TIP! Internet marketing is often most successful when your efforts fill another person?s needs. Your business will have a good foundation if you approach everyday with a clear understanding of how to answer the questions.
Outside of the nearly super-human people we see on TV and in magazines, the great majority of the world is made up of ordinary people. Even if you are what you consider ordinary, it doesn?t mean you can?t make yourself an extraordinary business. Using solid Internet promotion, your business can be successful right from the start. The tips below will show you how.
TIP! Typically, the average consumer will not believe everything that you say in advertisements. That?s a legacy of years of misleading advertising that people have been exposed to.
Ask well known and respected individuals in your niche to write articles or do interviews. Always get written permission before you publish any of this content. Convert interviews into simple articles, then submit them to directories on E-zine. You can get a lot of traffic and build your reputation up a lot, giving you a lot of credibility.
TIP! ?Limited? is a strong keyword to include. Individuals purchase online as they are exhausted by the merchandise their area stores are offering.
Use the emphasis tags that HTML provides when creating your website copy. You can increase a word?s strength by bolding it or italicizing it. Doing this specifies exactly what you want to say to your customers.
TIP! Internet marketing will go more smoothly for you if you create a viral video. It is also a great idea to include a link that will send viewers to your website inside your video?s description.
Emails are really important when establishing an Online marketing campaign. Protect your emails as much as possible as you may need these in the future. Try to use a service that saves all of your old emails so that you can keep dialogues with your customers. Keep track of the historical emails you send.
Put your site in a format that is more user friendly. This will keep your audience engaged and they won?t have to dig around for links.
TIP! An image linking directly to your product page is a discreet type of ad that people may be more likely to click. Try and match the text in your ads to the text in your copy.
When you are building your website, your goal should be to provide high quality, comprehensive content. Educate your customers about your product and why it would be a benefit for them to purchase. Don?t repeat descriptions and include meaningless information that your customer doesn?t care about.
TIP! As an example, say you sell websites to customers, then you could team with a writer and offer discounts to the writer?s customers. If your partner also offers discounts for you you can both make money and drive traffic.
When advertising your product, create a list of FAQs. Offer answers about your products and solutions that will help. Work the questions around your products without making it seem that way.
TIP! One strategy in running a successful internet business is by checking out your competition. Check out other websites in your field to discover what they could improve upon.
Create a game that your customers can play. Customers sometimes want to have fun, as this can facilitate that. The game can be utilized to subtly advertise products sold at your site. For example, create a game that allows players to style hair if what you?re selling are hair products.
TIP! Squeeze pages can be used to creates lists of contacts. A squeeze page is a smart way to encourage visitors to provide their email address.
Staying positive will help to make sales. Let customers know which of their problems your product will solve, and how it will solve them. People will feel good about buying your product if it makes them feel good about themselves.
TIP! Make your readers and customers more comfortable on your site with the following tip. Make sure that your customers know that the site is secure and that you will not spam their inbox.
Create a blog and link it to your website. Feeding the search engines original content is key. Without it, your site will drop in the rankings. Adding a blog is an easy way to add fresh content consistently.
TIP! Everyone on your mailing list should receive personal correspondence from you. Your visitors and customers are fed up with bulk emails that are impersonal and fake.
Whether you want to bring in piles of cash or just do something you love, your pursuit of success should never go interrupted. Striving for riches will keep you motivated, and using solid tips like the ones found in this article will definitely help to keep you on the right track.
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Leaders of Texas' embattled $3 billion cancer-fighting effort approved an $11 million grant to a biomedical company even though the proposal wasn't reviewed, according to an internal audit that deepens the troubles of a state agency that has been denounced in recent months by some of the world's top scientists.
The discovery was uncovered during an internal review of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The award to Peloton Therapeutics Inc. in 2010 was among first ever handed out by the agency, and remains one of its largest taxpayer-funded grants to date.
The Associated Press on Thursday first reported the audit's findings, which were later announced by the agency.
Tim Kutzkey, Peloton's acting chief executive officer, declined comment and referred questions to CPRIT. In a statement, the agency said the Dallas-based company was unaware that "CPRIT processes had not been followed."
The cancer institute is home to the nation's second largest pot of cancer-research money, behind only the National Institutes of Health, and has awarded nearly $700 million. But it has come under intensifying scrutiny as several scientists, including two Nobel laureates, resigned in protest claiming the agency was charting a new politically-driven path that put commercial interests before science.
The Peloton revelation is the latest blow to CPRIT, which launched in 2009 to widespread acclaim among scientists and cancer survivors but has spent the past year unraveling. Dozens of scientists have resigned from the agency's peer review panels en masse in recent weeks, some of whom criticized the fund for "hucksterism" and "suspicion of favoritism" on their way out the door.
Pelton's application would have been presented to the agency's oversight committee by Jerry Cobbs, the agency's chief commercialization officer. Cobbs announced his resignation this month, and his last day was set for Friday.
Members of the oversight committee are appointed by Gov. Rick Perry and other state elected leaders. The panel has the final say on whether an award is funded, but under agency rules, all applications must be reviewed by an outside panel of peer reviewers who evaluate the scientific and commercial merits of the proposal.
The agency's statement did not explain how Pelton's application made it through the process without anyone noticing that a review never took place. It only said that Cobbs "improperly included" the proposal in a slate of other recommendations to the oversight committee in December 2010.
Attempts by the AP to reach Cobbs were not immediately successful Thursday evening.
Bill Gimson, the executive director of CPRIT who vowed that his reeling agency would recover from the growing onslaught of criticism at its annual conference in October, said in response to the audit's findings that the agency must have the state's trust.
"We proactively initiated this comprehensive review in the effort to be transparent and ensure good stewardship," Gimson said.
Peloton's funding has been halted and that the company's application is undergoing a second review, the agency said.
Started behind a push led by cancer survivor Lance Armstrong and Perry, CPRIT spent most of its first five years basking in praise and industry awe of the unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars committed to a state-run, cancer-fighting effort. But those plaudits abruptly gave way to rebukes starting in May, and the fissures came from within.
Dr. Alfred Gilman, the agency's chief scientific officer and a Nobel laureate, announced his resignation following a $20 million award that never received a full scientific review. The money was for a so-called incubator project at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the country's top research institutes.
Gilman accused the agency's oversight board of ramrodding the project through the application process, despite the proposal being just six pages long. Gimson has said the type of proposal didn't require a full scientific review under agency rules but has since conceded missteps in how that award was handled.
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Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
Jacob ?Kobi? Margolin is founder and CEO of Clinigence of Atlanta, GA.
Tell me about yourself and about the company.
I?m the CEO and founder Clinigence, my third venture in healthcare IT. I am semi-Americanized, an Israeli originally. In the mid-1990s after seven years in an intelligence branch of the Israeli Defense Forces with a group of colleagues that I met in the military, we started Algotec, a medical imaging company. With Algotec, I came to Atlanta in 1999 to start US operations.?
We sold the company to Kodak in 2004. I then joined a startup at Georgia Tech that focused on the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model in medical imaging.
At my first company, Algotec, we were pioneers of bridging web technologies into the PACS market. These were days when medical imaging went through the electronic revolution. Our technology was all about distributing clinical images across the enterprise and beyond. My second company, Nurostar Solutions, capitalized on this electronic revolution and the SaaS model to facilitate new business models for imaging services. In those days, teleradiology was exploding and we became the leading technology platform for these services.
In 2008, I started on a path that led me to Clinigence today. 2008 was an election year. In the days leading to that election, I looked at what was going on in the market and thought that there might be new opportunities opening up around electronic medical records. I had followed the EMR market since my first HIMSS in 1997 in San Diego. The market was advancing, as one of the analysts put it, at glacial speed. Then in 2008 or 2009, suddenly an explosion of funds was allocated for this market. I started thinking about what was coming next. Let?s assume that the market is already on electronic medical records. What impact is that going to have?
That led me to the concept of clinical business intelligence, which in essence is, how do we make sense of the data in electronic medical records from both the clinical and business or financial standpoint for the benefit of healthcare providers, for the benefit of medical practices and their patients? This is when we started Clinigence.
Officially started in 2010, we had our first beta in February 2011 and our first commercial installation in October 2011. Today we are in over 70 medical practices with about 400,000 patients on the platform, with two EMR companies as channel partners. We just signed our second partner a few weeks ago and our first ACO customer just a few days ago.
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How do you position yourself in the market and who do you compete most closely with?
In the clinical analytics industry, we are unique in that we are entirely provider centric. We jumped into clinical analytics with the vision that everything is going to be inside clinical operations and everything is going to be electronic. We have created a technology foundation that uses electronic medical record data as its primary source.
If you look at clinical analytics, that is a multi-billion dollar industry. Pretty much all of that industry has focused on healthcare payers or health plans. The technologies are based on administrative or claims data. There are specific benefits ,we believe, in the use of EMR data as your primary source. The number one differentiator for us is in the use of EMR data, which allows us to do three things.
Number one, our reports are real time. We create a real-time feedback loop that takes the data from the provider system and goes back to the providers and helps them change the way they deliver care to their patients in more proactive ways.
Number two, our reports are very rich in outcomes. We all know that the ultimate goal of everything we?re doing in health reform today and healthcare transformation is patient outcomes. Yet a lot of the reports you look at today in the market don?t give you any outcomes in them, because the data that?s used to generate them is data for billing purposes that doesn?t include clinical outcomes.
Number three, because we focus on the system that comes from the healthcare provider organization itself, we give providers the ability to break the report all the way down to individual patients and individual clinical data elements. The reports are not anonymous for them. The reports are something that they can trust, something they can work with. With that, we have the power to change the behavior of providers and affect behavior change in their patients, which improves outcomes.
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If a physician is receiving reports from your system, what kind of improvements might they suggest?
The reports from our system drive a process, the process of improvement. It?s like peeling layers of an onion. We focus today almost exclusively on primary care. When we go to a primary care practice, we first have the physicians look at how they document clinical encounters today.?
Oftentimes the outer layer of the onion is helping the practice or the individual physicians with their documentation practices ? making sure that they?re documenting everything that needs to be documented. We often find that physicians say, ?Oh, we do these things,? but when you look down at their report, it doesn?t show it. It turns out that they?re doing things, but they?re not always documenting them or not documenting them correctly.
Then the second layer is we help the practices compare their performance, the compliance of their staff, with medical guidelines, recommended care, and sometimes their own protocols within the organization or the practice. You go into a practice and you ask the doctors, ?Do you follow these protocols??
For example, in family medicine, diabetes is chronic disease number one. The recommended guidelines, recommended care protocols for diabetes are pretty well established. We know the things we need to do. You go in and ask the physicians and they always say, ?Of course we follow medical guidelines. Of course we do all the things that we?re supposed to.?
Then you start breaking the data down to reports across the organization, across the staff within the practice. Almost inevitably you find that there are variations in care, differences among providers and their compliance with these protocols which lead to gaps in individual patient care. We help them find these variations in process compliance, close these gaps, and improve their compliance with those medical guidelines and protocols.
The deepest layer of the onion, which only a few of the practices we?re working with are at that level ? certainly in the ACO market we think that there?s going to be more of that ? is about going into the effectiveness of your protocols within the practice in driving outcomes and that goes both to patient outcomes and eventually to business or financial outcomes for the practice. In this context, we give the customer the power, essentially, to do things like comparative effectiveness, look at various protocols that they use and see which ones are driving the outcomes or the results that they want.
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The ACO concept is new enough that I?m not sure anybody really understands how they?re going to operate. Does anybody know how to use the data that you?re providing to manage risk, specifically within an ACO model? Or is it just overall quality and that?s what ACO should encourage?
I think that the ACO market is indeed still a baby. OK, it?s a newborn. Everybody is at the beginning of a journey. Even some of the organizations that have been doing this for the longest, like the pioneer ACOs, are still in very early stages.
We are focusing in the ACO market on finding organizations that we think have the best shot of going through this journey and being successful in going through this journey. We come to them and offer them a partnership in the journey, where we become somewhat of a navigation system for them with the kind of reports I mentioned earlier. Then really all that our technology can do ? empower them with those navigation tools to find the roads that lead to the holy grail of accountable care, to find the roads to the triple aim of health reform.
As I?ve said, we?ve just closed our first ACO customer, so it?s going to be presumptuous of me to say, ?Yes, the answers are already there.? But with the three things that I mentioned earlier, specifically, primary care driven and physician-led ACOs have unique potential of identifying, figuring out the ways to get to that holy grail. We think that our technology is a critical piece that can help them and then accelerate them in their path towards that holy grail.
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Describe the patient-centered medical home model and the data capabilities physicians need to operate under that.
In primary care, we are doing much more work on medical homes than ACOs because ACOs are still few and far between. There is great interest in the patient-centered medical home model.
The patient-centered medical home model in itself is only a care delivery model. It does not come with a payment model attached to it, but there are certain markets where payers actually offer incentives to those practices that go to the patient-centered medical home model.
To become a patient-centered medical home, there are specific areas that the practice needs to address. NCQA offers a certification process that has become the de facto standard in certification as a medical home. They don?t necessarily force you to have an electronic medical record, so you can potentially become a patient centered medical home even without one. But what we would say is, as you look at your goals in the patient-centered medical home ? specifically goals around continuous quality improvement, goals around population health management ? using electronic medical records becomes necessary, a prerequisite to your ability to engage seriously in those kinds of efforts.?
We typically come in with our technology after the practice implements or adopts electronic medical record technology and help them take the data in their electronic medical record and translate that into a clear path towards quality improvement.
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Is it hard to get physicians to follow your recommendations?
Most physicians are independent. They don?t like to be told what to do. Before I started Clinigence, I looked at clinical decision support and decided not to jump into it, basically because I didn?t want to be in a position to tell physicians what to do. Instead, I selected clinical business intelligence. It was more around telling physicians how well they?re doing and how well their patients are doing.?
One of the unique aspects of what we?ve built is that we created a ?declarative classification engine,? which in essence means that the physicians can ask the system whatever question they want about their operations, about their patients, about their quality. We give them flexibility to go around the medical guidelines that come from the outside sources, build their own protocols, and then look at compliance and look at their performance relative to the protocols that they have set up for themselves.
You have to be somewhat careful when you do that. If you?re looking for success under a specific pay-for-performance program, then you have to abide by whatever the payer or some outside authority has set for you, and it is not uncommon for us to have variations or flavors of the same guideline. One that measures performance for the outside reporting purpose, and then a second one or even a number of them that give the practice the ability to create their own flavor of protocols.?
Then it?s no longer somebody telling you ? Big Brother telling you ? what to do. You have the power to determine what to do. I think the ACO model ? and to some degree, also the patient-centered medical home as a step towards the ACO model ? puts the physicians within those ACOs in the driver?s seat. Nobody is telling them where to go or what road to try in order to drive the success of the ACO.
There are 33 quality metrics for an ACO that are defined by Medicare. We say, ?Is this sufficient?? Clearly these metrics are necessary; you have to report on those to Medicare. But are these sufficient? Will these guarantee your success??
It is clear to everybody in the ACO market that the answer is no. These may provide a starting point, but nothing more than that. You have to carve your own way to achieve the outcomes. We know what outcomes are desired, but as far as how to get there, much is still unknown. There?s great need for innovation in fact in the market to figure it out.
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A number of Israel-based medical technology companies have come in to the U.S. market, a disproportionate number based on what you might expect. Why are companies from Israel so successful in succeeding here?
My personal story may be a bit of a reflection of the success story of Israeli medical technology. Israel has become a Silicon Valley, an incubator of technology. Israel has more technology companies on Nasdaq, I think, than all of Europe combined. A lot of it is around the medical field.
Why has Israel has become that? I can speak from my own personal experience. There?s a book called Start-up Nation that was written by Dan Senor that looked more generally at this same question. His thesis in the book is that the military in Israel is the real incubator, the real catalyst for innovation.
I can say from my experience it really was like that. In my first company, Algotec, we started fresh out of the military. We were a group of engineers in the military. We knew very little about healthcare, certainly not healthcare in the US.
What we knew ? and what the military instilled in us ? was the desire to do something, to innovate, to create something. Beyond the desire, also the confidence to think that at the early age and early in our careers as we were back then, that we could do something like that. We could go and make a difference like that.?
There?s a lot of that going on in the medical field. I joke around that every Jewish mother wants her kid to be a doctor. Certainly there?s a lot of that here in the States. When I was growing up, somehow I was never really attracted to that. I was more on the exact scientific side. For my undergrad, I chose math and physics. In grad school, medical physics for me was a way to bridge the gap, to fulfill at least a portion of the wishes of my mother.
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Any concluding thoughts?
You asked me about the process that we go with practices and I said it?s like peeling layers of an onion. Today, mostly with our clients we focus with them on some of the outer layers. We help them comply with pay-for-performance or create a patient-centered medical home.?
But where I think all of this gets really exciting and interesting is when you start getting to the deeper layers. We took great efforts to build a platform that?s very flexible. The unique piece I mentioned earlier in this context was the declarative classification engine. We also built what we believe is the first commercial clinical data repository that?s based on semantic technologies. Now this may sound to some folks like technology mumbo jumbo, but what?s important here is the ability to get data ? any type of data ? and make sense of it, so the system can understand the data even if it has never seen data like that before.
We think that over time, as our healthcare system goes through this journey of figuring out how to deliver more effective and efficient care, we can with technologies like that drive or create a bridge in between medical practice and medical science or medical research. Imagine that all of medical research ? pharmaceuticals that go to the market or new devices that go through clinical trials ? where they test the devices on hundreds or thousands of patients. We are building a system that can collect data from many millions of patients. Already today we are collecting data on hundreds of thousands of patients every day in medical practices.
Imagine what kind of insights we can get out of the data that we?re collecting, and then how this can then accelerate medical knowledge. Not just in the context of the holy grail of accountable care ? helping deliver care that?s more efficient and effective ? but really advancing medical science, identifying new things, new treatment protocols that otherwise we would never know about or would take us generations potentially to find.
Yep, it's this week -- tomorrow, in fact! Are you ready to party with Engadget editors, talk up tech companies and win some valuable prizes? Good news: we've still got some tickets left for this week's event at Roseland! Click here to reserve your spot on the list and you can check out (and win) the latest and greatest from companies like Samsung, Dell, Sprint, MakerBot, Oakley, Gogo, Barnes & Noble and Speck. We'll see you tomorrow!
Celebrity gossip site TMZ found itself on the other side of the rumor mill Tuesday morning, after a story claimed it?applied for a surveillance drone permit from the Federal Aviation Administration. This news comes just as the FAA pushes back its deadline for selecting drone testing sites, citing for the first time its concerns over privacy.
But fear not, famous people!
Stacked in between posts about Jared Leto?s lack of eyebrows and ?ELMO ACCUSER #3? is TMZ?s denial, ?We?re NOT Keeping Up with the DRONESES.?
?We don?t have a drone ? we don?t want a drone ? we never applied for a drone,? the post reads, in part. ?Truth is ? while drones are, in fact, awesome ? it just ain?t true.?
The?San Francisco Chronicle?added a correction to the online version of its domestic drones story, which initially?contained the faulty fact. Tech, privacy and gossip blogs referencing the claim updated their posts as well.
Even the FAA issued a statement, assuring celebrity targets and their concerned fans that "TMZ does not have FAA authorization to fly an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), and we have no record that TMZ ever requested or inquired about an authorization."
But here?s the thing. Faster than TMZ could?refute the?drone accusation, plenty of people had no problem imagining that TMZ wanted one ? and?a few were?maybe?a little surprised to learn the ace gossip gathering institution doesn't have a drone?over Kanye West even now.
??Of course we were ready to believe,? said?Professor Matt Waite, the trailblazer behind the Drone Journalism Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's College of Journalism and Mass Communications.
If there?s two sure things, Waite told NBC News, it?s that, one day, ?paparazzi will use drones way they use helicopters, people on motorcycles, long telephoto lenses and anything else that gets a shot that brings them a bunch money.? The other, nearer sure thing? ?Significant lawsuits.? ?
This would explain the FAA?s reluctance to allow just any ol? person to cruise over crowds with what is, pretty much danger-wise, a million-dollar flying?lawnmower.?
Drones and journalism have great possibilities. From Fukushima?to Gaza, unmanned surveillance drones can help reporters gather important information without risking their lives.
Drones are valuable environmental monitors as well. This year,?the Drone Journalism Lab used an unmanned aerial vehicle to document Nebraska?s current drought, said to be even worse than the 1930s Dust Bowl. Aerial shots of the state?s desiccated landscape ? dry fields, dead grass and dying trees ? tell a story that?flow charts recording (the lack of) rain inches just can?t. ??
But celebrity stalkers piloting swarms of drones could wreak unprecedented havoc, the likes of which haven't been seen since?helicopters?cursed the extravagant cliffside wedding of Sean Penn and Madonna back in 1985. (Google it, kids!) Topless royals and hapless Lohans would be at the mercy of GPS-controlled Predators.
So for now,?universities, the military and police departments ? as well as drone manufacturers ? are the only groups the FAA considers eligible?for domestic drone licenses. Universities don't have the funds for drones that can fly for much more than 15 minutes, let alone maintain course in a five mile-per-hour wind.
You are right to?be concerned about your privacy, though,?even if you?re not a famous person. It's just that the privacy concerns of the moment?center around those eligible government agencies.?
"Drones have the ability to carry all types of surveillance ?equipment,"Jennifer Lynch, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told NBC News.
"Basic video cameras, infrared cameras, technology to intercept communication. The larger drones purchased and flown by the federal government can fly so high you can?t see them." Drones operated by the feds can fly for days, and take photos that are way better than what you see on?Google Earth, Lynch added.
"A lot of concerns raised with surveillance drones are not new," Lynch said. ?We would have similar concerns about an area blanketed by security cameras or technology that can intercept cellphone signals."
For all that?the EFF and other?advocacies,?such as the American Civil Liberties Union, know about drones, how that information is used and stored by the government is mostly a mystery to all but insiders.
In October, following what it says were ignored Freedom of Information Act requests, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to find out why the DHS loans out Predator drones to police departments across the country. A similar suit against the FAA resulted in a steady drip of information the EFF updates on its website, along with a map pointing out where drones are located.
While the FAA was quick to quell misinformation about TMZ's lack of a drone, it hasn't been so forthcoming with information about who does have them. Part of the problem, Lynch said, is that the FAA must talk to the agencies its licensed before it makes that information public.?
"The whole point of issuing licenses is so we can see what's going on in the air at any given time," Lynch said.?"It's unusual?for such a transparent association to keep the information on drone flights so secret, and it's very difficult to?evaluate the privacy and free speech concerns about drone flight without the information about who is flying drones right now."?
Well, at least we know it's not TMZ.?One day, the skies may be abuzz with paparazzo-copters training their 360-degree cameras on wardrobe-malfunctioning?starlets?or spawning?Kardashians. For the time being though, thanks to the FAA, it'll still?just be?dudes on scooters.
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about privacy and then asks her to join her on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.?Because that's how she rolls.
On Sunday, December 2, Red Bull will hold its first soapbox race in India at Mount Mary in Bandra. Soapbox racing is a form of gravity racing, where the vehicle is motorless and powered by nothing but gravity. The race is one in a series of more than 40 races Red Bull has?already conducted across the world.
The race is open to only home-made, non-motorised vehicles, that will be careening down the slopes of Mount Mary and competing to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Austria for the World of Red Bull store, an all-expenses-paid trip to Sunburn Goa, and a mysterious, ten invites to ?one of the most happening parties this New Year?s Eve?.
The event will be hosted by a crew of TV stars such as Cyrus Broacha (of Bakra fame), Kunal Vijaykar (of food fame), Rannvijay Singh (of Roadies fame), and Jose Covaco (of missing-persons fame), among others. Red Bull has also created an online mini-game version of the race here. On Sunday, Trivandrum?s motorcycle stunt-riding team Ghost Ryderz will be present and performing as well. Watch a video of them below.
The race begins at 11am on Mount Mary Road, Bandra on December 2. Registrations for the race have been closed. Find more details of the event here?and watch a video of the Los Angeles edition of the race, below. Also, check back on this space in the near future for NH7?s picture gallery from the race.
German efficiency and technical excellence is something that has never been doubted. Whether it be cars, machinery or even kitchens ? the nation?s attention to detail and meticulous workmanship has resulted in economic excellence and limited damage at the hands of the recession. German kitchens are now becoming the choice of many for their homes due to the aforementioned quality, rigidity and a sleek look.
German Kitchens
This is the case to such an extent that kitchen showrooms are popping up, dedicated to showcasing the very best fitted kitchens from our German cousins ?some of the best of which are based in Canterbury. Kitchen specialists have seen such a surge in demand for high quality kitchens that they are even due to open a 4,000 sq ft flagship showroom in London.
Not only is Germany pulling away from the pack in terms of superb kitchens but also what is produced from within them. Michelin now place German restaurants and kitchens second behind France in terms of food quality and excellence, presumably due to the extra wealth that has arisen as a result of their economic fortune.
Previously dismissed or even ridiculed for less than glamorous dishes such as saumagen (pig?s stomach) or sauerbraten (horse in vinegar) ? Germany is well and truly at a pinnacle when it comes to haute cuisine and the facilities with which they are produced.
Michelin Stars
There are now 10 restaurants in Germany that hold three of the much coveted Michelin stars, with La Belle Epoque in Lubeck-Travemunde being the latest to reach this very desirable milestone. Michelin have rewarded the Germans with this accolade due to consistent excellence and also the experimental food produced in its kitchens. This said, France is still literally miles away from the rest of Europe with an incredible 26 three star Michelin restaurants.
Tim Raue, hailing from the country?s capital has also recently been voted as the chef with the most international outlook ? he dazzled Michelin judges with his dim sums.
So, with some of the finest food and kitchens that are setting standards for the rest of the globe, it seems that Germany is the place to be at present for all the gastro out there. Top quality tools and easy to manoeuvre kitchens, top produce and an economy that can afford it ? France may not be quaking in its boots just yet but time could tell.
Electronic circuits are typically integrated in rigid silicon wafers, but flexibility opens up a wide range of applications. In a world where electronics are becoming more pervasive, flexibility is a highly desirable trait, but finding materials with the right mix of performance and manufacturing cost remains a challenge.
Now a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has shown that nanoscale particles, or nanocrystals, of the semiconductor cadmium selenide can be "printed" or "coated" on flexible plastics to form high-performance electronics.
The research was led by David Kim, a doctoral student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in Penn's School of Engineering and Applied Science; Yuming Lai, a doctoral student in the Engineering School's Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering; and professor Cherie Kagan, who has appointments in both departments as well as in the School of Arts and Sciences' Department of Chemistry. Benjamin Diroll, a doctoral student in chemistry, and Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor Christopher Murray of Materials Science and of Chemistry also collaborated on the research.
Their work was published in the journalNature Communications.
"We have a performance benchmark in amorphous silicon, which is the material that runs the display in your laptop, among other devices," Kagan said. "Here, we show that these cadmium selenide nanocrystal devices can move electrons 22 times faster than in amorphous silicon."
Besides speed, another advantage cadmium selenide nanocrystals have over amorphous silicon is the temperature at which they are deposited. Whereas amorphous silicon uses a process that operates at several hundred degrees, cadmium selenide nanocrystals can be deposited at room temperature and annealed at mild temperatures, opening up the possibility of using more flexible plastic foundations.
Another innovation that allowed the researchers to use flexible plastic was their choice of ligands, the chemical chains that extend from the nanocrystals' surfaces and helps facilitate conductivity as they are packed together into a film.
"There have been a lot of electron transport studies on cadmium selenide, but until recently we haven't been able to get good performance out of them," Kim said. "The new aspect of our research was that we used ligands that we can translate very easily onto the flexible plastic; other ligands are so caustic that the plastic actually melts."
Because the nanocrystals are dispersed in an ink-like liquid, multiple types of deposition techniques can be used to make circuits. In their study, the researchers used spincoating, where centrifugal force pulls a thin layer of the solution over a surface, but the nanocrystals could be applied through dipping, spraying or ink-jet printing as well.
On a flexible plastic sheet a bottom layer of electrodes was patterned using a shadow mask ? essentially a stencil ? to mark off one level of the circuit. The researchers then used the stencil to define small regions of conducting gold to make the electrical connections to upper levels that would form the circuit. An insulating aluminum oxide layer was introduced and a 30-nanometer layer of nanocrystals was coated from solution. Finally, electrodes on the top level were deposited through shadow masks to ultimately form the circuits.
"The more complex circuits are like buildings with multiple floors," Kagan said. "The gold acts like staircases that the electrons can use to travel between those floors."
Using this process, the researchers built three kinds of circuits to test the nanocrystals performance for circuit applications: an inverter, an amplifier and a ring oscillator.
"An inverter is the fundamental building block for more complex circuits," Lai said. "We can also show amplifiers, which amplify the signal amplitude in analog circuits, and ring oscillators, where 'on' and 'off' signals are properly propagating over multiple stages in digital circuits."
"And all of these circuits operate with a couple of volts," Kagan said. "If you want electronics for portable devices that are going to work with batteries, they have to operate at low voltage or they won't be useful."
With the combination of flexibility, relatively simple fabrication processes and low power requirements, these cadmium selenide nanocrystal circuits could pave the way for new kinds of devices and pervasive sensors, which could have biomedical or security applications.
"This research also opens up the possibility of using other kinds of nanocrystals, as we've shown the materials aspect is not a limitation any more," Kim said.
###
University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews
Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
John Boehner will never come as close to experiencing Burning Man as he did today when a group of naked individuals smeared in body paint stormed his office. Democrats are standing firm against cuts that could kill your grandmother, but there's a good chance she'll have to replace her hearing aids with those old-timey ear trumpets. And you'd be forgiven for confusing the Republicans placed in charged of the House's committees with a GOP panel on abortion rights: There are just so many dudes. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, November 27th, 2012
REID AND DURBIN DON'T WANT GRANDMA TO DIE - Good news for children who don't want their grandparents to spend their golden years head-to-toe in the same bed, "Willy Wonka"-style. The senior Illinois senator and Senate majority whip today asserted that Democrats would not allow cuts to Social Security to be part of any agreement to avert the fiscal cliff. Over the past two years, the White House had made it clear in budget negotiations that it was open to Social Security benefit reductions as part of a larger deal that included tax hikes. Yet on Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney appeared to back up Durbin's position, suggesting a "separate track" be used to reform Social Security. "We should address the drivers of the deficit, and Social Security currently is not a driver of the deficit," he said. And at a press conference on Tuesday, Reid said that President Barack Obama had told the fiscal cliff negotiators at a recent meeting that "Social Security is not going to be part of this." [HuffPost]
Durbin flack must've been a fun job today. In his prepared remarks for his "major address" today at CAP, he called for all entitlements to be off the table in fiscal cliff negotiations. Cue the headlines. Then during Q&A he said he was open to Medicare and Medicaid reforms. Cue the headlines. Durbin later clarified: "What I'm saying is, what I'm talking about now is the immediate -- what takes us to the end of the year to avoid the fiscal cliff," he said, adding that Medicare and Medicaid should not be part of those talks. "When you're talking about long-term deficit reduction, $4 trillion worth, entitlement reform needs to be part of it." Social Security, too? "No. Social Security you take off the table and put in a separate commission." The progressive wing, reporting for duty!
GRANDMA'S WHEELCHAIR TEMPTINGLY CLOSE TO EDGE OF FISCAL CLIFF - Sabrina Siddiqui: "Unfazed by campaign-season accusations of raiding Medicare, Democrats on the Hill said they are willing to consider reforming the entitlement program to avert the so-called fiscal cliff. 'On Medicare, I don't know of any bipartisan group that has wrestled with this problem that has not said Medicare and other health care costs have to be part of the solution,' Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, adding that he is not against Medicare being a part of fiscal cliff negotiations. 'They are the fastest growing accounts in the federal government. So clearly if you're going to deal with the long-term fiscal sustainability of our circumstance, health care accounts have to be a part of it.' The openness of Democratic lawmakers to pursue Medicare reform suggests that the party estimates only a limited political price for such a pursuit. 'I think there are things you can do on Medicare that will cut costs and keep people getting the benefits they need,' said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). But the base of the Democratic Party has warned members that cuts to the entitlement program should be minimal, if not entirely off the table, in negotiating a lame-duck grand bargain with Republicans." Rut-roh. [HuffPost]
LABOR AND PROGRESSIVE ACTIVISTS MEET WITH WHITE HOUSE OFFICIALS - Greg Sargent: "[R]epresentatives of major unions and progressive groups met privately this morning with senior Obama administration officials at the White House -- and were pleased with what they heard...one person at the meeting -- which included people from the AFLCIO, AFSCME, SEIU, MoveOn and others -- came away convinced that the White House would ultimately prove willing to go over the fiscal cliff if necessary, rather than give ground on core demands, though this is not by any means a desired option and isn't being discussed as a strategic possibility...'Would they if it's between that and compromising their core principles? I was left with the impression that they would.'" [WaPo]
BOEHNER ANNOUNCES COMMITTEE CHAIRS: MORE BORING WHITE GUYS THAN A JIMMY BUFFET CONCERT - Here's the list: Agriculture -- Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK); Appropriations -- Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY); Armed Services -- Rep. Howard 'Buck' McKeon (R-CA); Budget -- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI); Education and the Workforce -- Rep. John Kline (R-MN); Energy and Commerce -- Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI); Financial Services -- Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX); Foreign Affairs -- Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA); Homeland Security -- Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX); Intelligence -- Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Judiciary -- Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA); Natural Resources -- Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA); Oversight and Government Reform -- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA); Rules -- Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX); Science, Space, and Technology -- Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX); Small Business -- Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO); Transportation and Infrastructure -- Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA); Veterans' Affairs -- Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL); Ways and Means -- Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)
@samsteinhp: Drudge doing Boehner no favors. Top link to piece on House chairs being all male
Speaking of white dude House members, Scott DesJarlais is having a pretty lousy day. Mike McAuliff: "More good news for Scott DesJarlais. First CREW demanded a Congressional ethics investigation because the pro-life Tennessean lied about tape recording his demands that his patient/mistress get an abortion in 2000. Then he got his first publicly announced would-be challenger for 2014, in the form of Tennessee state Rep. Kevin Brooks (R), the assistant majority leader there. 'I have received a number of calls of support and had many conversations encouraging me to run for Congress in the Fourth congressional district,' Brooks said. 'While I am firmly committed to serving my constituents in the 24th District, I wanted to publicly say that I am exploring what a solutions-based campaign for Congress would look like and how I can best serve the great State of Tennessee.'"
PARANOID SELF-LOATHING GOP LOBBYIST REVEALS HIS MOST PARANOID, SELF-LOATHINGEST SECRET - Our favorite Paranoid Self-Loathing GOP Lobbyist, who is petrified by the fiscal cliff because he is afraid of precipices both real and metaphorical, shared with us a secret that could very well limit his bar privileges at the Capitol Hill Club. The secret is this: PSLGOPL was pulling for Obama all along, because he predicts Obama's second term will make 2014 a good year for Republicans. Nate Silver agrees. "As you white guys know, some of my best buddies hated on Nate Silver, but I wasn't one of them," PSLGOPL writes. "I knew he'd come to the same conclusion I would about 2014. Statistics are stubborn things." Thanks, PSLGOPL!
This is not a new thought. We searched our email and dug up this PSLGOPL gem from March 12, 2012: "I want Obama 2nd term. We'll have 68 senators in 2014."
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - To prevent 2 million people from abruptly losing their economic lifeline at the end of the year, Senate Democrats have begun their push to preserve federal unemployment insurance programs. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) is gathering signatures from his Democratic colleagues for a letter to Senate leadership urging an extension of jobless aid. Despite recent declines in the unemployment rate, the letter notes that more than 12 million Americans are still out of work, and that there are more than three unemployed people for every available job. "In light of this unacceptable jobs situation, it is crucial that we focus on ways to get Americans back to work and that we continue unemployment insurance through 2013," the letter says. "Continuation of unemployment insurance has in the past, though often after much unnecessary delay, passed on a bipartisan basis." Every recession since the 1950s has prompted Congress to give the unemployed extra weeks of benefits, but partisan squabbling over unemployment insurance has been a Christmas tradition during each year of President Barack Obama's first term. This year will be no different. [HuffPost]
Don't be bashful: Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
SUSAN RICE VISITS HILL, DEEMED UNFIT TO BE THE FOURTH AMIGO - One thing's for sure, she's definitely not invited to their next viewing of Borat." HuffPost's Nick Wing: "Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) said on Tuesday that their highly anticipated meeting with U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice about the Sept. 11 anniversary attack in Benghazi, Libya, hadn't allayed their concerns about either the administration's explanation of the attack or Rice's qualifications as a potential secretary of state. 'Bottom line, I'm more disturbed now than I was before that the 16th of September explanation about how Americans died in Benghazi, Libya, by Ambassador Rice I think does not do justice to the reality at the time and, in hindsight, clearly was completely wrong,' Graham declared at a press conference after the meeting. Rice acknowledged in their discussion that she had been incorrect in initially suggesting the attack grew out of a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video, Graham said. He then questioned the administration's decision to roll out Rice as a point person to discuss the attack if she hadn't known the details." [HuffPost]
From Rice's statement: "In the course of the meeting, we explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: there was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. While we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved." [United States Mission to the United Nations]
@BuzzFeedAndrew: Earlier today the MSNBC chyron was "Steamed on Rice" now it's "Cooking Rice."
CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLEANXIOUS ABOUT THE FISCAL CLIFF, MY FRIEND - Zach Carter: "A coalition of financial institutions, fossil fuel companies, telecommunications firms and even the cigarette company Altria are teaming up to block a tax increase on dividends -- a policy that overwhelmingly aids the rich...The corporate coalition, known as The Alliance for Savings and Investment, is composed exclusively of corporations and lobbying groups. Major companies include AT&T, Verizon, Coca-Cola and Altria, while lobbying groups include two organizations representing Wall Street, another representing the natural gas industry and another that works on behalf of major electricity companies like Duke Energy, PEPCO and Consolidated Edison." [HuffPost]
CAMPAIGN OBAMA TO REACTIVATE FOR FISCAL CLIFF - The president will take his case on the road, but on behalf of our brothers and sisters in the traveling press corps, we implore his handlers to NOT play "We Take Care Of Our Own." Please. NYT: "Mr. Obama will meet with carefully selected small-business owners, middle-class taxpayers and corporate leaders over the next couple days, then fly to Pennsylvania on Friday to tour a toy manufacturer that he argues will be hurt if automatic tax increases take effect at the end of the year. The White House released its public lobbying plans on Tuesday morning even as it had yet to schedule another meeting between Mr. Obama and Congressional leaders to hash out a deal. The strategy reflects a calculated decision by the president to emphasize public pressure over closed-door negotiations after he felt burned by failed debt talks last year. As White House officials view it, the campaign-style approach has worked for Mr. Obama on several smaller issues over the last year and underscores the president's argument that he won a mandate with his 51 percent of the popular vote in this month's re-election." [NYT]
"As President Barack Obama ushers business leaders into the White House and plans a trip to Pennsylvania to sell America on his plan to avoid the fiscal cliff, House Republicans leadership will host small business owners in the Capitol next week. The Dec. 5 meeting will be in Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) office, and will come after a meeting this week with big business CEOs." [Politico]
JEB BUSH CREEPIN' - Because the former Florida governor doesn't support treating undocumented Americans like a bedbug infestation, he is considered a top contender his party's 2016 presidential nomination. National Review: "Former Florida governor Jeb Bush met Monday with a group of his former staffers at the J. W. Marriott hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, just steps from the White House. Bush, a potential 2016 presidential contender, spent an hour in the hotel's Cannon room, reminiscing and entertaining questions about his political future. In an interview with NRO, Bush did not rule out a presidential run. 'I am here to catch up with folks and promote education reform,' he said, smiling. When asked again whether he will issue a Sherman-type statement about his future, Bush remained coy. 'We have an alumni group that I like keeping in touch with,' he said. 'I'm here to focus on educational reform, and that's what I'm going to tell people.' Neil Newhouse, Mitt Romney's campaign pollster, was at the meeting, as were several veteran Florida operatives." [National Review]
RICK SANTORUM, GOD LOVE 'EM - It's like his career is the "Cool Hand Luke" boxing scene where he's Luke and Dragline is the increasingly Hispanic, gay and youthful American electorate that wants nothing to do with him. Weekly Standard: "Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum says he is 'open' to another run for president in 2016. Santorum was asked about a possible presidential campaign Monday at THE WEEKLY STANDARD. 'I'm open to it, yeah,' Santorum replied. 'I think there's a fight right now as to what the soul of the Republican party's going to be and the conservative movement, and we have something to say about that. I think from our battle, we're not going to leave the field.' In 2012, Santorum won nearly 4 million votes and 11 GOP primary contests--the same number of states, he pointed out, Ronald Reagan won in his failed 1976 presidential bid." [Weekly Standard]
PEOPLE GET NEKKID FOR JOHN BOEHNER - "Hell no, your cans!" etc. TPM: "Seven naked protesters swarmed the office of Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Tuesday for some 20 minutes of loud chanting against cuts to AIDS funding. Among their chants: 'Boehner, Boehner, don't be a dick, budget cuts will make us sick.' And: 'Fight AIDS. Act up. Fight back.' And: 'End AIDS with the Robin Hood tax, no more budget cuts on our back.' And: 'Budget cuts are really rude, that's why we have to be so lewd.' The screaming, fully-nude protesters stood still in the center of the office, together in a line but facing in different directions. The room quickly filled up with members of the activist groups they belong to, observers taking photographs, a handful of reporters, and, eventually, police." [TPM]
A decidedly NSFW photo of the protest.
'Tis the season to be ethically vigilant: "The House Ethics Committee circulated memo Tuesday providing advice on holiday gifts and job negotiations for members and staffers. The holiday memo gently reminded lawmakers and staffers that the House gift rule applies "even during the holiday season" before describing procedures to accept certain presents, attend parties and the steps that should be taken if an 'unacceptable' gift is received." [Roll Call]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Dog befriends lamb.
SANDY RAFTING TRIP TO WALMART GOES AWRY - HuffPost DC: "The risk to their lives after Superstorm Sandy was not sufficient to change the minds of two friends who took booze and an inflatable raft on a trip in the raging Monocacy River, according to a Frederick County Sheriff's Office incident report. The men brought a cooler of whiskey sours with them on the trip, and asked EMS personnel to rescue their drips as well as themselves."" [HuffPost]
A SPARKLY PROPOSAL - HuffPost DC: "The Old Town waterfront was even more sparkly than usual on a night just before Thanksgiving when a group of people held up big silver foam letters covered in LED lights that read "MARRY ME KIM."" [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- "Dikembe Mutombo Saves the World," a video game someone actually created. [http://bit.ly/UJXsjq]
- A bunch of people camped outside a dollar store on Black Friday because... of the unemployment rate? We're not sure. [http://bit.ly/V9zOmx]
- Charity single role reversal: "Africa for Norway" features African pop singers raising money for the poor frostbitten Norwegians. [http://bit.ly/U55Mhs]
- Photographs of the Macy's Day Parade from above. You can even see Spider Man's bald spot. [http://bit.ly/TorcmU]
- Cee Lo Green and The Muppets sing a Christmas tune because of course. [http://bit.ly/XXT2gA]
- The Empire State Building was the site of light show last night, its first ever. [http://bit.ly/SaUFBC]
- China's main Communist Party paper fell for The Onion's declaration of Kim Jong Un as the sexiest man alive. [http://nbcnews.to/1158l51]
TWITTERAMA
@igorbobic: The only thing better than taking pictures of naked protesters is Instagramming pictures of naked protesters.
@pourmecoffee: Everyone should get fiscal cliff advent calendars to take part daily in the joy of avoiding economic catastrophe.
@indecision: I may be overreacting, but I've already decided which family members to eat in case we go off the fiscal cliff.
ON TAP
TONIGHT
6:00 pm: Will Tim Pawlenty soon be replaced by John Thune as America's most forgotten Midwestern presidential candidate? Time will tell. In the meantime, he stops by the NRSC for a function benefiting his Heartland Values PAC. [NRSC, 425 2nd Street NE]
6:00 pm: Mike Crapo, Idahoan that he is, can only get more conservative over time to ward off primary challenges until he becomes a singularity of climate denialism and tricorne hats. [Charlie Palmer Steak, 101 Constitution Ave NW]
TOMORROW
5:00 pm: If only America could hold a debt retirement session at the National Republican Senatorial Committee's headquarters... but sadly America is not Ted Cruz. [NRSC, 425 2nd Street NE]
6:30 pm: We're very pleased to see that Tom Coburn has lately been dressing like an English professor. We hope he takes his tweedish look to his fundraiser benefiting his TAC PAC. [Trattoria Alberto, 506 8th Street SE]
7:00 pm: Ted Cruz continues to retire his debt, this time with an assist from Mitch McConnell. [The Source by Wolfgang Puck, 575 Pennsylvania Ave]
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com), Ryan Grim (ryan@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e
Seeking?a low-cost way to launch their experiments into space, a team of scientists has designed a space-ready, 3-D printed CubeSat.
CubeSats are standardized, tiny satellites, often only 3.9 inches on each side and weighing just under 3 pounds. They are so small that they have room for only a few sensors, and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere after just a few months. Kits cost under $10,000, which is considered cheap for the space industry. But Jacopo Piattoni of the University of Bologna and his team aim to drive the satellites' price down even further, while making the devices easier to customize.
In 3-D printing, a computer-directed nozzle "prints" a three-dimensional object in plastic. Often, engineers use this method to design a prototype for a product that will then be built out of metal or another, sturdier medium. But Piattoni?s team hopes their plastic CubeSat could survive launch and low-Earth orbit.
Using 3-D printers, researchers can automate the CubeSat production process. ?We don?t need a technician,? Piattoni said, adding that this also makes the process faster.
[NASA Turns to 3-D Printing for Self-Building Spacecraft]
The CubeSat?s sensors and computer chips, of course, weren't printed in the lab, and the team had to add a small, metal heat sink to disperse the electronic components' heat. The method holds promise, though. When the researchers tested the chassis in near-space conditions, "it did really well," Piattoni said.
Piattoni chose ABS plastic, the same type of plastic used in Lego bricks, to construct his CubeSat because of that material's resilience to extreme temperatures, vibrations, radiation and more. A satellite will absorb a lot of solar radiation during its spaceflight, and its temperature will swing from -4 degrees F (-20 degrees C) to 176 degrees F (80 degrees C) each orbit. "It's not so easy for plastics in that environment," Piattoni said.
In fact, ABS plastic was famously indicted in a massive seat-belt buckle recall in the mid-90s because UV radiation weakened buckles made from the material. But such radiation, even at elevated levels, won't pose a problem for the CubeSat, due to its short lifetime.
With one successful satellite constructed, the team can now use the 3-D printer to crank out another copy each night. They can also test new designs or build support for other sensors or modules, just by clicking a few buttons on a computer.
The final product passed its tests with flying colors. Now, like most other CubeSats, it will hitch a ride into space as secondary cargo on a rocket already headed to its preferred orbit. Piattoni's team is working with QB50, which will put 50 CubeSats into orbit at once on a Russian Shtil-2.1 scheduled to launch in 2014.
The satellite was designed and tested by Piattoni and researchers in the University of Rome's Department of Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Copyright 2012 TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
James' bond: A graphene/nanotube hybrid Public release date: 27-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Rice University's James Tour Group creates single-surface material for energy storage, electronics
HOUSTON (Nov. 27, 2012) A seamless graphene/nanotube hybrid created at Rice University may be the best electrode interface material possible for many energy storage and electronics applications.
Led by Rice chemist James Tour, researchers have successfully grown forests of carbon nanotubes that rise quickly from sheets of graphene to astounding lengths of up to 120 microns, according to a paper published today by Nature Communications. A house on an average plot with the same aspect ratio would rise into space.
That translates into a massive amount of surface area, the key factor in making things like energy-storing supercapacitors.
The Rice hybrid combines two-dimensional graphene, which is a sheet of carbon one atom thick, and nanotubes into a seamless three-dimensional structure. The bonds between them are covalent, which means adjacent carbon atoms share electrons in a highly stable configuration. The nanotubes aren't merely sitting on the graphene sheet; they become a part of it.
"Many people have tried to attach nanotubes to a metal electrode and it's never gone very well because they get a little electronic barrier right at the interface," Tour said. "By growing graphene on metal (in this case copper) and then growing nanotubes from the graphene, the electrical contact between the nanotubes and the metal electrode is ohmic. That means electrons see no difference, because it's all one seamless material.
"This gives us, effectively, a very high surface area of more than 2,000 square meters per gram of material. It's a huge number," said Tour, Rice's T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science and a co-author with former postdoctoral researcher and lead author Yu Zhu, now an assistant professor at the University of Akron.?
Tour said proof of the material's hybrid nature lies in the seven-membered rings at the transition from graphene to nanotube, a structure predicted by theory for such a material and now confirmed through electron microscope images with subnanometer resolution.
Carbon has no peer as a conductive material in such a thin and robust form, especially in the form of graphene or certain types of nanotubes. Combining the two appears to offer great potential for electronic components like fast supercapacitors that, because of the massive surface area, may hold a great deal of energy in a tiny package.
Rice chemist Robert Hauge and his team made the first steps toward such a hybrid over the past decade. Hauge, a distinguished faculty fellow in chemistry at Rice and co-author of the new work, discovered a way to make densely packed carpets of nanotubes on a carbon substrate by suspending catalyst-laced flakes in a furnace. When heated, the catalyst built carbon nanotubes like skyscrapers, starting at the substrate and working their way up. In the process, they lifted the aluminum oxide buffer into the air. The whole thing looked like a kite with many strings and was dubbed an odako, like the giant Japanese kites.
In the new work, the team grew a specialized odako that retained the iron catalyst and aluminum oxide buffer but put them on top of a layer of graphene grown separately on a copper substrate. The copper stayed to serve as an excellent current collector for the three-dimensional hybrids that were grown within minutes to controllable lengths of up to 120 microns.
Electron microscope images showed the one-, two- and three-walled nanotubes firmly embedded in the graphene, and electrical testing showed no resistance to the flow of current at the junction.
"The performance we see in this study is as good as the best carbon-based supercapacitors that have ever been made," Tour said. "We're not really a supercapacitor lab, and still we were able to match the performance because of the quality of the electrode. It's really remarkable, and it all harkens back to that unique interface."
###
Co-authors of the Nature Communications paper are Rice graduate students Gedeng Ruan, Lei Li, Zheng Yan, Zhiwei Peng and Abdul-Rahman Raji; visiting student Chenguang Zhang of Rice and Tianjin University; Gilberto Casillas, a graduate student at the University of Texas at San Antonio; Rice alumnus Zhengzong Sun, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley; and Carter Kittrell, a lab manager at Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.
The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Lockheed Martin Corp. through the LANCER IV program, the Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program and the AFOSR MURI program.
This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews
Related Materials:
Tour Group: http://www.jmtour.com/
Nanotubes take flight: http://news.rice.edu/2009/07/29/smalley-scientists-show-astounding-nanotube-growth-with-flying-carpets-odako-kites/
Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology: http://cnst.rice.edu/
Seven-atom rings (in red) at the transition from graphene to nanotube make a new hybrid material from Rice University a seamless conductor. The hybrid may be the best electrode interface material possible for many energy storage and electronics applications. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
Forests of nanotubes grown directly from graphene at Rice University are a hybrid material with a massive surface area, possibly the best material ever for supercapacitors and other electrical applications. The seven-member rings at the base (in red) make the seamless transition from graphene to nanotube possible. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
Nanotubes are grown from graphene in a process developed at Rice University to create nanoscale odako, so named for the giant Japanese kites they resemble. The material may be the best possible for electrical applications like supercapacitors. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
A forest of nanotubes, each just a few nanometers wide, grows from a graphene sheet on copper. The hybrid material created at Rice University has a surface area of more than 2,000 square meters per gram. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
A plateau of nanotubes grown seamlessly from graphene at Rice University. The hybrid material may be the most efficient ever made for supercapacitors. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu
Mike Williams
713-348-6728
mikewilliams@rice.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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James' bond: A graphene/nanotube hybrid Public release date: 27-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Ruth david@rice.edu 713-348-6327 Rice University
Rice University's James Tour Group creates single-surface material for energy storage, electronics
HOUSTON (Nov. 27, 2012) A seamless graphene/nanotube hybrid created at Rice University may be the best electrode interface material possible for many energy storage and electronics applications.
Led by Rice chemist James Tour, researchers have successfully grown forests of carbon nanotubes that rise quickly from sheets of graphene to astounding lengths of up to 120 microns, according to a paper published today by Nature Communications. A house on an average plot with the same aspect ratio would rise into space.
That translates into a massive amount of surface area, the key factor in making things like energy-storing supercapacitors.
The Rice hybrid combines two-dimensional graphene, which is a sheet of carbon one atom thick, and nanotubes into a seamless three-dimensional structure. The bonds between them are covalent, which means adjacent carbon atoms share electrons in a highly stable configuration. The nanotubes aren't merely sitting on the graphene sheet; they become a part of it.
"Many people have tried to attach nanotubes to a metal electrode and it's never gone very well because they get a little electronic barrier right at the interface," Tour said. "By growing graphene on metal (in this case copper) and then growing nanotubes from the graphene, the electrical contact between the nanotubes and the metal electrode is ohmic. That means electrons see no difference, because it's all one seamless material.
"This gives us, effectively, a very high surface area of more than 2,000 square meters per gram of material. It's a huge number," said Tour, Rice's T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science and a co-author with former postdoctoral researcher and lead author Yu Zhu, now an assistant professor at the University of Akron.?
Tour said proof of the material's hybrid nature lies in the seven-membered rings at the transition from graphene to nanotube, a structure predicted by theory for such a material and now confirmed through electron microscope images with subnanometer resolution.
Carbon has no peer as a conductive material in such a thin and robust form, especially in the form of graphene or certain types of nanotubes. Combining the two appears to offer great potential for electronic components like fast supercapacitors that, because of the massive surface area, may hold a great deal of energy in a tiny package.
Rice chemist Robert Hauge and his team made the first steps toward such a hybrid over the past decade. Hauge, a distinguished faculty fellow in chemistry at Rice and co-author of the new work, discovered a way to make densely packed carpets of nanotubes on a carbon substrate by suspending catalyst-laced flakes in a furnace. When heated, the catalyst built carbon nanotubes like skyscrapers, starting at the substrate and working their way up. In the process, they lifted the aluminum oxide buffer into the air. The whole thing looked like a kite with many strings and was dubbed an odako, like the giant Japanese kites.
In the new work, the team grew a specialized odako that retained the iron catalyst and aluminum oxide buffer but put them on top of a layer of graphene grown separately on a copper substrate. The copper stayed to serve as an excellent current collector for the three-dimensional hybrids that were grown within minutes to controllable lengths of up to 120 microns.
Electron microscope images showed the one-, two- and three-walled nanotubes firmly embedded in the graphene, and electrical testing showed no resistance to the flow of current at the junction.
"The performance we see in this study is as good as the best carbon-based supercapacitors that have ever been made," Tour said. "We're not really a supercapacitor lab, and still we were able to match the performance because of the quality of the electrode. It's really remarkable, and it all harkens back to that unique interface."
###
Co-authors of the Nature Communications paper are Rice graduate students Gedeng Ruan, Lei Li, Zheng Yan, Zhiwei Peng and Abdul-Rahman Raji; visiting student Chenguang Zhang of Rice and Tianjin University; Gilberto Casillas, a graduate student at the University of Texas at San Antonio; Rice alumnus Zhengzong Sun, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley; and Carter Kittrell, a lab manager at Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.
The research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Lockheed Martin Corp. through the LANCER IV program, the Office of Naval Research Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program and the AFOSR MURI program.
This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews
Related Materials:
Tour Group: http://www.jmtour.com/
Nanotubes take flight: http://news.rice.edu/2009/07/29/smalley-scientists-show-astounding-nanotube-growth-with-flying-carpets-odako-kites/
Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology: http://cnst.rice.edu/
Seven-atom rings (in red) at the transition from graphene to nanotube make a new hybrid material from Rice University a seamless conductor. The hybrid may be the best electrode interface material possible for many energy storage and electronics applications. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
Forests of nanotubes grown directly from graphene at Rice University are a hybrid material with a massive surface area, possibly the best material ever for supercapacitors and other electrical applications. The seven-member rings at the base (in red) make the seamless transition from graphene to nanotube possible. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
Nanotubes are grown from graphene in a process developed at Rice University to create nanoscale odako, so named for the giant Japanese kites they resemble. The material may be the best possible for electrical applications like supercapacitors. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
A forest of nanotubes, each just a few nanometers wide, grows from a graphene sheet on copper. The hybrid material created at Rice University has a surface area of more than 2,000 square meters per gram. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
A plateau of nanotubes grown seamlessly from graphene at Rice University. The hybrid material may be the most efficient ever made for supercapacitors. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University)
David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu
Mike Williams
713-348-6728
mikewilliams@rice.edu
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Public release date: 27-Nov-2012
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