Daily Archives: July 20, 2017

Study finds anti-inflammatory effect for lutein – ProHealth

Posted: July 20, 2017 at 3:09 am

Reprinted with the kind permission of Life Extension.

July 7 2017.The July 2017 issue ofAtherosclerosispublished an article by Swedish researchers which describes an anti-inflammatory effect for the carotenoid lutein in patients withcoronary artery disease.

"A considerable number of patients who have experienced myocardial infarction still have low-level chronic inflammation in the body, even after receiving effective treatment with revascularization, drugs and lifestyle changes, remarked lead researcher Lena Jonasson, who is a professor in the Department of Medical and Health Sciences at Linkoping University. We know that chronic inflammation is associated with a poorer prognosis."

The study included 59 patients with acute coronary syndrome and 134 patients with stable angina. Blood samples were analyzed for interleukin-6, a marker of inflammation, and the carotenoids lutein plus zeaxanthin, alpha and beta carotene, lycopene and beta-cryptoxanthin. In 42 patients, plasma levels of these factors were reanalyzed three months after coronary intervention to open narrowed blood vessels. Additionally, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (types of white blood cells) from stable angina patients were treated with lutein for 24 hours followed by incubation with an inflammation-inducing compound and measurement of markers of inflammation.

In the heart disease patients, having a lower level of lutein plus zeaxanthin was associated with a higher level of interleukin-6 before and after coronary intervention. "The patients were receiving the best possible treatment for their disease according to clinical guidelines, but even so, many of them had persistent inflammation," Dr Jonasson observed.

In peripheral blood mononuclear cells, lutein pretreatment was associated with a reduction in interleukin-6, interleukin-1 beta, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF).

"Our study confirms that one particular carotenoid, lutein, can suppress long-term inflammation in patients with coronary artery disease, concluded first author Rosanna Chung. We have also shown that lutein is absorbed and stored by the cells of the immune system in the blood."

Original post:

Study finds anti-inflammatory effect for lutein - ProHealth

Posted in Life Extension | Comments Off on Study finds anti-inflammatory effect for lutein – ProHealth

Purdue Extension releases new publications in Protecting Pollinators series – Greensburg Daily News

Posted: at 3:09 am

WEST LAFAYETTE - Purdue Extension has released two new publications in the Protecting Pollinators series: The Complex Life of the Honey Bee and Biology and Control of Varroa Mites in Bee Hives.

These new publications provide information on honey bee biology, how to promote promoting healthy hives and current issues in pollinator research.

Biology and Control of Varroa Mites in Bee Hives focuses on one of the greatest threats to North American honey bees - the pesky varroa mite. These mites cause massive winter losses in hives by infecting brood cells. The publication provides details on the biology of the infestation and methods used to reduce mite populations and prevent honey bee die-offs. The publication is available as a free download from Purdue Extensions the Education Store at edustore.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=POL-8.

The Complex Life of the Honey Bee is a detailed guide to the species and its management. The publication provides insight on the environmental, biological, and chemical challenges of colony health. It also includes an emphasis on the balance between pesticides and pollinators, an important issue today. Print versions of The Complex Life of the Honey Bee are available for $5.50 each from The Education Store at edustore.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=PPP-116.

Fred Whitford, director of the Purdue Pesticide Programs and senior author of The Complex Life of the Honey Bee, said the publication is designed to promote deeper discussion and greater awareness of the species.

We want people to be involved in the discussion, understand the circumstances, and take action, Whitford said. The publication tells us how a colony works, how individual bees operate, how they feed and how pesticides are affecting them. We need an in-depth understanding of these topics to tackle the issues.

Nine publications are now available in the Protecting Pollinators series. The series provides practical tips for protecting the habitats of honey bees, mason bees, bumble bees, flies, moths, butterflies and hummingbirds as well as other threatened pollinator species.

Members of Purdues Protecting Pollinators development team were recently honored with the 2017 Entomology Educational Project Award from the Certified Entomologists of Mid-America for their efforts to help educate the public, farmers and agrochemical professionals about vital pollinator species.

Theres an important national debate taking place over threats to our pollinator communities. Lack of food, diseases, and other insects are contributing to their decline, Whitford said. These publications are designed to provide important information about pollinator survival to beekeepers, gardeners, farmers, professional applicators and anyone else interested in the survival of these vital species.

Other publications in the series are:

* Protecting Pollinators in Home Lawns and Landscapes

* Protecting Pollinators in Fruit and Vegetable Production

* Tips for Commercial Agricultural Pesticide Applicators

* Recommended Indiana-native Plants for Protecting Pollinators

* Why Should We Care About Pollinators?

* Protecting Pollinators in Agronomic Crop Production

* Best Management Practices for Indiana Pollinator Habitat

For more information on the series and pollinator issues, visit the Purdue Extension Entomology site at https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/index.html.

See the rest here:

Purdue Extension releases new publications in Protecting Pollinators series - Greensburg Daily News

Posted in Life Extension | Comments Off on Purdue Extension releases new publications in Protecting Pollinators series – Greensburg Daily News

SaskPower makes profit of $46 million according to annual report … – Regina Leader-Post

Posted: at 3:09 am

SaskPower headquarters in Regina. Don Healy / Regina Leader-Post

SaskPower posted a $46-million profit in 2016-17 and executives at the Crown corporation are confident it will reach its goal of producing 50 per cent of power to the province through renewable sources by 2030.

SAskPowers annual report, released Wednesday, showed it invested$866 million in the provinces electricity system over the past year, largely to sustain an aging power grid.

Coal remains a significant source of power for the province: 32 per cent of available power capacity right now is generated from the non-renewable resource.

Natural gas produces 40 per cent of the provinces power, hydro accounts for 20 per cent and wind for five per cent. Other sources make up the last three per cent.

In the 2016-17 fiscal year, SaskPower spent $112 million refurbishing three power stations in its coal fleet, in large part, according to the report, because the resource remains a cost-effective supply.

The province has an in-principle agreement to ease the economic impact of new federal coal regulations, but will still need to make significant investments in other power sources in order to meet the 50 per cent target by 2030.

SaskPower is planning to add more wind power capacity to its grid. Wind accounts for 220 megawatts of the Crowns total power mix right now. That number is targeted to grow to 2,100 MW (30 per cent) of the total power mix by 2030 .

Each year from now until then, the province is looking to add roughly 200 MWs in order to reach that goal. A 175 MW wind project in southern Saskatchewan is currently in production and SaskPower has a request for proposal out looking to develop another 200 MW.

A $300-million, 50-year life extension project of six unitsat the E.B. Campbell Hydroelectric Station also began in 2016-17.

SaskPower also launched a competitive process for the provinces first10 MW, utility-scale solar project, which once built will be the first Canadian project of its size outside of Ontario.

Despite the annual report stating Saskatchewan has the best potential in Canada for solar power, it is taking a back seat to wind.

SaskPower president and CEO Mike Marsh says this is because the cost of wind is more favourable given current market conditions.

Beyond coal, significant investments continue to be made in other non-renewable resources.

In the last fiscal year, SaskPower started construction of a 350 MW natural gas-fired plant, Chinook Power Station, near Swift Current.

Marsh says that natural gas will be playing a bigger role in 2030, in order to backstop renewable energy sources.

We cannot rely on wind and solar to provide that baseload energy, he said, suggesting a full jump to renewable energy sources may be possible later in the century.

While the federal government has already put forward a plan to phase out conventional coal, there is a growing expectation more restrictions will also be put on natural gas.

Marsh says if that happens it would have an impact on us, in terms of the type of unit we might select for our next gas unit of generation.

Coal is expected to give way to natural gas over the next decade-plus, but during that transition Saskatchewans carbon emissions are expected to reach record-high levels in 2020.

While its going to peak, we have every expectation it will come down after that, said Gord Wyant, the minister responsible for SaskPower.

Marsh says rate increases can still be expected but that the Crown always looks to keep rate increases as moderate as possible.

NDP MLA Carla Beck said she is not terribly confident at all SaskPower will meet its 2030 target and was critical of the Crown increasing rates five times in two years.

It will really have an impact on Saskatchewan people, she said.

dfraser@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/dcfraser

Read the original here:

SaskPower makes profit of $46 million according to annual report ... - Regina Leader-Post

Posted in Life Extension | Comments Off on SaskPower makes profit of $46 million according to annual report … – Regina Leader-Post

What the 2018 Pirelli Calendar Says About Race – New York Times

Posted: at 3:09 am

For Mr. Combs, who made headlines in 2001 when he posed with Ms. Campbell for a cover of British Vogue, the calendar comes at a time when there needs to be what he called an unapologetic expression of black pride.

I moved mountains to be a part of this, said Mr. Combs, as he sat in his dressing room after the shoot. It is a chance to push social consciousness and break down barriers. For so many years, something like this would not have happened in the fashion world, so it feels like being part of history and playing an active role. I want to lead by example.

For decades, the Pirelli calendar, first published by the Italian tire company of the same name in 1964, was a soft-core ode to beautiful women. Shot by A-list photographers and usually starring scantily clad supermodels, it is a collectors item and has never been sold on the open market. Instead, it is given to insiders a group of establishment opinion makers including celebrities, media professionals, politicians and chief executives, as well as to Pirellis most valuable clients and distributors.

A year and a half ago, however, for the 2016 edition, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, the calendars raison dtre took a sharp turn from prurience to pride. Rather than celebrating women purely for their physical attributes, it started applauding their accomplishments, featuring such figures as the writer Fran Lebowitz, the investment manager Mellody Hobson and the tennis champion Serena Williams.

Then, for the 2017 version, a cast of fully clothed and makeup-free actresses including Helen Mirren, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore were shot in black and white, unairbrushed, by Peter Lindbergh, the better to explore what the photographer described as a different beauty, more real and truthful one not manipulated by commercial interests.

Coming at a time when female objectification and overt sexism had begun to be a more frequent topic of public discussion, the change suggested that while Pirelli knew sex still sold, a corporation that successfully appeared socially aware could and would generate more global attention for its brand (not to mention lift its bottom line).

Still, eyebrows were raised when it first emerged that Pirelli was allowing Mr. Walker, whose reputation has been forged largely on his depictions of eerie romanticism and surrealist fairy-tale worlds in magazines like W, Vogue and Love, to tackle black identity for the calendar.

Would the unveiling of the calendar on Wednesday be seen as a commitment to diversity and positive social change? Or could the campaign spur accusations of corporate exploitation as Pepsi discovered in April after widespread backlash to its protest-themed advertisement featuring the model Kendall Jenner, pulled after only a day, amid claims that it trivialized the Black Lives Matter movement?

Mr. Walker, holding a mug of tea after the shoot in May, was at pains to stress the artistic motivations behind his photographs, rather than underscore specific social messaging.

As a photographer, you dont ever want to do what has been done before, so it was important for me to feel I was doing something completely different here, he said, adding that the decision to cast only black models had been entirely my own. There were zero creative or commercial demands from Pirelli for this project. That is pretty rare in this business.

The story of Alice has been told so many times and in so many ways, but always with a white cast, Mr. Walker continued. There has never been a black Alice, so I wanted to push how fictional fantasy figures can be represented and explore evolving ideas of beauty.

He said that he had devised the concept for this years calendar long before the furor around the Pepsi advertisement, the movie Moonlight winning Best Picture at the Oscars this year or the heightened debate within the fashion industry about a lack of diversity on the catwalks. It is hard to believe, however, that Mr. Walker was not influenced at all by the diversity debate, an issue that has been discussed regularly for the last decade.

This is not about trends, this is about the zeitgeist today, Mr. Walker said. I think we are living in a fantastically exciting time, particularly when a story like that of Alice, that has held such resonance with so many people and been told in a certain way for so long, can now be told compellingly in another.

Mr. Enninful, the Ghana-born, London-bred stylist who was awarded an OBE, or Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for his work to diversify the fashion industry in 2016, said that he felt a responsibility to ensure that the shoot was received in the way that it was intended: as a theatrical high-fashion celebration with equality and empowerment at its core.

Carrolls original illustrations for the story, drawn for him by John Tenniel and full of the exaggerated sizing and dramatic flourishes typical of 19th-century British caricature, were the starting point for the creative team.

Mr. Enninful saw associations with the contemporary sculptural creations of Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto in the work. Shona Heath, the projects set designer, and her team created an overflowing wardrobe of new silhouettes for the calendar (even Ms. Heaths mother chipped in, making the Mad Hatters hat). The cast was chosen by Piergiorgio Del Moro, including Alice herself: the South Sudanese-Australian model Duckie Thot, a newcomer, in towering platforms and cerulean blue thigh-high socks, with a starched silk minidress and a white lace pinafore.

The outfit was made on me we started with two costumes and eventually pinned them into a single look, said Ms. Thot, 21, who started modeling internationally less than a year ago. Asked how she felt about her starring role, she said, I feel like I am living in my own fairy tale, and am proud to be part of something with such an important message about pride and self-expression.

That sentiment was emphasized by Adwoa Aboah, a Ghanaian-British model popular right now and a feminist activist who played Tweedledee.

Tim launched my career, so anytime he asks me to do something it is always a yes; I trust him, she said. To me, the Pirelli change in direction suggests they are observing what 2017 needs, where the youth are going and what kind of imagery should be out there. We dont need any more pinup imagery, and this cast really does depict new ideas of what beauty is. And it certainly doesnt mean not wearing any clothes.

Amid the boldface names, which include RuPaul as the Queen of Hearts, Ms. Goldberg (the Royal Duchess) and the actress Lupita Nyongo (the Dormouse), particularly striking is Thando Hopa. She is an albino lawyer and model, who plays the Princess of Hearts (a role specifically devised for her by Mr. Walker), and she is currently on a sabbatical after four years as a prosecutor specializing in sexual abuse cases in her native South Africa.

When I was young, I didnt have a single role model who looked like me, who could have been a source of inspiration or motivation, Ms. Hopa said. I wanted to expand other peoples imaginations by not letting them be restricted to specific stories or narratives. Any girl, whether she is black, white, Asian or Indian, should be able to have a sense that they, too, can be a heroine in their own fairy tale. If Alice looks differently here, then Alice can be anybody. Your value comes from far more than the narrative that someone else gives you. I hope that when the calendar goes live, people are able to see the intention behind this. It was a unifying effort.

Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion and Weddings) and Instagram.

A version of this article appears in print on July 20, 2017, on Page D7 of the New York edition with the headline: Not Just Recording History, but Making It, Too.

See the original post here:

What the 2018 Pirelli Calendar Says About Race - New York Times

Posted in Zeitgeist Movement | Comments Off on What the 2018 Pirelli Calendar Says About Race – New York Times

Tony Norman: Welcome to Mr. Romero’s neighborhood – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Posted: at 3:09 am


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tony Norman: Welcome to Mr. Romero's neighborhood
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
He made a lot of money in advertising, immersed himself in high society and spearheaded Pop Art, arguably the most influential art movement of the second half of the 20th century. By comparison, George Romero's contribution to the zeitgeist is ...
George Romero's Longtime Collaborator Vows to Finish 4 Film Projects | IndieWireIndieWire

all 119 news articles »

Follow this link:

Tony Norman: Welcome to Mr. Romero's neighborhood - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Posted in Zeitgeist Movement | Comments Off on Tony Norman: Welcome to Mr. Romero’s neighborhood – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Opinion: Splash of innovation a new water agenda for BC – Vancouver Sun

Posted: at 3:08 am

FILE PHOTO Houses in the Green Bay area of West Kelowna are surrounded by water on Tuesday May 23, 2017. GARY NYLANDER / The Daily Courier

As the heat of summer swings into full effect, most British Columbians are thinking only of vacations and long lazy days at their local swimming holes or favourite beaches. But for the leaders of our new government, holidays are likely one of the furthest things from their minds as they begin the daunting task of setting priorities and the work agenda ahead.

No shortage of pressing issues and challenges will demand this new governments attention as it looks to fulfil its platform commitments to change and renewal. But water is one issue that matters most to many communities across B.C.

The province is endowed with a rich freshwater heritage that is vitally important to all British Columbians. For Indigenous peoples, water is not only the foundation of their constitutionally-protected rights, but also integral to connections to the land, spiritual and physical well-being, and community and economic development. Communities across the province rely on abundant and clean fresh water for quality of life, healthy ecosystems and vibrant economies.

Waters uneven distribution over the landscape and its seasonal and annual variability pose real challenges for water management in the province. Until recently, sustainable water management in British Columbia was only ever a secondary consideration to the priority of building the provincial resource-based economy. Past (and even current) dominant management practices struck an unsustainable balance, based primarily on draining, channelling, damming, and diverting water out of streams, lakes and aquifers, and dumping waste back into those systems. In the process, watersheds have become fragmented and natural capital has been degraded.

As devastating fires blaze through the Interior only weeks after stories of severe flooding dominated headlines, we are reminded yet again what the new normal of more frequent and extreme events might look like in the province: The implications of climate change on our freshwater systems and community well-being are severe.

Even before these extreme events, water security and concern that not enough is being done to protect water resources have ranked high as priorities for the public. In a comprehensive 2013 poll, 93 per cent of British Columbians stated that water is our most precious natural resource, and indicated a low degree of confidence that current management approaches are adequate to ensure freshwater security.

Water underpins the myriad issues of the day from energy production, to agriculture, to drinking water security. It is the foundation of any sustainable integrated resource development and management regime.

Building a bold new water agenda must be a top priority for our new government. To address British Columbias pressing water challenges and position itself as a freshwater leader resilient to a changing climate and responsive to local needs B.C. must change both water management (on-the-ground activities) and governance (processes of decision-making and holding decision makers to account).

Fortunately, B.C.s new leaders will not be starting from scratch: the previous government introduced the Water Sustainability Act in 2016 to improve water management and decision-making in B.C., including regulating groundwater use and enabling protection of water flows for fish and ecosystems. This initiative, however, is only partly complete. Many of its most important components, like watershed planning and a robust regime to protect ecological flows, still require implementation with adequate resourcing and independent oversight.

Now is a critical moment of opportunity for our leaders to build on the foundation of the Water Sustainability Act and set B.C. on a course toward a sustainable freshwater future.

To offer support to government, our team at the POLIS Water Sustainability Project at the University of Victoria has set out a ten-step plan that provides the specific elements and actions required for meaningful progress on a new water agenda for B.C. In addition to full implementation of the new provincial water legislation, this agenda provides direction to ensure sufficient funds to deliver on a comprehensive program, engage Indigenous governments as partners in governing and managing fresh water, build resilience through protecting vital natural systems, provide the necessary science and information to make informed evidence-based decisions and ensure competent and independent oversight and accountability.

With a revitalized water agenda, B.C. can expect growing water security, increased public confidence through evidence-based decisions, decreased conflicts as natural capital is protected, and greater ability to adapt to the oncoming changes in climate.

As B.C.s new government settles into the hard work of building the path forward for the province, our message is simple: Get the water right and the rest will follow. Our communities, economies, ecosystems and future generations depend on it.

Oliver M. Brandes is co-Director of University of Victorias POLIS Project on Ecological Governance at the Centre for Global Studies. Jon ORiordan is the former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management and POLIS Strategic Water Policy Advisor. Rosie Simms is the Water Law and Policy Researcher with POLIS. They recently authored and released A Revitalized Water Agenda for British Columbias Circular Economy to catalyze action on water in B.C.

Continued here:

Opinion: Splash of innovation a new water agenda for BC - Vancouver Sun

Posted in Resource Based Economy | Comments Off on Opinion: Splash of innovation a new water agenda for BC – Vancouver Sun

New Report Claims Majority of US Workers Not Afraid of Automation … – ENGINEERING.com

Posted: at 3:07 am

Popular media has painted a picture of the publics fear of automation taking away jobsespecially in the manufacturing industry. However, Randstad US has released a report today indicating the opposite.

The 2017 Randstad Employer Brand Research found only 14 percent of US employees worry that automation will take their jobs away and that 30 percent believe automation will make their jobs better. The report contains input from over 5,300 individuals, aged 18-65 and across various industries, through online interviews.

The report indicated that 51 percent of respondents would be willing to retrain if paid the same or higher salary.

It is evident from our research that not only are workers not afraid of losing their jobs to automation, they are more than willing to retrain to leverage efficiencies and benefits of artificial intelligence and robotics in the workplace, said Linda Galipeau, CEO of Randstad North America.

She added, It has become necessary for todays employees and job seekers to continually cultivate, develop and update their skills to work successfully alongside AI and automation. In conjunction with retraining and upskilling efforts, workers should focus on growing unique human skills that AI and robots are unable to replicate, such as strategic and abstract thinking, complex communications, creativity and leadership competencies.

Randstads latest Talent Trends survey finds that only 6 percent of US C-suite and human capital leader respondents believe increasing automation will have a significant impact on workforce planning and shifting the talent needed.

AI and robotics will have a positive impact on the workplace within the next 5 years, according to 84 percent of U.S. respondents, while 48 percent believe automation and machine learning has already had a positive impact within the past 12 months. Forty-five percent say the same for robotics.

Nearly a third (31 percent) of employers said they have increased usage of automation/robotics in their business in the past 12 months.

The inescapable reality is automation and AI are here to stay and will continue to grow substantially, said Galipeau. As business leaders invest in digitization, automation, AI and other emerging technologies in the workplace, they must continue to evolve their workforce alongside these advancements The need for skilled humans to operate, utilize and advance technologies is equally unmistakable.

Its important to note however, that analysts from institutions including Oxford University, the World Economic Forum and others have painted a glum future in comprehensive pieces like those by Business Insiders Oscar Williams-Grut last year.

I find it impossible to disagree that some jobs are undeniably going to be lost, despite a relaxed or optimistic perspective on automation in the workforce. Although, these lost jobs will be menial, repetitive and dangerous ones, as we illustrate in a series of articles on industrial robots:

A History of Collaborative Robots: From Intelligent Lift Assists to Cobots

Randstads research, conducted since 2000, was done by Randstads International research partner, Kantar TNS. Respondents for the 2017 research were polled from Nov. 25 to Dec. 15, 2016.

For more information, visit the Randstad website or read on about their recommended four ways to update soft skills in an automated workplace.

The rest is here:

New Report Claims Majority of US Workers Not Afraid of Automation ... - ENGINEERING.com

Posted in Automation | Comments Off on New Report Claims Majority of US Workers Not Afraid of Automation … – ENGINEERING.com

Workflow automation startup Workato announces $10m Series A … – TechCrunch

Posted: at 3:07 am

Its a big day for Workatoas the startup announced a $10 million Series A, and the latest release of its workflow automation platform dubbed Turing.

The round was led by Storm Ventures with participation from strategic investors Salesforce Ventures and Workday Ventures. The four year old company has now raised a total of $16 million.

Workato helps companies simplify workflow integrations by automating when possible the connections between various SaaS applications and APIs. You can see why Salesforce and Workday saw fit to invest in them in that context.

One of the attractions of SaaS applications is the ability to self serve, but when it comes to building connections or workflows between applications, things get a bit more complicated. Typically that requires a trip to IT to create even simple connections across tools, says Workato CEO Vijay Tella.

He says its not just a case of end users looking for independence though. Its also IT wanting to provide knowledge workers in marketing, sales, finance and other departments with a tool to build integrations on their own that doesnt require developer skills.

The company created Workato to enable these types of end users to build workflows more easily by automating as much as possible and suggesting logical flows across tools. The solution relies on underlying machine learning algorithms to drive these suggestions in an interactive manner. As users adjust these recipes to suit their needs, the system learns and offers more complete ones over time, Tella said.

During the Beta of Turing, Tella said 55 percent of recipes were being auto-authored and presented to users in the form of suggestions, which they can accept or adjust by making a series of choices.

Since no process is completely fool-proof, the company is using machine learning to also self correct (or at least offer possible solutions) when a recipe breaks for some reason while making connections across systems. That involves showing the user the recipe flow in plain language instead of code, which should enable them to fix and rerun.

Workato claims that 78 percent of customers go live with their product in the first week. It helps that Workato has many recipes prepackaged out of the box using typical kinds of integrations for companies like Salesforce and Workday (surprise, surprise), but also Zendesk, Slack and many others.

The company reports that its product is being used at over 21,000 organizations including Box, IBM, Cisco, Ideo and Credo.

More here:

Workflow automation startup Workato announces $10m Series A ... - TechCrunch

Posted in Automation | Comments Off on Workflow automation startup Workato announces $10m Series A … – TechCrunch

AFRL researchers explore automation, additive technologies for cost … – Phys.Org

Posted: at 3:07 am

July 19, 2017 Dr. Santanu Bag, a project scientist at the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, is exploring cost-efficient manufacturing of solar cells using additive technology. Credit: Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Inspired by newspaper printing, and taking cues from additive manufacturing technology, researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory are exploring new ways to make solar cells more cost efficientincreasing application potential in the process.

"Sun is abundant, and it's free," said Dr. Santanu Bag, a project scientist at the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, AFRL. "Solar cells can generate electricity in an environmentally friendly way, but current, complex fabrication costs make the technology expensive. We're looking at new ways to use materials and manufacturing technologies to make these less expensively."

Though research into solar cells began in the 1950s, the technology for making them is complex and labor intensive. At a basic level, to fabricate solar cells, engineers rely on extremely pure, single-crystalline silicon. The pure silicon is extracted from an original material such as quartz or sand and is transformed into thin wafers. The silicon wafers are chemically treated to form an electric field, with a positive and negative polarity. These silicon semiconductors, or solar cells, are encapsulated in a support to form a photovoltaic module, where they are then able to collect and transform sunlight into an electric current.

This multistep, labor intensive process is time-consuming and uses highly sophisticated equipment, requiring a number of technicians and engineers to create the end product. Quality control is key, as a discrepancy during any stage of the manufacturing process could have an effect on the performance of the cells.

This high cost of manufacturing has prohibited widespread use of solar power, despite its cost saving potential.

"If you want to make solar competitive, you need to make solar cells more efficient and cost effective," said Bag.

Inspired by the concept of newsprint where rolls of paper are printed with ink to create newspapers, Bag and his team looked for alternatives to inorganic, hard silicon in search of a material able to transform solar into energyand be printed in the process.

"Silicon cells use purely inorganic materials, which by nature are very hard," said Bag. "We needed a material that was easy to print and at the same time able to capture sunlight. We determined an inorganic-organic hybrid material would be easy to print and could still harvest solar energy."

Bag's material of choice, thin-film perovskites, have an excellent light absorbing capability and power conversion efficiencies that have improved tremendously compared to the more than 30 years it took for silicon solar cells to improve to today's levels. Only recently has this material been explored for its solar power ability, with Bag among the researchers expanding the field.

"The material has been around since the 1990s and was used to make test-level, light-emitting diodes. Researchers knew it had solar ability, but this was not the focus at the time," said Bag.

In Bag's study, perovskite precursor material was atomized using ultrasonic waves to form extremely fine, aerosol droplets able to be transferred into the print nozzle of an aerosol-jet spray printer. Using computer-aided design tool paths, a surface was then coated with the material using the direct-write printer, forming a solar cell with a 15.4 percent efficiency on a flat surface.

Bag and his team also demonstrated the ability to print these solar cells on a 3-D surface with a 5.4 percent efficiencymarking the first time this has been shown in the field of printed photovoltaics.

"We have not optimized conditions for 3-D printing of these yet, but we know it can be done. Once you know how to print it, it has huge potential for other applications," said Bag.

For the Air Force, the applications for this material and the new printing process are enormous. The method can be used to print flexible solar cells on clothing, to create self-powered robotics and light-emitting devices and even to make flexible, self-powered sensors, to name a few.

Bag, along with fellow researchers Dr. Michael Durstock, Soft Matter Materials Branch Chief at the AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, and James Deneault, a research engineer at Universal Technology Corporation, have filed a patent application for the technology. Though this research is still in its early stages, the impact of the new manufacturing processes has great potential for the future.

"Understanding ways to make and print this material more efficiently at the most basic level can lead to future cost savings," Bag concluded.

Explore further: Semi-transparent perovskite solar cells for solar windows

More information: Santanu Bag et al. Aerosol-Jet-Assisted Thin-Film Growth of CH3 NH3 PbI3 Perovskites-A Means to Achieve High Quality, Defect-Free Films for Efficient Solar Cells, Advanced Energy Materials (2017). DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201701151

Journal reference: Advanced Energy Materials

Provided by: Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Scientists are exploring ways to develop transparent or semi-transparent solar cells as a substitute for glass walls in modern buildings with the aim of harnessing solar energy. But this has proven challenging, because transparency ...

Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have achieved a new record efficiency for low-cost semi-transparent perovskite solar cells in a breakthrough that could bring down the cost of generating solar electricity.

An organic-inorganic hybrid material may be the future for more efficient technologies that can generate electricity from either light or heat or devices that emit light from electricity.

A recent study, affiliated with UNIST has presented a new cost-efficient way to produce inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) which sets a new world-record efficiency performance, in particular photostability. ...

Five years ago, the world started to talk about third-generation solar cells that challenged the traditional silicon cells with a cheaper and simpler manufacturing process that used less energy.

Researchers at ANU have found a new way to fabricate high efficiency semi-transparent perovskite solar cells in a breakthrough that could lead to more efficient and cheaper solar electricity.

An underwater robot entered a badly damaged reactor at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant Wednesday, capturing images of the harsh impact of its meltdown, including key structures that were torn and knocked out of place.

Microsoft's cloud computing platform will be used outside China for collaboration by members of a self-driving car alliance formed by Chinese internet search giant Baidu, the companies announced on Tuesday.

Laboratory equipment is one of the largest cost factors in neuroscience. However, many experiments can be performed with good results using self-assembled setups involving 3-D printed components and self-programmed electronics. ...

Access to clean, safe water is one of the world's pressing needs, yet today's water distribution systems lose an average of 20 percent of their supply because of leaks. These leaks not only make shortages worse but also can ...

A virtual reality "space ride" in which viewers feel as if they are flying through the air inside a giant glass ball has been developed in Japan.

Supercapacitors are an aptly named type of device that can store and deliver energy faster than conventional batteries. They are in high demand for applications including electric cars, wireless telecommunications and high-powered ...

Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more

See original here:

AFRL researchers explore automation, additive technologies for cost ... - Phys.Org

Posted in Automation | Comments Off on AFRL researchers explore automation, additive technologies for cost … – Phys.Org

What It Means to Be on the Left – Jacobin magazine

Posted: at 3:06 am

Elizabeth Bruenig haswrittenabout the distinction between liberals and the left. She proposes that everyone in the broad tent of what she calls non-Republicanism is actually a liberal, in the following sense:

The second sense in which almost every non-Republican is a liberal is that they all agree with the tenets of liberalism as a philosophy: that is, the worldview that champions radical, rational free inquiry; egalitarianism; individualism; subjective rights; and freedom as primary political ends. (Republicans are, for the most part, liberals in this sense too; libertarians even more so.)

This is an easy statement for me to agree with but I also think it brushes past some political distinctions that are important.

Am I a partisan of radical, rational free inquiry? I suppose I am, in that, like Marx, I endorse aruthless criticism of the existing order,one which will shrink neither from its own discoveries, nor from conflict with the powers that be.

Do I believe in egalitarianism? Naturally one of the basic structural features of mybookis the distinction between a hierarchical society, like our own, and one where everyone shares in both the benefits and the sacrifices that are possible or necessary given our level of technological development and ecological constraint.

Individualism? Also uncontroversial, although its not entirely clear what the term is supposed to mean. I side with Oscar Wilde, whosaidthat with the abolition of private property, then, we shall have true, beautiful, healthy Individualism. That instead of the false freedom of those condemned to work for others for a paycheck free in Marxs double sense of being free to sell our laborpower and free of anything else to sell we can have what Philippe Van Parijs calls real freedom, the freedom that comes from having the time and the resources to pursue self-actualization.

As for subjective rights, Im not completely sure what thats supposed to mean. Rights that are politically stipulated and democratically assigned, I guess, rather than arising from some divine concept of natural law? In that case, again, Im on board, and I think the social rights arguments of people likeT.H. Marshallcan be usefully synthesized with the politics of opposing oppression and exploitation.

And then, of course, there is freedom. A word lodged deeply in the liberal tradition, and in the American tradition. And one, I think, that should be at the center of socialist politics as well. But freedomfromwhat, and freedomtodo what?

Here is Bruenigs gloss on the meaning of socialism: the economic aspects of liberalism (free or freeish market capitalism) create material conditions that actually make people less free.

I like this, yet again I find it vague. In describing my own political trajectory, I often talk about my parents liberal politics, and my own journey of discovery, through which I concluded that their liberal ideals couldnt be achieved by liberal means, but required something more radical, and more Marxist.

But what would it mean to escape the economic aspects of liberalism? Would it mean merely high wages; universal health care and education; a right to housing; strong labor unions?

To be clear, I am in favor of all of those things.

But weve seen this movie before. Its the high tide of the welfare state, which is nowadays sometimes held up as an idyllic model of class peace and human contentment: everyone has a good job, and good benefits, and a comfortable retirement. (Although of course, this Eden never existed for much of the working class.) Who could want more?

The historical reality of welfare capitalisms postwar high tide, though, is thateveryonewanted more. Capitalists, as they always do, wanted more profits, and they felt the squeeze from powerful unions and social-democratic parties that were impinging on this prerogative.

More than that, they faced the problem of a working class that was becoming toopoliticallypowerful. This is what Michal Kaleckicalledthe political aspects of full employment, the danger that a sufficiently empowered working class might call into question the basic structure of an economy based on concentrated property rights and capital accumulation.

Sometimes socialists will emphasizeeconomic democracyas the core of our politics. Because as theDemocratic Socialists of Americasstatement of political principles puts it, In the workplace, capitalism eschews democracy. According to this line of argument, socialism means taking the liberal ideal of democracy into places where most people experience no democratic control at all, most especially the workplace.

But when you talk about introducing democracy, youre talking about giving people control over their lives that they didnt have before. And once you do that, you open up the possibility of much more radical and disruptive kinds of change.

For it is not just capitalists who always want more, but workers too. A good job is better than a bad job, is better than no job. Higher wages are better than low. But a strong working class isnt inclined to sit back and be content with its lot its inclined to demand more.

Or less, when it comes to the drudgery of most jobs. After all, how many people dream of punching clocks and cashing paychecks at the behest of a boss, no matter what the size of the check or the security of the job?

The song Take This Job and Shove It appeared in the aftermath of a period when many workers could make good on that threat, and did. In the peak year, 1969, there had been 766 unauthorized wildcat strikes in the United States, but by 1975 there were only 238.

All of this goes to the point that even if we could get back the postwar welfare state, that simply isnt a permanently viable end point, and we need a politics that acknowledges that fact and prepares for it. And that has to be connected to some larger vision of what lies beyond the immediate demands of social democracy. Thats what Id call socialism, or evencommunism, which for me is the ultimate horizon.

The socialist project, for me, is about something more than just immediate demands for more jobs, or higher wages, or universal social programs, or shorter hours. Its about those things. But its also about transcending, and abolishing, much of what we think defines our identities and our way of life.

It is about the abolition of class as such. This means the abolition of capitalist wage labor, and therefore the abolition ofthe working classas an identity and a social phenomenon. Which isnt the same as the abolition of work in itsother senses, as socially necessary or personally fulfilling labor.

It is about the abolition of race, that biologically fictitious, and yet socially overpowering idea. A task that is inseparable from the abolition of class, however much contemporary liberals might like to distract us from that reality.

As David Roediger details in his recent essay collection onClass, Race, and Marxism, much of the forgotten history of terms like white privilege originated with communists, who wrestled with the problem of racism not to avoid class politics but to facilitate it. People likeClaudia Jones, or Theodore Allen, whose masterwork,The Invention of the White Race, was, as Roediger observes, borne of a half century of radical organizing, much of it specifically in industry.

And so too, no socialism worth the name can shrink from questioning patriarchy, gender, heterosexuality, the nuclear family. Marx and Engels themselves had some presentiment of this, some understanding that the control of the means of reproduction and the means of production were intimately and dialectically linked atThe Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.

But they could follow their own logic only so far, and so it fell to the likes ofShulamith Firestoneto suggest radical alternatives to our current ways of organizing the bearing and raising of children. It took communists the likes ofLeslie FeinbergandSylvia Federicito complicate our simplistic assumptions about the existence of binary gender. And the more we win reforms that allow people to define their sexualities and gender identities, to give women control of their bodies, to lessen their economic dependence on men, the more this kind of radical questioning will spill into the open.

So thats what it means to me to be on the left. To imagine and anticipate and fight for a world without bosses, and beyond class, race, and gender as we understand them today. That, to me, is what it means to fight for individualism, and for freedom.

Thats one reason that I make a point of arguing for a politics that fights for beneficial reforms single-payer health care, living wages, all the rest but that doesnt stop there. A politics that fights for thenon-reformist reform: a demand that is not meant to lead to a permanent state of humane capitalism, but that is intentionally destabilizing and disruptive.

The other reason is that, for all the economic and political reasons noted above, we cant just get to a nicer version of capitalism and then stop there. We can only build social democracyin order to break it.

Is that what every liberal, or even every leftist, believes? From my experience, I dont think so. Thats not meant to be a defense of sectarianism or dogmatism; I believe in building a broad united front with everyone who wants to make our society more humane, and more equal. But I have my sights on something beyond that.

Because if we do all agree that the project of the Left is predicated on a vision of freedom and individualism, then we also have to regard that vision as a radicallyuncertainone. We can only look a short way into the future to a point where the working class has had its shackles loosened a bit, as happened in the best moments of twentieth-centurysocial democracy.

At that moment we again reach the point where a social-democratic class compromise becomes untenable, and the system must either fall back into a reactionary form of capitalist retrenchment, or forward into something else entirely. What our future selves do in those circumstances, and what kinds of people we become, is unknowable and unpredictable and for our politics to be genuinely democratic, it could not be any other way.

Read this article:

What It Means to Be on the Left - Jacobin magazine

Posted in Abolition Of Work | Comments Off on What It Means to Be on the Left – Jacobin magazine