Monthly Archives: June 2021

Carleton students, faculty and alumni among recipients of the 2021 Campus Compact awards – Carleton College News

Posted: June 13, 2021 at 12:43 pm

Each year the Iowa & Minnesota Campus Compact awards are given to individuals and organizations who exemplify outstanding civic and community engagement within 27 higher education campuses. This year, Carleton students, alumni, professors, and community partners are among the recipients of these awards.

Eunice Valenzuela 21: 2021 Presidents Student Leadership Award

Carleton Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) fellow Eunice Valenzuela 21 is one of this years recipients of the Presidents Student Leadership Award for her work developing the website for Carletons Participatory and Action Research (PAR) project.

Valenzuela explained that PAR research centers around the belief that the people who have knowledge are not just academics, but also community members. As a result, community members should be involved in problem solving and research.

PAR research came to Carleton in October of 2018 when the college received a grant from the Corporation for National and Community service to implement a PAR project in collaboration with community partners in Faribault, MN. Over the past two years, the grant has funded five community research groups that have brought together college faculty and staff alongside Faribault students, parents, teachers and administrators. So far, the groups have collected information about the experiences of Somali and Latinx students and parents in Faribault and developed action plans to enact positive change in the community combating systems of inequality.

Valenzuela first got involved with PAR when she worked for CCCE in the summer of 2020 and has continued her work this year as a CCCE fellow. Her main focus has been compiling important resources about PAR onto the website and translating resources into Spanish.

Because research and academic work tends to be in English, clear sources about PAR and research and methodologies are hard to find in Spanish, said Valenzuela. A lot of PAR projects tend to involve members of minority communities, so to not have resources in their language, even though it is about something they are a part of, is strange.

Valenzuela was surprised to have received the award but is thankful for the recognition for all her hard work.

Sometimes it did not feel tangible, but actually getting a reward for it is pretty great, she said.

After graduating this June, Valenzuela hopes to become a teacher and implement PAR methodologies in her classroom. She explained that students in the classroom are much like community members in that they know what is a problem and what isnt and what went well and what didnt.

I think being a teacher and including students in conversations about how to improve their learning experience would be really cool, said Valenzuela.

Professor Kelly Connole and Professor Susannah Ottaway: 2021 Presidents Civic Engagement Leadership Awards

History professor Susannah Ottaway (left) and art and art history professor Kelly Connole are among this years recipients of the 2021 Presidents Civic Engagement Leadership awards for their roles as co-directors of Public Works: Arts & Humanities Connecting Communities.

Public Works is a four-year initiative (20172021) funded by a Mellon Foundation grant to enhance Carletons engagement in public scholarship and civic engagement. Ottaway explains that the goals of the program include providing continued support to ongoing public-facing projects and scholarship while also increasing participation and visibility.

Additionally, through the initiative, the college approved a digital arts and humanities minor. Ottaway said the minor explicitly connects all the digital humanities work that has been going on on campus into a really clear set of curricular pathways.

Some examples of the research and scholarship which have emerged from this initiative include Religions MN, co-run by religion professor Michael McNally and research associate Shana Sippy, and The Wandering House, started by cinema and media studies professor Cecilia Cornejo.

COVID-19 restrictions have impacted some of the initiatives activities and extended the grant through winter of 2022.

I feel lucky that we already had three years under our belt before the pandemic because it allowed us to build upon those relationships that had already been established, said Connole. We are an initiative that is about arts and humanities connecting communities.

Nevertheless, the pandemic means making new connections has been difficult. Connole explained that due to social distancing it has been a lot more difficult to create connections through casual interactions and small group conversations.

On the flip side, Ottaway explained the really substantial benefit of the pandemic is that weve had to slow down some of our programming. For example, one of the culmination events of the initiative, the exhibit Why Treaties Matter, was supposed to take place in Fall 2020 but has been moved to Fall 2021. As a result, Ottaway said they have had a year of incredible intentional programming about indigenous history and treaties rights, including zoom study groups attended by over 160 students, faculty and staff.

Instead of having that exhibit kick off some intentional conversations about land acknowledgement and history and what this palace means, now the treaties exhibit is going to come on top of all of this programming and increased interest and will be able to take it from there, said Ottaway. That is incredibly exciting. It allows us to think of this exhibit not only as a step in the right direction but truly transformational as a whole.

Both Ottaway and Connole were happy to have received the recognition for the Public Works initiative and are thankful for the support they received along the way. In particular, Public Works administrative assistant Terra Krebsbach, program associate Elizabeth Budd 19, and the staff in academic technology at the library.

Community Action Center of Northfield: 2021 Presidents Community Partner Award

Northfields Community Action Center (CAC) received the Campus Compact Presidents Community Partner Award. The partnership between Carletons Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) and the CAC has provided many opportunities for Carleton students to contribute to food justice work and housing issues in Rice County. The partnership includes work with academic civic engagement classes across many disciplines and a deep collaboration with the student-led Food Recovery Network to help combat food insecurity by recovering extra food from Bon Appetit on campus and produce from local grocery stores and farmers for distribution through the CAC. The CAC also hosts Carleton students as summer interns.

Natalie Jacobson 18: Presidents Civic Engagement Leadership Award

Carleton alumna, Natalie Jacobson 18, is one of the recipients of the Presidents Civic Engagement and Leadership Award for her work as coordinator of Augsburg Universitys Campus Kitchen program.

At Carleton, Jacobson was an environmental fellow at the CCCE and director for the Food Recovery Network her sophomore, junior, and senior years. She said working with Food Recovery is how I got excited and energized about food justice, while the CCCE taught her the importance of connecting with colleges wider neighborhoods.

After graduating from Carleton in 2018, Jacobson built off of her Carleton career by participating in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps program, which pairs individuals with organizations focused on social justice and change. For her placement, Jacobson worked at Augsburg Universitys civic engagement office the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship.

When the year-long program finished, Jacobson continued working at Augsburg as the coordinator of their Campus Kitchen program. Jacobson explained that Campus Kitchen used to be a nationwide organization, with chapters on college campuses, but has since disbanded. The program continues to exist at Augsburg.

We are a program that works to make healthy food more accessible to folks that live in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, as well as making healthy food more accessible to students on Augsburgs campus, said Jacobson.

In order to accomplish these goals, Campus Kitchen collaborates with neighborhood youth, senior citizens, and other community partners to organize healthy food distribution and programming. For Augsburg students, Campus Kitchen has grown a community garden and organized a campus food shelf.

As the Campus Kithcens coordinator, Jacobson oversees student workers and helps plan all their programming. During COVID-19, Jacobson and Campus Kitchen had to modify their work in order to comply with social distancing requirements.

Its been a really, really hard year and Ive been proud of myself and my whole team, especially the students, for cranking things up a notch during the pandemic instead of taking things back, she said. Weve been distributing a ton of food at a time when people are struggling with food insecurity more than ever.

Normally, Jacobson and her team would bring food to community centers and would talk with youth and senior citizens while they ate. With COVID-19, these programs have been substituted with food distribution and those relationships and conversations havent happened. However, Jacobson is happy that they have been able to increase the amount of food they are distributing since the pandemic started and hopes to continue building relationships again soon.

Having received the award, Jacobson says it feels good to be acknowledged and appreciated. She is thankful for her team of dedicated workers and proud of the work they have been able to accomplish in this challenging time.

Learn more about the 2021 Campus Compact award winners.

Read the original here:

Carleton students, faculty and alumni among recipients of the 2021 Campus Compact awards - Carleton College News

Posted in Intentional Communities | Comments Off on Carleton students, faculty and alumni among recipients of the 2021 Campus Compact awards – Carleton College News

How to spot a populist | World news | The Guardian

Posted: at 12:42 pm

What is populism?

Thats a vexed question. Populism is usually described as a strategic approach that frames politics as a battle between the virtuous, ordinary masses and a nefarious or corrupt elite.

It can be used by politicians who are either left- or rightwing, and occasionally neither.

It is not sustained by a single consistent ideology or issue position. In the words of the leading populism scholar Cas Mudde, it is a thin-centred ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogenous and antagonistic camps, the pure people versus the corrupt elite.

He also says that populists tend argue that politics should be an expression of the general will of the people, while others stress populists often have a Manichean world view, breaking politics into a binary view of good or evil.

For example, in the words of the archpopulist Donald Trump, from his January 2017 inauguration address: For too long, a small group in our nations capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

Populism is as old as democracy itself. The sophists of Athens golden age were at it hundreds of years before Julius Caesar brought his populist touch to the Roman republic.

From the 19th century, populist instincts can be detected in pro-peasantry agitation by Russian intellectuals in the 1860s and an agrarian movement in the US that grew into the Peoples party 20 years later.

In the mid-20th century, academics have used the p-word to describe everything from Peronism in Argentina and McCarthyism in the US, to Nassers Egypt and the Poujadiste movement led by Pierre Poujade in 1950s France.

Given so many politicians of such different stripes can be populist, some argue the term is useless. But with so-called populists on the left and right experiencing a resurgence in the 21st century, the term is once again in the spotlight.

On the right, Trump, Viktor Orbn, Rodrigo Duterte and Matteo Salvini are often characterised as populists and so too is the Tea party movement that emerged out of the 2008 financial crisis.

Scholars have long-described some leftist politicians, particularly in Latin America, as populists, such as Bolivias Evo Morales, Mexicos Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador or the late Venezuela president Hugo Chavez. In Spain, the anti-austerity party Podemos is characterised as populist, and so too is the Democratic senator Bernie Sanders in the US.

Not everyone agrees about all this. The influential political scientist Jan-Werner Mller has cast doubt on whether some of these leftists are true populists.

Absolutely not. One of the reasons the word has proven so problematic is that politicians who adopt populist styles or their supporters balk at the idea they should be compared to their opposites on the ideological spectrum. The fact a politicians uses a populist strategy does not need to define them. Their dominant ideology socialist, neoliberal, authoritarian can be much more relevant to the kind of politician they are.

Some scholars argue rightwing populists tend to be exclusionary (omitting, say, migrants or ethnic minorities from their conception of a virtuous people), whereas leftwing populists have a broader, inclusive concept of who counts as the people.

Increasingly so. Populists have broken through in India, Mexico, the Philippines, Brazil and the US to win power in recent years.

In Europe, Guardian research has established that populists have tripled their vote over the past 20 years, such that more than one in four Europeans voted for populist parties on average at their last election. While 12.5 million Europeans lived in a country with at least one populist cabinet member in 1998, in 2018 that had risen more than tenfold, to 170.2 million.

In Germany, the far-right populist party Alternative fur Deutschland increased its vote more than sixfold in 2017 to become the third-largest party in parliament. In Italy, populists performed even better in 2018, with three populist parties in the top five, gaining between them more than half of the vote.

In the UK, Ukip drove its vote tally from 100,000 in 1997 to almost 4 million in 2015, though it fell back two years later once the partys core policy leaving the EU had been all but delivered in the 2016 referendum.

In the past 10 years, populists have also gained power in Greece, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic, and a have share of power in Austria and Norway.Why have the new populists emerged now?

Globalisation. Recession. Mass migration. Soaring inequality. The perceived failure of the political establishment to deal with any of the above. A slew of factors have combined in recent years to create the impression some would say, the reality that the world is run by plutocrats, oligarchs and semi-detached politicians in the interests of the few not the many.

A quarter of a billion people are on the move around the world, providing more ammunition than ever before for rightwing populists who argue that political elites have failed to get a handle on the kind of immigration that they say threatens jobs, wages and social cohesion.

Meanwhile, the number of billionaires has jumped fivefold in the last 20 years, to more than 2,200, according to Forbes, as globalisation opened up new markets for entrepreneurs to tap while at the same time making it possible to shield capital, assets and income from the taxman. The worlds eight richest people own as much as the poorest 3.5 billion. The amount of money offshored by the financial elite is put at as much as 10 trillion thats a number with 13 zeroes.

But there are also many non-economic factors that may offer partial explanations for populisms rise: a cultural backlash against elites, a technological revolution that has rewired our politics, a convergence of now indistinguishable left and right political parties on a technocratic centre.

Exactly what mix of factors has created such a fertile backdrop for populists is a subject of much debate. But as Benjamin Moffitt puts it in his book, The Global Rise of Populism: The time is ripe for canny political actors who can speak effectively in the name of the people to make great political gains.

By definition, yes. Populists operate within democratic systems, even though, once in power, some have a habit of chipping away at the tenets of liberal democracy, as Orbn has done in Hungary.

In fact, it could be argued that as populism galvanises a large, disillusioned base of overlooked voters and offers them fresh representation, it is quintessentially democratic.

That depends on who you ask. It is probably fair to say populism has acquired negative associations, particularly in Europe, where divisive rightwing populists are on the rise. Research by a global network of academics Team Populism found that by privileging majority rule populists often erode tents of liberal democracy like minority rights and the separation of powers. But they say that populists in government can also have a modest, positive effect on voter turnout and dignify forgotten sectors of the population.

Some leftwing political theorists, such as the late Argentinian academic Ernesto Laclau and his widow, Chantal Mouffe, at the University of Westminster, have long argued that populism is an effective political strategy that can and should be used to revitalise politics on the left.

Populists tend to resort to a similar kind of rhetoric to win over their audiences. Kirk Hawkins, an associate professor at Brigham Young University in Utah, says it is not as simple as a single word or a catchphrase; a broad rhetorical lexicon tends to recur in populist oratory.

You will see a leader talk about ordinary people in a way that reifies and romanticises them, he says. Examples might be referring to the will of the people or dropping in adjectives such as ordinary, hard-working or taxpaying to describe the noble masses.

The other element you will see is a reference to the evil elite, Hawkins says. One thing youll see is an emphasis on things that are clearly meant to question their fundamental dignity as political actors if not human beings.

It is time to free the French people from an arrogant elite Marine Le Pen

People want to take back control of their countries and they want to take back control of their lives and the lives of their family Donald Trump

The European elite has failed, and this failures symbol is the European Commission Victor Orban

Brexit was about ordinary people rising up to defeat the establishment and weve now seen the same happen in the US Nigel Farage

Some resort to nicknames to vilify their opponents Crooked Hilary, for example. Theyll use verbs and adjectives to describe actions to show its not just incompetence but an intentional betrayal, Hawkins says.

But it is not just what they say but how they say it. Some academics argue that populism necessarily comes with a performative element: it is about the style, the show. Charismatic populists need crowds, a stage, the limelight, usually coupled with a plain-speaking approach that everyone will understand.

Populist politicians are revolutionising the ways in which politics is being performed, and they are performing it, says Claudia Alvares, an associate professor at Lusfona University in Lisbon. They are not just operating within rightwing or leftwing boundaries because it transcends those affiliations. It is more of a style.Who votes populist?

Support for populism strongly correlates with lower personal life satisfaction, frustration with democracy and how it is working, and conspiratorial thinking among voters. Blame is a standard populist tool.

On the other hand, minorities of all stripes tend to reject populists because of the narrative, on the right, that identifies the people in nativist terms as those who have historically inhabited a country.

A Guardian quiz, devised by political scientists, but answered by a self-selecting group of readers, found that almost half a million respondents subdivided as follows:

It depends on the populist. Technically speaking, some argue the opposite of populism would be pluralism or elitism.

But different populists have varied adversaries: the Davos set, the Bilderberg group, Christian democrats, social democrats, liberals, technocrats, centrists, totalitarians, minorities. (And journalists.)

Latin America faces a big moment in 2019, as its two most populous countries, Brazil and Mexico, are to governed by populist leaders Jair Bolsonaro and Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador that come from opposites sides of the political spectrum.

A few months later, Asias two biggest democracies will hold general elections. In India, the rightwing populist Narendra Modi looks likely to secure re-election in spring polls. Indonesia faces its own high noon in April with a populist challenger to the incumbent, Joko Widodo.

The European parliament elections of next May will be key in assessing populist progress on the continent. Hitherto populists of the right and left have been fairly marginalised, with just a few dozen seats in the 751-seat parliament.

Besides that, there are elections next year in Finland, Ukraine, Belgium and Denmark, in which populist parties will be vigorously contesting seats.

Populism: A Very Short Introduction by Cas Mudde and Cristbal Rovira Kaltwasser

The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation by Benjamin Moffitt

For a Left Populism, Chantal Mouffe

What is populism? by Team Populism

Read the original post:

How to spot a populist | World news | The Guardian

Posted in Populism | Comments Off on How to spot a populist | World news | The Guardian

Global Media Forum to focus on effects of disinformation, populism – DW (English)

Posted: at 12:42 pm

This year's Global Media Forum (GMF) brings together media professionals and decision-makers from across the globe under the banner of "Disruption and Innovation."

In a nod to an unprecedented year, the 14th annual event, which is heldon June 14 andJune 15, will take an in-depth look at how journalism is faring in an age of disinformation and whether it can find a way to turn the tables back in the direction of truth and accuracy.

Following opening remarks by DW Director General Peter Limbourg, a number of high-profile speakers from Germany will kick off the event, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, Christian Democratic (CDU)chancellor candidate Armin Laschet and Green party chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock. These will be followed by a number of other renowned figures from across the globe, includingRappler CEO Maria Ressa, American historian Timothy Snyder, cognitive scientistSteven Pinker and Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, hailing from civil society, culture and the sciences.

The unbridled power of social media

Among them is Brazilian Felipe Neto, whose battle against censorship has made him a divisive figure in Brazil and beyond, landing him with death threats and defamation campaigns for taking President Jair Bolsonaro to task.

"When we are facing fascism and fascists, everyone who decides to stay silent is an accomplice of this fascist regime,"he told DW.

Brazilian entertainer and vlogger Felipe Neto has millions of followers across the globe

"It's just very shameful in my point of viewthat artists and influencers are deciding to stay silent when we have this regime that is taking over Brazil. I stand by myopinionand I believe you cannot stay silent when you are facing someone like Jair Bolsonaro."

With 17 million subscribers on YouTube and a following of 41 million worldwide, Neto knows firsthand how influential social media can be.

"If you are followed by a million people, then a million people can be misinformed if you tell a lie or say something just from the top of your head without researching. That's basically the responsibility that I take very seriously," he said.

Simon Kolawoleagrees that big social platforms like Twitter and Facebook are a double-edged sword for mass information.

"Social media can be used as a force for good and bad. While the big platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, have greatly helped with the distribution and amplification of reportsby the professional media, they have also provided the biggest space formobs to congregate and pontificate."

Nigerian journalist Simon Kolawole warns social media has opened the door to 'mob censorship'

The slate of GMF panelists will also include social media leaders, like Jesper Doub, Facebook's Director of News Partnerships, and Philip Justus, Google's vice president for Central Europe.

Creating a safe space for journalists

Another rising concern in journalism, especially with regard to the influence of technologies like social media and surveillance, is that of personal safety not just from physical attacks and harassment, but also from prosecution.

Irene Khan, who will be speaking about media freedom, fears for the lives of journalists especially women. As UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of expression, she has observed a worrying trend, and is fighting to reverse it.

Journalism is an 'essential element of the modern information ecosystem,' says UN special rapporteur Irene Khan

"Journalists rely on access to sources who feel sufficiently safe to share information on sensitive matters. All too often, journalists suffer reprisals for their investigative work, and are often forced to reveal their sources who then are also often harassed, attacked, prosecuted," she told DW.

Another speaker weighing on the topic attacks on freedom of speech and the need for diverse voices in the media is Turkish-British novelistElif Shafak.

"Coming from a country like Turkey, I do know that words can be heavy because of something you say in an interview. Because of something you write in a book you can be put on trial, you can be demonized, you can be attacked and targeted on social media and media," she told DW.

Turkish-British author Elif Shafak uses fiction to give 'a voice to the voiceless'

"We live in a world that does not celebrate or understand multiplicity, and we're constantly being reduced down to narrow identities or just threats of identities. I want to be able to celebrate multiplicity."

Broadcasters need meaningful legislation

This year's Global Media Forum will also focus on solutions to propel journalism forward. One driving trend, at least where Europe is concerned, will be strengthening public broadcasters, says Noel Curran, the director general of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

"During the COVID-19 lockdown, public service media stepped up, providing trustworthy news,educationand much-needed entertainment.Audience figures show that the public turned to our members in large numbers," he told DW.

EBU Director General Noel Curran: 'It's always been our job to ensure that governments, authorities and audiences understand the critical role that public service media plays in society'

Securing funding for these broadcasters post-COVID will be crucial, and to do so, the EU will need to pass "meaningful platform legislation."

"There is an urgent need to secure Europe's digital sovereignty so the next generations can continue to benefit from strong public service media," he said.

This year's event is free of charge to the public. Clickhereto register for your free digital pass.

Federal Chancellor of Germany

Leader of Germanys governing CDU party and candidate for federal chancellor in the 2021 elections as well as incumbent Minister-President of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

US-American cognitive scientist at Harvard University and popular writer on language, mind, and human nature

Chairwoman of the Green Party of Germany and candidate for federal chancellor in the 2021 elections

Minister of State for International Cultural Policy at the German Federal Foreign Office

Palestinian-Israeli video blogger who first became an online hit by creating 1,000 daily 1-minute videos on Facebook

Director General of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC)

Leading Belarusian opposition leader and candidate in the 2020 presidential election

Best-selling US-American author and Professor for History at Yale University. His words are quoted in political demonstrations around the world, most recently in Hong Kong.

Celebrated Filipino journalist and CEO of the news website Rappler

Vice President Central Europe, Google

Taiwans Digital Minister, is also a prominent advocate of media literacy and digital competence - both of which Tang regards as foundations of democracies.

Digital Director at BBC News. She oversees BBC News digital and social strategy and product development on all digital channels.

One of the most watched youtubers worldwide from Brazil and one of TIME magazines 100 most influential personalities in 2020.

Vice-President for Values and Transparency in the EU Commission

Peace activist, determined fighter for womens rights and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2011 from Liberia

Director of Media Partnerships Europe, Middle East and Africa at Facebook

Pulizer Prize winning US-American historian and journalist

Investigative journalist, producer and Director General of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)

UN Rapporteur on Promotion of Freedom of Expression

See the original post:

Global Media Forum to focus on effects of disinformation, populism - DW (English)

Posted in Populism | Comments Off on Global Media Forum to focus on effects of disinformation, populism – DW (English)

Widespread electrification requires us to rethink battery technology – TechCrunch

Posted: at 12:40 pm

Moshiel BitonContributor

The global economys transition to widespread electrification has increased the demand for longer-lasting and faster-charging batteries across industries including transportation, consumer electronics, medical devices and residential energy storage. While the benefits of this transition are well understood, the reality is that battery innovation hasnt kept pace with societys ambitions.

With reports forecasting a 40% chance that the worlds temperature will rise over the next five years beyond the limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius laid out in the Paris climate agreement, it is clear that theres little time to waste when it comes to creating next-generation batteries, which can easily take another 10 years to fully commercialize.

To meet the increasing pressures to electrify, a completely novel approach to building batteries is the only way to scale rechargeable batteries quickly enough to curb greenhouse-gas emissions globally and avoid the worst-case scenario for the climate crisis.

Over the last few decades, battery experts, automakers, Tier 1 suppliers, investors and others looking to electrify have spent billions of dollars globally on creating next-generation batteries by focusing predominantly on battery chemistry. Yet the industry is still grappling with two major fundamental technical challenges that are stunting the proliferation of batteries:

Battery researchers have championed the solid-state battery as the holy grail of battery technology due to its ability to achieve high energy density and increased safety. However, until recently, the technology has fallen short in practice.

Solid-state batteries have significantly higher energy density and are potentially safer because they do not use flammable liquid electrolytes. However, the technology is still nascent and has a long way to go to achieve commercialization. The manufacturing process for solid-state batteries has to be improved to lower costs, especially for an automotive industry that aims to achieve aggressive cost reductions as low as $50/kWh in the coming years.

The other substantial challenge to implementing solid-state technology is the limitation of total energy density that can be stored in the cathodes per unit of volume. The obvious solution to this dilemma would be to have batteries with thicker cathodes. However, a thicker cathode would reduce the mechanical and thermal stability of the battery. That instability leads to delamination (a mode of failure where a material fractures into layers), cracks and separation all of which cause premature battery failure. In addition, thicker cathodes limit diffusion and decrease power. The result is that there is a practical limit to the thickness of cathodes, which restricts the power of anodes.

In most cases, companies that are developing silicon-based batteries are mixing up to 30% silicon with graphite to boost energy density. The batteries made by Sila Nanotechnologies are an illustrative example of using a silicon mix to increase energy density. Another approach is to use 100% pure silicon anodes, which are limited by very thin electrodes and high production costs, to generate even higher energy density, like Amprius approach.

While silicon provides considerably greater energy density, there is a significant drawback that has limited its adoption until now: The material undergoes volume expansion and shrinkage while charging and discharging, limiting battery life and performance. This leads to degradation issues that manufacturers need to solve before commercial adoption. Despite those challenges, some silicon-based batteries are already being deployed commercially, including in the automotive sector, where Tesla leads in silicon adoption for EVs.

Advances to battery architecture and cell design show significant promise for unlocking improvements with existing and emerging battery chemistries.

Probably the most notable from a mainstream perspective is Teslas biscuit tin battery cell that the company unveiled at its 2020 Battery Day. Its still using lithium-ion chemistry, but the company removed the tabs in the cell that act as the positive and negative connection points between the anode and cathode and the battery casing, and instead use a shingled design within the cell. This change in design helps reduce manufacturing costs while boosting driving range and removes many of the thermal barriers that a cell can encounter when fast-charging with DC electricity.

Transitioning away from a traditional 2D electrode structure to a 3D structure is another approach that is gaining traction in the industry. The 3D structure yields high energy and high power performance in both the anode and cathode for every battery chemistry.

Although still in the R&D and testing phases, 3D electrodes have achieved two times higher accessible capacity, 50% less charging time and 150% longer lifetime for high-performance products at market-competitive prices. Therefore, in order to advance battery capabilities to unlock the full potential of energy storage for a range of applications, it is critical to develop solutions that emphasize altering the physical structure of batteries.

Its not just performance improvements that will win the battery race, but perfecting production and cost reduction as well. To capture a considerable share of the ballooning battery market that is projected to reach $279.7 billion by 2027, countries around the world must find ways to achieve low-cost battery manufacturing at scale. Prioritizing drop-in solutions and innovative production methods that can be incorporated with existing assembly lines and materials will be key.

The Biden administrations American Jobs Plan highlights the importance of domestic battery production to the countrys goal of being a leader in electrification while meeting ambitious carbon reduction targets. Commitments like these will play a key role in establishing who can maintain a critical competitive edge in the battery space and take the largest share of the $162 billion global EV market.

Ultimately, the winning technologies in the race toward total electrification will be the ones that have the most significant impact on performance, lowered costs and compatibility with existing manufacturing infrastructure. By taking a holistic approach and focusing more on innovating cell design while also fine-tuning leading chemistries, we can achieve the next steps in battery performance and rapid commercialization that the world desperately needs.

Read more from the original source:

Widespread electrification requires us to rethink battery technology - TechCrunch

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on Widespread electrification requires us to rethink battery technology – TechCrunch

Innovative Battery Technology Puts Flying Cars on the Horizon – SciTechDaily

Posted: at 12:40 pm

Jet packs, robot maids, and flying cars were all promises for the 21st century. We got mechanized, autonomous vacuum cleaners instead. Now a team of Penn State researchers are exploring the requirements for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles and designing and testing potential battery power sources.

I think flying cars have the potential to eliminate a lot of time and increase productivity and open the sky corridors to transportation, said Chao-Yang Wang, holder of the William E. Diefender Chair of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Electrochemical Engine Center, Penn State. But electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles are very challenging technology for the batteries.

The researchers defined the technical requirements for flying car batteries and report on a prototype battery on June 7, 2021, in Joule.

Batteries for flying cars need very high energy density so that you can stay in the air, said Wang. And they also need very high power during take-off and landing. It requires a lot of power to go vertically up and down.

The automotive electric vehicle revolution is paving the way for urban air mobility, but people must not be naive in thinking that electric vehicle batteries will suffice for electric flight. The fast-charging requirements, 30x increase in energy throughput, and 3x power requirements demand a new generation of battery. Credit: Eric Rountree, EC Power

Wang notes that the batteries will also need to be rapidly recharged so that there could be high revenue during rush hours. He sees these vehicles having frequent take-offs and landings and recharging quickly and often.

Commercially, I would expect these vehicles to make 15 trips, twice a day during rush hour to justify the cost of the vehicles, said Wang. The first use will probably be from a city to an airport carrying three to four people about 50 miles.

Weight is also a consideration for these batteries as the vehicle will have to lift and land the batteries. Once the eVTOL takes off, on short trips the average speed would be 100 miles per hour and long trips would average 200 miles per hour, according to Wang.

The researchers experimentally tested two energy-dense lithium-ion batteries that can recharge with enough energy for a 50-mile eVTOL trip in five to ten minutes. These batteries could sustain more than 2,000 fast-charges over their lifetime.

Wang and his team used technology they have been working on for electric vehicle batteries. The key is to heat the battery to allow rapid charging without the formation of lithium spikes that damage the battery and are dangerous. It turns out that heating the battery also allows rapid discharge of the energy held in the battery to allow for take offs and landings.

The researchers heat the batteries by incorporating a nickel foil that brings the battery rapidly to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Under normal circumstances, the three attributes necessary for an eVTOL battery work against each other, said Wang. High energy density reduces fast charging and fast charging usually reduces the number of possible recharge cycles. But we are able to do all three in a single battery.

One entirely unique aspect of flying cars is that the batteries must always retain some charge. Unlike cellphone batteries, for example, that work best if fully discharged and recharged, a flying car battery can never be allowed to completely discharge in the air because power is needed to stay in the air and to land. There always needs to be a margin of safety in a flying car battery.

When a battery is empty, internal resistance to charging is low, but the higher the remaining charge, the more difficult it is to push more energy into the battery. Typically, recharging slows as the battery fills. However, by heating the battery, recharging can remain in the five- to ten-minute range.

I hope that the work we have done in this paper will give people a solid idea that we dont need another 20 years to finally get these vehicles, said Wang. I believe we have demonstrated that the eVTOL is commercially viable.

Reference: Challenges and key requirements of batteries for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft by Xiao-Guang Yang, Teng Liu, Shanhai Ge, Eric Rountree and Chao-Yang Wang, 7 June 2021, Joule.DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2021.05.001

Also working on this project were Xiao-Guang Yang and Shanhai Ge, both assistant research professors in mechanical engineering, and Teng Liu, doctoral student in mechanical engineering, all at Penn State; and Eric Roundtree, EC Power, State College, Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Department of Energys Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the U.S. Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer program and the William E. Diefenderfer Endowment funded this research.

Read the original here:

Innovative Battery Technology Puts Flying Cars on the Horizon - SciTechDaily

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on Innovative Battery Technology Puts Flying Cars on the Horizon – SciTechDaily

Intel debates buyout of SiFive to bolster chip technology against Arm -source – Reuters

Posted: at 12:40 pm

Intel Corp (INTC.O) is debating a possible offer to buy SiFive Inc, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, a company closely associated with open-source technology that is challenging the rise of Intel's rival, Arm Ltd.

SiFive, a San Mateo, California-based startup, employs several of the creators of RISC-V, an open-source chip technology that is challenging Arm, the British chip technology firm being acquired by Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) for $40 billion. read more Both Arm and SiFive sell intellectual property such as chip designs to others who ultimately produce the chips.

Intel and SiFive both declined to comment.

Bloomberg on Thursday reported Intel's interest, citing a source saying that the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker is mulling a $2 billion offer. Intel, along with rivals such as Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O), is already an investor in SiFive, which raised $61 million in a funding round led by Korea's SK Hynix (000660.KS).

SiFive is designing computing cores using the RISC-V architecture. While the underlying architecture for those cores is open-source, the specific core designs themselves can be sold.

Purchasing SiFive could give Intel a library of intellectual property it could use both in its own chips and that it could offer to license to future customers as it works to build a business by opening up its chip factories to outsiders. Intel has already said it plans to license out computing cores based on its own proprietary x86 architecture to customers as part of its contract manufacturing business.

But Intel would also gain a software boost. SiFive is also working on making it easier to program to different kinds of computing chips and last year hired Chris Lattner, a prominent Silicon Valley computer scientist.

Lattner spearheaded the creation of the Swift programming language for Apple Inc (AAPL.O) that has become the primary way developers write apps for iPhones. More recently, Lattner oversaw programming language teams for Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Brain and TensorFlow artificial intelligence teams.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Excerpt from:

Intel debates buyout of SiFive to bolster chip technology against Arm -source - Reuters

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on Intel debates buyout of SiFive to bolster chip technology against Arm -source – Reuters

Erbil to host 2nd annual international fair on information technology – Kurdistan24

Posted: at 12:40 pm

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region, will begin its second annual information technology fair on Wednesday, where local and international tech brands will take part in the four-day event.

The fair, dubbed the Hawler (Erbil) Information Technology Exhibition (HITEX), is expected to be attended by nearly 100 local and international companies from 26 different countries, head organizer Farhang Bradosti told Kurdistan 24 on Friday.

Foreign companies will be arriving from the US, China, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates, he said, adding that the event also embraces nearly 40 small projects from local innovators who will showcase their wares and concepts.

Participating tech businesses and panels will cover the fields of Artificial intelligence, Robotics, Drones, VR/AR, User technology, Smart houses/IoT, Health/fitness/wearables, Computer/Mobile Hardware & Software, Digital Imaging/Video, and Gaming, according to the events website.

The event is taking place from 10:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the afternoon, every day between June 16 and 19.

Anyone is welcome to attend the free event, but all must pre-register and pick up a personalized entry badge upon arrival.

The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Department of Information Technology supports HITEX, partnered with the Rwanga Foundation, a local education-based organization.

The fair was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year's exhibition will be the first international event of its kind to be held in Erbil as COVID-19 restrictions are gradually lifted.

We are planning to run nearly seven more exhibitions until the end of the year, said Soran Qadir Aziz, the head of Erbil International Exhibition, to Kurdistan 24.

In addition to the tech businesses, the fair will hold a conference on the latest technological developments now emerging across the world.

Editing by John J. Catherine

Additional reporting by Dena Farighi

Read this article:

Erbil to host 2nd annual international fair on information technology - Kurdistan24

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on Erbil to host 2nd annual international fair on information technology – Kurdistan24

The coming productivity boom – MIT Technology Review

Posted: at 12:40 pm

The last 15 years have been tough times for many Americans, but there are now encouraging signs of a turnaround.

Productivity growth, a key driver for higher living standards, averaged only 1.3% since 2006, less than half the rate of the previous decade.But on June 3, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that US labor productivity increased by 5.4% in the first quarter of 2021.Whats better, theres reason to believe that this is not just a blip, but rather a harbinger of better times ahead: a productivity surge that will match or surpass the boom times of the 1990s.

Our optimism is grounded in our research which indicates that most OECD countries are just passing the lowest point in a productivity J-curve. Driven by advances in digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, productivity growth is now headed up.

Technology alone is rarely enough to create significant benefits.

The productivity J-curve describes the historical pattern of initially slow productivity growth after a breakthrough technology is introduced, followed years later by a sharp takeoff.Our research and that of others has found that technology alone is rarely enough to create significant benefits. Instead, technology investments must be combined with even larger investments in new business processes, skills, and other types ofintangible capital before breakthroughs as diverse as the steam engine or computers ultimately boost productivity. For instance, after electricity was introduced to American factories, productivity was stagnant for more than two decades.It was only after managers reinvented their production lines using distributed machinery, a technique made possible by electricity, that productivity surged.

There are three reasons that this time around the productivity J-curve will be bigger and faster than in the past.

The first is technological: the past decade has delivered an astonishing cluster of technology breakthroughs. The most important ones are in AI: the development of machine learning algorithms combined with large decline in prices for data storage and improvements in computing power has allowed firms to address challenges from vision and speech to prediction and diagnosis. The fast-growing cloud computing market has made these innovations accessible to smaller firms.

Go here to see the original:

The coming productivity boom - MIT Technology Review

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on The coming productivity boom – MIT Technology Review

King County Councils ban of facial recognition technology is misguided – MyNorthwest.com

Posted: at 12:40 pm

Passengers walk by a security sign warning about a facial recognition area at the Suedkreuz train station in Berlin, Germany.(Photo by Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)

The King County Council recently passed an ordinance that bans government use of facial recognition technology. That was fairly controversial within the council, but also with a group called the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.

King County Council votes to ban facial recognition software

The foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank based out of Washington, D.C. According to vice president Daniel Castro, it looks at policies around the world focused on innovation and technology.

So what was it that bothered Castro about what the King County Council did?

Well, what was surprising to me is that they seemed to be basing their decision on no real evidence, he said. So this ban was primarily based on the idea that facial recognition technology is inaccurate and highly biased towards people with darker skin and sometimes women.

But when you look at the testing thats come out from the federal government, the best performing facial recognition algorithms now perform not only better than any human, but they exhibit basically no bias, he added. And so to ban the technology because of those concerns is really misguided. And the use and procurement of this technology across the entire county is prohibited. So you cant even use the technology, for example, to unlock a door.

The outdated study Castro cites is a report from the ACLU, specifically the ACLU of California.

They never released their data, they never released their methods, even when outsiders asked to look at it and validate it, he said. And thats been a motivation for many of the laws that weve seen around the country.

And the other thing that came out was there were a number of studies that looked at facial analysis, he explained. So facial recognition is when you match one photo to another photo, facial analysis is when you look at a photo and you try and decide is this person old or young? Are they male or female? And that technology has been shown to have some racial biases, but facial recognition where youre matching one photo to another, in the most recent tests, the best performing algorithms show no bias.

Those studies were done in late 2019.

In addition to that knowledge, facial recognition has been shown to be more reliable and less biased than relying on eyewitnesses.

Right now, we still of course do facial recognition ourselves, Castro said. People arent very good at recognizing and matching people. Thats actually the cause of a number of misidentifications in the past. And what this technology does is it allows you to do this at a much more accurate level and more reliably than you could do with a human. Also, of course at a much faster speed when time is of the essence.

Municipal broadband in Washington will soon offer options beyond Comcast

Castro says his foundation has asked ACLU to release their data and methods, but they havent.

The problem is the ACLU has, of course, long-standing opposition to public cameras and surveillance in general, he said. So the fact that facial recognition is being used on some of these images is really secondary for their long-standing opposition.

To be clear, there are very good reasons why we might not want police to surveil protests. There are legitimate concerns about policing and racial bias in policing, he added. None of my critique here is to take away from that. What is so much more important than enacting these types of bans is enacting oversight, and transparency, and accountability in our police departments and law enforcement agencies so that this type of inconclusive police work cant happen.

Listen to Seattles Morning News weekday mornings from 5 9 a.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to thepodcast here.

More:

King County Councils ban of facial recognition technology is misguided - MyNorthwest.com

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on King County Councils ban of facial recognition technology is misguided – MyNorthwest.com

Sit back and enjoy the technology ride – Mankato Free Press

Posted: at 12:40 pm

Some technology is OK, like remote controls and Google maps, but for the most part, I think life was a lot easier and far less stressful when the world wasnt wireless and the only people who understood computers were the geeky guys in high school who all became bazillionaires.

An example of how frustrating technology can be has been all the electronic hoops Mark and I have had to jump through while trying to refinance our mortgage, a process that has dragged on far too long due to our loan officer (who is in another state) suddenly going AWOL in the middle of the process and apparently taking all our paperwork with him.

Were trying again with a different loan officer and new paperwork. Of course, everythings online, which seems like it should be a lot more efficient than having actual paper copies.

The original loan officer, aka Mr. Vanishing Act, swore the e-signing was a breeze, and it certainly isnt hard, but for some reason the software has repeatedly put my name where Marks should go and his where mine belongs. Those problems only come to light when an actual human being looks at them and emails us to try again.

Then theres the thrill of finally e-signing one batch of documents correctly only to learn we have to wet sign them, which would be all right, except then we have to upload them into the correct portal. For someone like me, who isnt quite sure what a portal is, and for someone like Mark, who still has a flip phone, the result has been were both cranky much of the time and have at least one conversation a day asking each other why we cant just win the lottery and forget refinancing anything for the rest of our lives.

Then again, technology gaffes can sometimes be fun.

Every so often, I get together with some friends for lunch and to catch up on what weve all been up to. Lets call them Friend One, Friend Two, and Friend Three. A few weeks ago, I received a group text from Friend One suggesting we set up a lunch date and Friend Two and I both responded, Sure. Where do you want to go?

Thats when Friend Three chimed in. Mettlers?

Now, for the record, Friend Three is a retired teacher and the kind of person who hangs out on golf courses, not in bars, so the rest of us hahad before making more suitable suggestions. My only request was that we didnt meet somewhere that required driving on a roundabout to get there. (Yes, I know Im a chicken and I realize my world is going to continue to shrink as Mankato keeps on building more and more roundabouts, but thats another story.)

We batted around a few restaurants without roundabouts nearby when Friend Three piped up again. You dont drive in roundabouts? Theyre easy AF.

Now we knew something was wrong. Either Friend Three had started happy hour at 9 in the morning, or there was a stranger in our cellphone midst.

Friend Two wrote to Friend One and me. I dont think thats the same phone number I have for Friend Three at the exact same moment Friend One and I were both texting: Has she been drinking?

Friend Two was right; it wasnt the right phone number. A random person got Friend Ones text and decided to have some fun. Im guessing, from the speed of his or her responses, that it was a young person with lightning-fast fingers. Im also guessing it was a young person of the male persuasion because most females would either tell us wed texted the wrong number or wouldnt bother to join our group conversation.

Friends One and Two and I deleted the conversation and got in touch with Friend Three who was blissfully unaware of what wed been thinking about her drinking habits. Thankfully, we figured out what was going on before inviting Faux Friend Three to join us, although that might have been entertaining.

Im sure technology is only going to get faster and more confusing, so I guess the best thing to do is sit back and enjoy it whenever a random stranger joins a group conversation and to use Google maps to find out which restaurants arent surrounded by roundabouts. Oh, and once we finally get our house refinanced, try to avoid ever signing into any kind of portal ever again.

Nell Musolf is a freelance writer living in Mankato with her husband and two dogs. She can be reached at nmusolf@gmail.com.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

More:

Sit back and enjoy the technology ride - Mankato Free Press

Posted in Technology | Comments Off on Sit back and enjoy the technology ride – Mankato Free Press