Tech

CLEMSON — Computerized aids that include person-like characteristics can influence trust and dependence among adults, according to a Clemson University researcher.

A recently published study by Clemson University psychology associate professor Richard Pak examined how decision-making would be affected by a human-like aid. The study focused on adults' trust, dependence, and performance while using a computerized decision-making aid for persons with diabetes.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Researchers at MIT have developed a new approach to creating the complex array of wires and connections on microchips, using a system of self-assembling polymers. The work could eventually lead to a way of making more densely packed components on memory chips and other devices.

Applications of airborne and terrestrial laser scanning to paleoseismology, David E. Haddad et al., School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA. Posted online 16 July 2012; doi: 10.1130/GES701.1.

Earthquakes that rupture Earth's topography can cause significant loss of human life and destruction to anthropogenic structures, such as schools, hospitals, and office buildings. Fortunately, these large earthquakes leave telltale marks about their sizes and distributions over geologic time.

HOUSTON – (July 16, 2012) – Researchers at Rice University and Lockheed Martin reported this month that they've found a way to make multiple high-performance anodes from a single silicon wafer. The process uses simple silicon to replace graphite as an element in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, laying the groundwork for longer-lasting, more powerful batteries for such applications as commercial electronics and electric vehicles.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Clogged printer nozzles waste time and money while reducing print quality. University of Missouri engineers recently invented a clog-preventing nozzle cover by mimicking the human eye.

"The nozzle cover we invented was inspired by the human eye," said Jae Wan Kwon, associate professor in the College of Engineering. "The eye and an ink jet nozzle have a common problem: they must not be allowed to dry while, simultaneously, they must open. We used biomimicry, the imitation of nature, to solve human problems."

Though smartphones and tablets are hailed as the hardware of the future, their present-day incarnations have some flaws. Most notoriously, low RAM memory limits the number of applications that can be run at one time and quickly consumes battery power. Now, a Tel Aviv University researcher has found a creative solution to these well-known problems.

A team of academics from the University of Southampton thinks they top the rest of the English Fantasy Football League when the new football season kicks off next month in England.

Dr Sarvapali Ramchurn, Lecturer in Computer Science; PhD student Tim Matthews; and George Chalkiadakis, visiting researcher at the University of Southampton, have developed an artificial soccer manager that in tests has ranked, on average, in the top one per cent of the 2.5 million players in the official English Fantasy Football League, run by the Barclays Premier League.

Researchers from North Carolina State University and ImagineOptix Corporation have developed new technology to convert unpolarized light into polarized light, which makes projectors that use liquid crystal (LC) technology almost twice as energy efficient. The new technology has resulted in smaller, lower cost and more efficient projectors, meaning longer battery life and significantly lower levels of heat.

Physical and social sciences share students and classroom space, but part ways, oftentimes, in the approach to research. For example, social sciences don't generally have topics that can be studied in a laboratory setting. Physical sciences can't use a petri dish to explain low voter turnout in off-year elections.

Still, the next generation of researchers in physical and social sciences will need newer research skills that meld both perspectives for a more unified picture of research, skills that even their professors may not have.

Despite a global reputation for gender equality, certain Scandinavian countries disadvantage female scholars with sexist attitudes towards 'women-friendly' work policies.

These are the findings of a new study on equality in universities in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, where the share of professorships among women are below the European average.

PASADENA, Calif.—Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have developed a new type of amplifier for boosting electrical signals. The device can be used for everything from studying stars, galaxies, and black holes to exploring the quantum world and developing quantum computers.

"This amplifier will redefine what it is possible to measure," says Jonas Zmuidzinas, Caltech's Merle Kingsley Professor of Physics, the chief technologist at JPL, and a member of the research team.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Barrels and cones dot an open field in Saline, Mich., forming an obstacle course for a modified vehicle. A driver remotely steers the vehicle through the course from a nearby location as a researcher looks on. Occasionally, the researcher instructs the driver to keep the wheel straight — a trajectory that appears to put the vehicle on a collision course with a barrel. Despite the driver's actions, the vehicle steers itself around the obstacle, transitioning control back to the driver once the danger has passed.

Computer simulations have become an indispensable part of the modern design process. Standard finite element technology, however, requires designers to carry out a time-consuming and often error-prone mesh generation step that transfers the computer-aided design (CAD) model into the simulation model.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – University of Maryland Chemistry Professor John Fourkas and his research group have developed new materials and nanofabrication techniques for building miniaturized versions of components needed for medical diagnostics, sensors and other applications. These miniaturized components -- many impossible to make with conventional techniques -- would allow for rapid analysis at lower cost and with small sample volumes.