will highlight the viability of sustainable electronics.
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IMAGE: Researchers from The University of Tokyo develop a novel device for the safe and effective transplantation of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived pancreatic beta-cells in type I diabetes mellitus. view more
Credit: Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan - Type I Diabetes Mellitus (T1D) is an autoimmune disorder leading to permanent loss of insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreas. In a new study, researchers from The University of Tokyo developed a novel device for the long-term transplantation of iPSC-derived human pancreatic beta-cells.
T1D develops when autoimmune antibodies destroy pancreatic beta-cells that are responsible for the production of insulin. Insulin regulates blood glucose levels, and in the absence of it high levels of blood glucose slowly damage the kidneys, eyes and peripheral nerves. Because the body loses the ability to produce insulin over time, the current mainstay of treatment fo