Tech

WASHINGTON, May 11—Researchers from around the world will present the latest breakthroughs in electro-optics, innovative developments in laser science, and commercial applications in photonics at the 2010 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics/Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (CLEO/QELS) May 16 to 21 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

Research Highlights of the Meeting:

INDIANAPOLIS – As the United States moves toward the goal of a secure nationwide health information network (NHIN), a new study from the Regenstrief Institute provides a framework for evaluating the costs, effort and value of what is sometimes referred to as the health internet.

The study, which appears in the May/June 2010 issue of Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, also reports on the initial assessment of that framework by health information exchange experts across the nation.

CAMBRIDGE Mass. -- MIT researchers have developed a powerful new tool for calculating the effects of Casimir forces, complicated quantum forces that affect only objects that are very, very close together, with ramifications for both basic physics and the design of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). One of the researchers' most recent discoveries using the new tool was a way to arrange tiny objects so that the ordinarily attractive Casimir forces become repulsive.

The car is not the only vehicle that can be propelled electrically. Lecturers at the Higher Nautical and Naval Engineering Technical School, Mikel Lejarza, Jose Ignacio Uriarte, Miguel Ángel Gómez Solaetxe and Juan Luis Larrabe are part of a research team working on an innovative project: to have a sailing boat that can undertake port manoeuvres (such as mooring and unmooring) using electric energy obtained from the movement of the wind in their sails when sailing and thus reduce the use of fuel and the emission of waste and noise.

A joint Agricultural Research Service (ARS)-multi-university study across the central Great Plains on the effects of more than 19 years of various tillage practices shows that no-till makes soil much more stable than plowed soil.

A new class of cancer drugs can be used effectively while minimizing hypertensive side effects if patients' blood pressure is closely monitored and controlled, a clinical panel has determined.

The panel brought oncologists, cardiologists and hypertension experts together to draft new recommendations for physicians prescribing angiogenesis inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. First approved in the mid-2000's, these drugs disrupt tumor growth by preventing the formation of new blood vessels, but also increase blood pressure in most patients.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When companies restructure, even managers who escape layoffs can wind up on shakier ground, a new study by a University of Illinois labor expert found.

Corporate streamlining shifts the balance of workplace power toward firms, which use the added muscle to impose company-friendly wage and employment standards, said John Dencker, a professor of labor and employment relations.

"For the majority of managers, their careers and compensation become a lot more risky," he said. "They just don't have the guarantees they had in the past."

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A new UC Davis study has found that minimum-wage employees are more likely to be obese than those who earn higher wages, adding to growing evidence that being poor is a risk factor for unhealthy weight.

"Our study clarifies a link that has been assumed but difficult to prove," said Paul Leigh, senior author of the study and professor in the UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research. "The correlation between obesity and poverty-level wages was very strong."

Patients who are critically ill and participate in mild exercise programs led by physical therapists achieve higher functional mobility and spend fewer days in intensive care units (ICU) and hospitals than those who receive less exercise, according to a report published in the April issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

WASHINGTON, May 10—It has been known for many years that careful control of the polarization of light can impact optics and photonics technologies. For example, tiny nanostructures are known to be able to capture light from a region much larger than their size if the polarization of the laser illumination is designed correctly. Dark spots in a beam known as optical vortices can produce new and intriguing effects when used along with polarization control in a microscope.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Scientists have used quantum mechanics to reveal that the most common mineral on Earth is relatively uncommon deep within the planet.

Using several of the largest supercomputers in the nation, a team of physicists led by Ohio State University has been able to simulate the behavior of silica in a high-temperature, high-pressure form that is particularly difficult to study firsthand in the lab.

Professor Alexander Balandin and a team of UC Riverside researchers, including Chun Ning Lau, an associate professor of physics, have taken another step toward new technology that could keep laptops and other electronic devices from overheating.

NEW YORK (May 10, 2010) -- Tuberculosis (TB) has been present in humans since ancient times. The origins of the disease date back to the first domestication of cattle, and skeletal remains show prehistoric humans (4,000 B.C.) had TB. Although relatively rare in the United States, it is the single leading bacterial cause of death worldwide. Approximately 8 million people are infected each year and 2 million people die from TB.