#josh cordle

[damiencordle]

Joshua Damien Cordle. I Found This Interesting

Wireless, battery-free electronic 'stickers' gauge forces between touching objects

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed electronic "stickers" that measure the force exerted by one object upon another. The force stickers are wireless, run without batteries and fit in tight spaces. That makes them versatile for a wide range of applications, from arming robots with a sense of touch to elevating the immersive experience of VR and AR, making biomedical devices smarter, monitoring the safety of industrial equipment, and improving the accuracy and efficiency of inventory management in warehouses.

They could be used, for example, in knee implants to measure the forces that implants exert on the joint. Having the ability to sense changes in these forces can be useful for monitoring an implant's fit, as well as wear and tear. Force stickers could also be placed on the bottom of warehouse packages to measure the weight of their contents, acting as miniature scales for checking inventory.

"These force stickers could make technology more intelligent, interactive and intuitive," said Dinesh Bharadia, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. "Humans, by nature, possess an inherent ability to sense force. This allows us to interact seamlessly with our surroundings and enables clinicians to perform delicate surgical procedures. Providing this force-sensing ability to electronic devices and medical implants could be a game-changer for many industries."

A team led by Bharadia will present the new force stickers at the UbiComp 2023 conference, which will take place from Oct. 8 to 12 in Cancun, Mexico.

The force stickers consist of two main components. One is a tiny capacitor that is just a few millimeters thin and about the size of a grain of rice. The other component is a radiofrequency identification (RFID) sticker, which is a device that functions like a barcode that can be read wirelessly using radio signals. The researchers found a clever way to integrate these two components together so that they can measure the force applied by an object and communicate that information wirelessly to an RFID reader.

The capacitor is made of a soft polymer sheet sandwiched between two conductive copper strips. When an external force is applied, the polymer compresses, drawing the copper strips closer together, thereby increasing the electric charge in the capacitor.

This increase in electric charge as a result of applied force is key, the researchers show, because it creates changes in the signal transmitted by the RFID sticker. An RFID reader remotely measures these changes and translates them into a specific magnitude of applied force. This particular technique of creating changes in RFID signal enables the components within the force sticker to be miniaturized. In comparison, previous methods to create changes in RFID signal required components that are a thousand times larger in size.

Meanwhile, the RFID sticker runs on extremely low power by transmitting radio signals via a technique called backscattering. It takes incoming radio signals from an RFID reader, modifies the signals via electric changes induced by the capacitor, and then reflects the modified signals back to the reader, which deciphers and translates them into applied force.

As a result, the force stickers run on essentially no power. "The design is really simple with minimal electronics," said study first author Agrim Gupta, an electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student in Bharadia's lab.

Another design feature is that the capacitor can be customized for various force ranges. By replacing the polymer layer with a softer or stiffer one, the capacitor can be tailored to measure smaller or larger forces, respectively.

To demonstrate, the researchers built and tested two types of force stickers. In one sticker, the capacitor was built with a super soft polymer to measure smaller forces, making it suitable for use in experiments in a model knee joint. Placed within the joint, the force sticker accurately measured different applied forces as the researchers pushed on the joint. The second sticker, in which the capacitor was constructed with a stiffer polymer, was tested in a warehouse packaging experiment. Attached to the underside of a box, it accurately measured the weight of varying quantities of objects placed in the box.

In tests, the force stickers were extremely durable. They withstood more than 10,000 force applications and remained consistently accurate. Additionally, they can be fabricated at low cost, with each sticker amounting to less than $2, the researchers noted.

"If we can commercialize this technology, we imagine that in the future a box of them could be sold inexpensively, like a box of Band-Aids," said Gupta.

However, it is worth noting a limitation: these force stickers require a static environment to function effectively and do not perform optimally in highly dynamic surroundings. The researchers are actively addressing this issue as they seek to further improve the technology.

Moving forward, the researchers aim to make the force stickers readable by smartphones, which would eliminate the need for RFID readers.

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (grant 1935329).

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of California - San Diego. Original written by Liezel Labios. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Agrim Gupta, Daegue Park, Shayaun Bashar, Cedric Girerd, Nagarjun Bhat, Siddhi Mundhra, Tania K. Morimoto, Dinesh Bharadia. ForceSticker. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies, 2023; 7 (1): 1 DOI: 10.1145/3580793

[nashmusicguide]

Inside Track with Preshias - May Edition

Inside Track with Preshias Harris This Month Includes: Chris Stapleton, Lorrie Morgan, Darius Rucker, Lady A, Craig Morgan, Keith Urban, Josh Tuner and More

VERSE OF THE MONTH:

My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I whom you have delivered. – Psalm 71:23.

ALBUM NEWS:

Lady Antebellumhas revealed the cover art and track listing behind their sixth studio album HEART BREAK (Capitol Records Nashville), out June 9th. Dave Haywood, Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott had a new mission — setting aside time to put themselves in new…

[feelingbluepolitics]

Candidate says new congressional election warranted in North Carolina

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/candidate-says-new-congressional-election-warranted-in-north-carolina/2019/02/21/acae4482-35e0-11e9-854a-7a14d7fec96a_story.html

"Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris says a new election in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District is warranted after allegations of ballot tampering.

"Harris, during testimony this afternoon to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said a new election was warranted in the hotly contested race, which Harris led by 905 votes. He said he is recovering from an infection that led to sepsis and two strokes, and that he realized he was not prepared for the “rigors” of this hearing.

“'I believe a new election should be called,' Harris said, eliciting gasps from the hearing room in Raleigh. 'It’s become clear to me that public confidence in the 9th District has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted.'

..."In his own testimony Thursday, the elder Harris maintained as he has in previous interviews with reporters that he was unaware of red flags about the operative’s alleged tactics — notwithstanding what his son told him in the spring of 2017.

"Harris said he didn’t follow his son’s advice in part because John Harris was just 27 years old at the time and added that the younger Harris is 'a little judgmental and has a little taste of arrogance and some other things [like, apparently, honesty]. And I’m very proud of him and love him with all my heart.'

..."Harris, a Baptist minister, took the stand on the fourth day of dramatic hearings into allegations that widespread election fraud tainted the results in the 9th Congressional District, the last undecided congressional race in the country. Harris leads by 905 votes over Democrat Dan McCready.

..."Harris said he hired the operative, Leslie McCrae Dowless, on the advice of a number of Republican friends and colleagues.

..."Harris’s testimony followed the dramatic opening moments of Thursday’s hearings, in which Josh Lawson, general counsel for the State Board of Elections, disclosed a letter rebuking Harris's campaign lawyers for failing to turn over the emails between Harris and his son until 15 minutes before John Harris appeared Wednesday.

“'The timing of your disclosure raises significant and material concerns regarding the Committee’s compliance and candor prior to, and now during, the hearing,' Lawson wrote.

"Lawson also asked Harris if he had had any conversations this week describing his understanding that the email exchanges with his son would not be a part of the evidence to be presented at the hearing. Harris said he did not recall — three times to Lawson and once to Marc Elias, the lawyer for Harris’s Democratic opponent, Dan McCready.

"After he answered Elias, Harris’s lawyer, David Freedman, abruptly stood up and asked the board’s chairman, Bob Cordle, if he could speak to the board in private." [Trying at that point to save his own career, most likely.]

In conclusion, the Baptist minister is a dirty politician among a local crowd of them, and he is also an irredeemable liar.

How is a new election an appropriate remedy? Who pays for the Democrat's second campaign? Why should the district be without representation even longer because Republicons ran a dirty cheating race?

Why shouldn't the governor appoint the Democrat, today?

[rivercityreveille]

River City Reveille- August 27 & September 1

Paying Tribute to Justine Townes Earle

 Seashores of Old Mexico- Willie Nelson &  Merle Haggard

Maybe a Moment- Justin Townes Earle

Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln, Nebraska 1967- John Prine

When I Paint My Masterpiece- The Band

 Wherever You Go- Dee White

Look the Other Way- Justin Townes Earle

Down Low- Town Mountain

Better Than This- Lucero

 Keep Movin’ On- Sam Cooke

Just One More- California Honeydrops

Big Mouth Blues- Green Leaf Rustlers

 Graceland- Justin Townes Earle

Never Going Back Again- Fleetwood Mac

Horse- Christopher Paul Stelling

False Hearted Lover Blues- Levon Helm

Down the Road -Hayes Carll

 Highway 40 Blues- Ricky Skaggs, Larry Cordle & Tyler Childers

Cold Beverages- Infamous Stringdusters & G. Love & the Special Sauce

Kansas City Star- Kacey Musgraves

 I’m No Stranger to the Rain- Josh Turner

Cocaine Country Line Dancing- Paul Cauthen

Love/Hate- Y arn

On Time- The Gourds

 Is it Over- Don Bryant

Steal Away- Eli Paperboy Reed

Ladies- Lee Fields & the Expressions

We Get By- Mavis Staples

 Mornings in Memphis- Justin Townes Earle

You’re Gonna Miss Me- Sir Douglas Quintet

[iconiclkld]

Winners from the holiday raffle. Please come in and pick your baskets asap. *We have also called and left messages* 1. Josh Conover 2. DQ Eastham 3. Lilyan Richards 4. Michael Cordle 5. Mily Rodriguez-Saez 6. Jackie Moore 7. Kyle Olmstead 8. Jason Oliphant 9. Tyler Wallick 10. Dennis Bland 11. Leopoldo Davila 12. Dan McClafferty 13. Penny Cruz 14. Jayson Lankster 15. Steve Markulec 16. Juanita Rewis 17. Pete Murray 18. Gregory Kent #iconiclakeland.com #iwonaticonic #lovelakeland #winnerwinnerchickendinner🍗 #weloveourclients #ourvendorsloveus #thanksformakingusiconic #seeyousoon #newstufffor2020 #starting2020asawinner (at ICONIC) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6yU6cLHOII/?igshid=1fj90ltx49bul

[bandook1]

The 60th Grammy Awards nominations announced

Team bandook

The 60th Grammy Awards nominations were announced earlier today. And by far, Jay Z leads the way with eight noms. Kendrick Lamar follows with seven, Bruno Mars with six and Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover), SZA, Khalid and music producer No I.D. scored five each.

The Grammys will air live from New York’s Madison Square Garden, come January 27, 2018. On what channel in India, is not known at this point.

Here are the big four categories everyone has their eyes on...

Record Of The Year “Redbone” — Childish Gambino “Despacito” — Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “The Story Of O.J.” — Jay-Z “HUMBLE.” — Kendrick Lamar “24K Magic” — Bruno Mars

Album Of The Year “Awaken, My Love!” — Childish Gambino 4:44 — Jay-Z DAMN. — Kendrick Lamar Melodrama — Lorde 24K Magic — Bruno Mars

Song of The Year “Despacito” — Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “4:44” — Jay-Z “Issues” — Julia Michaels “1-800-273-8255” — Logic Featuring Alessia Cara & Khalid “That’s What I Like” — Bruno Mars

Best New Artist Alessia Cara Khalid Lil Uzi Vert Julia Michaels SZA

Here is the remaining list of nominees for the 60th Grammy Awards: Best Pop Solo Performance: “Love So Soft” — Kelly Clarkson “Praying” — Kesha “Million Reasons” — Lady Gaga “What About Us” — P!nk “Shape Of You” — Ed Sheeran Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: “Something Just Like This” — The Chainsmokers & Coldplay “Despacito” — Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee Featuring Justin Bieber “Thunder” — Imagine Dragons “Feel It Still” — Portugal. The Man “Stay” — Zedd & Alessia Cara Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Nobody But Me (Deluxe Version) — Michael Bublé Triplicate — Bob Dylan In Full Swing — Seth MacFarlane Wonderland — Sarah McLachlan Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 — (Various Artists) Dae Bennett, Producer Best Pop Vocal Album: Kaleidoscope EP — Coldplay Lust For Life — Lana Del Rey Evolve — Imagine Dragons Rainbow — Kesha Joanne — Lady Gaga ÷ (Divide) — Ed Sheeran Best Dance Recording: “Bambro Koyo Ganda” — Bonobo Featuring Innov Gnawa “Cola” — Camelphat & Elderbrook “Andromeda” — Gorillaz Featuring DRAM “Tonite” — LCD Soundsystem “Line Of Sight” — Odesza Featuring WYNNE & Mansionair Best Dance/Electronic Album: Migration — Bonobo 3-D The Catalogue — Kraftwerk Mura Masa — Mura Masa A Moment Apart — Odesza What Now — Sylvan Esso Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: What If — The Jerry Douglas Band Spirit — Alex Han Mount Royal — Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge Prototype — Jeff Lorber Fusion Bad Hombre — Antonio Sanchez Best Rock Performance: “You Want It Darker” — Leonard Cohen “The Promise” — Chris Cornell “Run” — Foo Fighters “No Good” — Kaleo “Go To War” — Nothing More Best Metal Performance: “Invisible Enemy” — August Burns Red “Black Hoodie” — Body Count “Forever” — Code Orange “Sultan’s Curse” — Mastodon “Clockworks” — Meshuggah Best Rock Song: “Atlas, Rise!” — James Hetfield & Lars Ulrich, songwriters (Metallica) “Blood In The Cut” — JT Daly & Kristine Flaherty, songwriters (K.Flay) “Go To War” — Ben Anderson, Jonny Hawkins, Will Hoffman, Daniel Oliver, David Pramik & Mark Vollelunga, songwriters (Nothing More) “Run” — Foo Fighters, songwriters (Foo Fighters) “The Stage” — Zachary Baker, Brian Haner, Matthew Sanders, Jonathan Seward & Brooks Wackerman, songwriters (Avenged Sevenfold) Best Rock Album: Emperor Of Sand — Mastodon Hardwired…To Self-Destruct — Metallica The Stories We Tell Ourselves — Nothing More Villains — Queens Of The Stone Age A Deeper Understanding — The War On Drugs Best Alternative Music Album: Everything Now — Arcade Fire Humanz — Gorillaz American Dream — LCD Soundsystem Pure Comedy — Father John Misty Sleep Well Beast — The National Best R&B Performance: “Get You” — Daniel Caesar Featuring Kali Uchis “Distraction” — Kehlani “High” — Ledisi “That’s What I Like” — Bruno Mars “The Weekend” — SZA Best Traditional R&B Performance: “Laugh And Move On” — The Baylor Project “Redbone” — Childish Gambino “What I’m Feelin'” — Anthony Hamilton Featuring The Hamiltones| “All The Way” — Ledisi “Still” — Mali Music Best R&B Song: “First Began” — PJ Morton, songwriter (PJ Morton) “Location” — Alfredo Gonzalez, Olatunji Ige, Samuel David Jiminez, Christopher McClenney, Khalid Robinson & Joshua Scruggs, songwriters (Khalid) “Redbone” — Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson, songwriters (Childish Gambino) “Supermodel” — Tyran Donaldson, Terrence Henderson, Greg Landfair Jr., Solana Rowe & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (SZA) “That’s What I Like” — Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip, songwriters (Bruno Mars) Best Urban Contemporary Album: Free 6LACK — 6LACK “Awaken, My Love!” — Childish Gambino American Teen — Khalid Ctrl — SZA Starboy — The Weeknd Best R&B Album: Freudian — Daniel Caesar Let Love Rule — Ledisi 24K Magic — Bruno Mars Gumbo — PJ Morton Feel The Real –Musiq Soulchild Best Rap Performance: “Bounce Back” — Big Sean “Bodak Yellow” — Cardi B “4:44” — Jay-Z “HUMBLE.” — Kendrick Lamar “Bad And Boujee” — Migos Featuring Lil Uzi Vert Best Rap/Sung Performance: “PRBLMS” — 6LACK “Crew” — Goldlink Featuring Brent Faiyaz & Shy Glizzy “Family Feud” — Jay-Z Featuring Beyoncé “LOYALTY.” — Kendrick Lamar Featuring Rihanna “Love Galore” — SZA Featuring Travis Scott Best Rap Song: “Bodak Yellow” — Dieuson Octave, Klenord Raphael, Shaftizm, Jordan Thorpe, Washpoppin & J White, songwriters (Cardi B) “Chase Me” — Judah Bauer, Brian Burton, Hector Delgado, Jaime Meline, Antwan Patton, Michael Render, Russell Simins & Jon Spencer, songwriters (Danger Mouse Featuring Run The Jewels & Big Boi) “HUMBLE.” — Duckworth, Asheton Hogan & M. Williams II, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar) “Sassy” — Gabouer & M. Evans, songwriters (Rapsody) “The Story Of O.J.” — Shawn Carter & Dion Wilson, songwriters (Jay-Z) Best Rap Album: 4:44 — Jay-Z DAMN. — Kendrick Lamar Culture — Migos Laila’s Wisdom — Rapsody Flower Boy — Tyler, The Creator Best Country Solo Performance: “Body Like A Back Road” — Sam Hunt “Losing You: –Alison Krauss “Tin Man” — Miranda Lambert “I Could Use A Love Song” — Maren Morris “Either Way” — Chris Stapleton Best Country Duo/Group Performance: “It Ain’t My Fault” — Brothers Osborne “My Old Man” — Zac Brown Band “You Look Good” — Lady Antebellum “Better Man” — Little Big Town “Drinkin’ Problem” — Midland Best Country Song: “Better Man” — Taylor Swift, songwriter (Little Big Town) “Body Like A Back Road” — Zach Crowell, Sam Hunt, Shane McAnally & Josh Osborne, songwriters (Sam Hunt) “Broken Halos” — Mike Henderson & Chris Stapleton, songwriters (Chris Stapleton) “Drinkin’ Problem” — Jess Carson, Cameron Duddy, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne & Mark Wystrach, songwriters (Midland) “Tin Man” — Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert & Jon Randall, songwriters (Miranda Lambert) Best Country Album: Cosmic Hallelujah — Kenny Chesney Heart Break — Lady Antebellum The Breaker — Little Big Town Life Changes — Thomas Rhett From A Room: Volume 1 — Chris Stapleton Best New Age Album: Reflection — Brian Eno SongVersation: Medicine — India.Arie Dancing On Water — Peter Kater Sacred Journey Of Ku-Kai, Volume 5 — Kitaro Spiral Revelation — Steve Roach Best Improvised Jazz Solo: “Can’t Remember Why” — Sara Caswell, soloist “Dance Of Shiva” — Billy Childs, soloist “Whisper Not” — Fred Hersch, soloist “Miles Beyond” — John McLaughlin, soloist “Ilimba” — Chris Potter, soloist Best Jazz Vocal Album: The Journey — The Baylor Project A Social Call — Jazzmeia Horn Bad Ass And Blind — Raul Midón Porter Plays Porter — Randy Porter Trio With Nancy King Dreams And Daggers — Cécile McLorin Salvant Best Jazz Instrumental Album: Uptown, Downtown — Bill Charlap Trio Rebirth — Billy Childs Project Freedom –Joey DeFrancesco & The People Open Book — Fred Hersch The Dreamer Is The Dream — Chris Potter Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: MONK’estra Vol. 2 — John Beasley Jigsaw — Alan Ferber Big Band Bringin’ It — Christian McBride Big Band Homecoming — Vince Mendoza & WDR Big Band Cologne Whispers On The Wind — Chuck Owen And The Jazz Surge Best Latin Jazz Album: Hybrido – From Rio To Wayne Shorter — Antonio Adolfo Oddara — Jane Bunnett & Maqueque Outra Coisa – The Music Of Moacir Santos — Anat Cohen & Marcello Gonçalves Típico — Miguel Zenón Jazz Tango — Pablo Ziegler Trio Best Gospel Performance/Song: “Too Hard Not To” — Tina Campbell “You Deserve It” — JJ Hairston & Youthful Praise Featuring Bishop Cortez Vaughn “Better Days” — Le’Andria “My Life” — The Walls Group “Never Have To Be Alone” — CeCe Winans Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song: “Oh My Soul” — Casting Crowns “Clean” — Natalie Grant “What A Beautiful Name” — Hillsong Worship “Even If” — MercyMe “Hills And Valleys” — Tauren Wells Best Gospel Album: Crossover: Live From Music City — Travis Greene Bigger Than Me — Le’Andria Close — Marvin Sapp Sunday Song — Anita Wilson Let Them Fall In Love — CeCe Winans Best Contemporary Christian Music Album: Rise — Danny Gokey Echoes (Deluxe Edition) — Matt Maher Lifer — MercyMe Hills And Valleys — Tauren Wells Chain Breaker — Zach Williams Best Roots Gospel Album: The Best Of The Collingsworth Family – Volume 1 — The Collingsworth Family Give Me Jesus — Larry Cordle Resurrection — Joseph Habedank Sing It Now: Songs Of Faith & Hope — Reba McEntire Hope For All Nations — Karen Peck & New River Best Latin Pop Album: Lo Único Constante — Alex Cuba Mis Planes Son Amarte — Juanes Amar Y Vivir En Vivo Desde La Ciudad De México, 2017 — La Santa Cecilia Musas (Un Homenaje Al Folclore Latinoamericano En Manos De Los Macorinos) — Natalia Lafourcade El Dorado — Shakira Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album: Ayo — Bomba Estéreo Pa’ Fuera — C4 Trío & Desorden Público Salvavidas De Hielo — Jorge Drexler El Paradise — Los Amigos Invisibles Residente — Residente Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano): Ni Diablo Ni Santo — Julión Álvarez Y Su Norteño Banda Ayer Y Hoy — Banda El Recodo De Cruz Lizárraga Momentos — Alex Campos Arriero Somos Versiones Acústicas — Aida Cuevas Zapateando En El Norte — Humberto Novoa, producer (Various Artists) Best Tropical Latin Album: Albita — Albita Art Of The Arrangement — Doug Beavers Salsa Big Band — Rubén Blades Con Roberto Delgado & Orquesta Gente Valiente — Silvestre Dangond Indestructible — Diego El Cigala Best American Roots Performance: Killer Diller Blues — Alabama Shakes Let My Mother Live — Blind Boys Of Alabama Arkansas Farmboy — Glen Campbell Steer Your Way — Leonard Cohen I Never Cared For You — Alison Krauss Best American Roots Song: “Cumberland Gap” — David Rawlings “I Wish You Well” — The Mavericks “If We Were Vampires” — Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit “It Ain’t Over Yet” — Rodney Crowell Featuring Rosanne Cash & John Paul White “My Only True Friend” –Gregg Allman Best Americana Album: Southern Blood — Gregg Allman Shine On Rainy Day — Brent Cobb Beast Epic — Iron & Wine The Nashville Sound — Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit Brand New Day — The Mavericks Best Bluegrass Album: Fiddler’s Dream — Michael Cleveland Laws Of Gravity — The Infamous Stringdusters Original — Bobby Osborne Universal Favorite — Noam Pikelny All The Rage – In Concert Volume One [Live] — Rhonda Vincent And The Rage Best Traditional Blues Album: Migration Blues — Eric Bibb Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio — Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio Roll And Tumble — R.L. Boyce Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train — Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi Blue & Lonesome — The Rolling Stones Best Contemporary Blues Album: Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm — Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm Recorded Live In Lafayette — Sonny Landreth TajMo — Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ Got Soul — Robert Randolph & The Family Band Live From The Fox Oakland — Tedeschi Trucks Band Best Folk Album: Mental Illness — Aimee Mann Semper Femina — Laura Marling The Queen Of Hearts — Offa Rex You Don’t Own Me Anymore — The Secret Sisters The Laughing Apple — Yusuf / Cat Stevens Best Regional Roots Music Album: Top Of The Mountain — Dwayne Dopsie And The Zydeco Hellraisers Ho’okena 3.0 — Ho’okena Kalenda — Lost Bayou Ramblers Miyo Kekisepa, Make A Stand [Live] — Northern Cree Pua Kiele — Josh Tatofi Best Reggae Album: Chronology — Chronixx Lost In Paradise — Common Kings Wash House Ting — J Boog Stony Hill — Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley Avrakedabra — Morgan Heritage Best World Music Album: Memoria De Los Sentidos — Vicente Amigo Para Mi — Buika Rosa Dos Ventos — Anat Cohen & Trio Brasileiro Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration — Ladysmith Black Mambazo Elwan — Tinariwen Best Children’s Album: Brighter Side — Gustafer Yellowgold Feel What U Feel — Lisa Loeb Lemonade — Justin Roberts Rise Shine #Woke — Alphabet Rockers Songs Of Peace & Love For Kids & Parents Around The World — Ladysmith Black Mambazo Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Storytelling): Astrophysics For People In A Hurry — Neil Degrasse Tyson Born To Run — Bruce Springsteen Confessions Of A Serial Songwriter — Shelly Peiken Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In (Bernie Sanders) — Bernie Sanders And Mark Ruffalo The Princess Diarist — Carrie Fisher Best Comedy Album: The Age Of Spin & Deep In The Heart Of Texas — Dave Chappelle Cinco — Jim Gaffigan Jerry Before Seinfeld — Jerry Seinfeld A Speck Of Dust — Sarah Silverman What Now? — Kevin Hart Best Musical Theater Album: Come From Away — Ian Eisendrath, August Eriksmoen, David Hein, David Lai & Irene Sankoff, producers; David Hein & Irene Sankoff, composers/lyricists (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Dear Evan Hansen — Ben Platt, principal soloist; Alex Lacamoire, Stacey Mindich, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, producers; Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, composers/lyricists (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Hello, Dolly! — Bette Midler, principal soloist; Steven Epstein, producer (Jerry Herman, composer & lyricist) (New Broadway Cast Recording) Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media: Baby Driver — (Various Artists) Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 — (Various Artists) Hidden Figures: The Album — (Various Artists) La La Land — (Various Artists) Moana: The Songs — (Various Artists) Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media: Arrival — Jóhann Jóhannsson, composer Dunkirk — Hans Zimmer, composer Game Of Thrones: Season 7 — Ramin Djawadi, composer Hidden Figures — Benjamin Wallfisch, Pharrell Williams & Hans Zimmer, composers La La Land — Justin Hurwitz, composer Best Song Written For Visual Media: “City Of Stars” — Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, songwriters (Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone) “How Far I’ll Go” — Lin-Manuel Miranda, songwriter (Auli’i Cravalho) “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (‘Fifty Shades Darker’)” — Jack Antonoff, Sam Dew & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Zayn & Taylor Swift) “Never Give Up” — Sia Furler & Greg Kurstin, songwriters (Sia) “Stand Up For Something” — Common & Diane Warren, songwriters (Andra Day Featuring Common) Best Instrumental Composition: “Alkaline” — Pascal Le Boeuf, composer (Le Boeuf Brothers & JACK Quartet) “Choros #3” — Vince Mendoza, composer (Vince Mendoza & WDR Big Band Cologne) “Home Free (For Peter Joe)” — Nate Smith, composer (Nate Smith) “Three Revolutions” — Arturo O’Farrill, composer (Arturo O’Farrill & Chucho Valdés) “Warped Cowboy” — Chuck Owen, composer (Chuck Owen And The Jazz Surge) Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella: “All Hat, No Saddle” — Chuck Owen, arranger (Chuck Owen And The Jazz Surge) “Escapades For Alto Saxophone And Orchestra From Catch Me If You Can” — John Williams, arranger (John Williams) “Home Free (For Peter Joe)” — Nate Smith, arranger (Nate Smith) “Ugly Beauty/Pannonica” — John Beasley, arranger (John Beasley) “White Christmas” — Chris Walden, arranger (Herb Alpert) Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals: “Another Day Of Sun” — Justin Hurwitz, arranger (La La Land Cast) “Every Time We Say Goodbye” — Jorge Calandrelli, arranger (Clint Holmes Featuring Jane Monheit) “I Like Myself” — Joel McNeely, arranger (Seth MacFarlane) “I Loves You Porgy/There’s A Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon For New York” — Shelly Berg, Gregg Field, Gordon Goodwin & Clint Holmes, arrangers (Clint Holmes Featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater And The Count Basie Orchestra) “Putin” — Randy Newman, arranger (Randy Newman) Best Recording Package: El Orisha De La Rosa — Claudio Roncoli & Cactus Taller, art directors (Magín Díaz) Mura Masa — Alex Crossan & Matt De Jong, art directors (Mura Masa) Pure Comedy (Deluxe Edition) — Sasha Barr, Ed Steed & Josh Tillman, art directors (Father John Misty) Sleep Well Beast — Elyanna Blaser-Gould, Luke Hayman & Andrea Trabucco-Campos, art directors (The National) Solid State — Gail Marowitz, art director (Jonathan Coulton) Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package: Bobo Yeye: Belle Epoque In Upper Volta — Tim Breen, art director (Various Artists) Lovely Creatures: The Best Of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds (1984 – 2014) — Tom Hingston, art director (Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds) May 1977: Get Shown The Light — Masaki Koike, art director (Grateful Dead) The Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition — Lawrence Azerrad, Timothy Daly & David Pescovitz, art directors (Various Artists) Warfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares — Tim Breen, Benjamin Marra & Ken Shipley, art directors (Various Artists) Best Album Notes: Arthur Q. Smith: The Trouble With The Truth — Wayne Bledsoe & Bradley Reeves, album notes writers (Various Artists) Big Bend Killing: The Appalachian Ballad Tradition — Ted Olson, album notes writer (Various Artists) The Complete Piano Works Of Scott Joplin — Bryan S. Wright, album notes writer (Richard Dowling) Edouard-Léon Scott De Martinville, Inventor Of Sound Recording: A Bicentennial Tribute — David Giovannoni, album notes writer (Various Artists) Live At The Whisky A Go Go: The Complete Recordings — Lynell George, album notes writer (Otis Redding) Washington Phillips And His Manzarene Dreams — Michael Corcoran, album notes writer (Washington Phillips) Best Historical Album: Bobo Yeye: Belle Epoque In Upper Volta — Jon Kirby, Florent Mazzoleni, Rob Sevier & Ken Shipley, compilation producers; Jeff Lipton & Maria Rice, mastering engineers (Various Artists) The Goldberg Variations – The Complete Unreleased Recording Sessions June 1955 — Robert Russ, compilation producer; Matthias Erb, Martin Kistner & Andreas K. Meyer, mastering engineers (Glenn Gould) Leonard Bernstein – The Composer — Robert Russ, compilation producer; Martin Kistner & Andreas K. Meyer, mastering engineers (Leonard Bernstein) Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes From The Horn Of Africa — Nicolas Sheikholeslami & Vik Sohonie, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer (Various Artists) Washington Phillips And His Manzarene Dreams — Michael Corcoran, April G. Ledbetter & Steven Lance Ledbetter, compilation producers; Michael Graves, mastering engineer (Washington Phillips) Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical: Every Where Is Some Where — Brent Arrowood, Miles Comaskey, JT Daly, Tommy English, Kristine Flaherty, Adam Hawkins, Chad Howat & Tony Maserati, engineers; Joe LaPorta, mastering engineer (K.Flay) Is This The Life We Really Want? — Nigel Godrich, Sam Petts-Davies & Darrell Thorp, engineers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer (Roger Waters) Natural Conclusion — Ryan Freeland, engineer; Joao Carvalho, mastering engineer (Rose Cousins) No Shape — Shawn Everett & Joseph Lorge, engineers; Patricia Sullivan, mastering engineer (Perfume Genius) 24K Magic — Serban Ghenea, John Hanes & Charles Moniz, engineers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer (Bruno Mars) Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical: Calvin Harris Greg Kurstin Blake Mills No I.D. The Stereotypes Best Remixed Recording: “Can’t Let You Go (Louie Vega Roots Mix)” — Louie Vega, remixer (Loleatta Holloway) “Funk O’ De Funk (SMLE Remix)” — SMLE, remixers (Bobby Rush) “Undercover (Adventure Club Remix)” — Leighton James & Christian Srigley, remixers (Kehlani) “A Violent Noise (Four Tet Remix)” — Four Tet, remixer (The xx) “You Move (Latroit Remix)” — Dennis White, remixer (Depeche Mode) Best Surround Sound Album: Early Americans — Jim Anderson, surround mix engineer; Darcy Proper, surround mastering engineer; Jim Anderson & Jane Ira Bloom, surround producers (Jane Ira Bloom) Kleiberg: Mass For Modern Man — Morten Lindberg, surround mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, surround mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, surround producer (Eivind Gullberg Jensen & Trondheim Symphony Orchestra And Choir) So Is My Love — Morten Lindberg, surround mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, surround mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, surround producer (Nina T. Karlsen & Ensemble 96) 3-D The Catalogue — Fritz Hilpert, surround mix engineer; Tom Ammermann, surround mastering engineer; Fritz Hilpert, surround producer (Kraftwerk) Tyberg: Masses — Jesse Brayman, surround mix engineer; Jesse Brayman, surround mastering engineer; Blanton Alspaugh, surround producer (Brian A. Schmidt, Christopher Jacobson & South Dakota Chorale) Best Engineered Album, Classical: Danielpour: Songs Of Solitude & War Songs — Gary Call, engineer (Thomas Hampson, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony) Kleiberg: Mass For Modern Man — Morten Lindberg, engineer (Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Trondheim Vokalensemble & Trondheim Symphony Orchestra) Schoenberg, Adam: American Symphony; Finding Rothko; Picture Studies — Keith O. Johnson & Sean Royce Martin, engineers (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony) Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio — Mark Donahue, engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Tyberg: Masses — John Newton, engineer; Jesse Brayman, mastering engineer (Brian A. Schmidt, Christopher Jacobson & South Dakota Chorale) Producer Of The Year, Classical: Blanton Alspaugh Manfred Eicher David Frost Morten Lindberg Judith Sherman

Best Music Video: “Up All Night” — Beck “Makeba” — Jain “The Story Of O.J.” — Jay-Z “Humble.” — Kendrick Lamar “1-800-273-8255” — Logic Featuring Alessia Cara & Khalid Best Music Film: “One More Time With Feeling” — Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds “Long Strange Trip” — (The Grateful Dead) The Defiant Ones — (Various Artists) “Soundbreaking” — (Various Artists) Two Trains Runnin’ — (Various Artists)

Best Orchestral Performance: Concertos For Orchestra — Louis Langrée, conductor (Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra) Copland: Symphony No. 3; Three Latin American Sketches — Leonard Slatkin, conductor (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) Debussy: Images; Jeux & La Plus Que Lente — Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (San Francisco Symphony) Mahler: Symphony No. 5 — Osmo Vänskä, conductor (Minnesota Orchestra) Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio — Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Best Opera Recording: Berg: Lulu — Lothar Koenigs, conductor; Daniel Brenna, Marlis Petersen & Johan Reuter; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra) Berg: Wozzeck — Hans Graf, conductor; Anne Schwanewilms & Roman Trekel; Hans Graf, producer (Houston Symphony; Chorus Of Students And Alumni, Shepherd School Of Music, Rice University & Houston Grand Opera Children’s Chorus) Bizet: Les Pêcheurs De Perles — Gianandrea Noseda, conductor; Diana Damrau, Mariusz Kwiecień, Matthew Polenzani & Nicolas Testé; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus) Handel: Ottone — George Petrou, conductor; Max Emanuel Cencic & Lauren Snouffer; Jacob Händel, producer (Il Pomo D’Oro) Rimsky-Korsakov: The Golden Cockerel — Valery Gergiev, conductor; Vladimir Feliauer, Aida Garifullina & Kira Loginova; Ilya Petrov, producer (Mariinsky Orchestra; Mariinsky Chorus) Best Choral Performance: Bryars: The Fifth Century — Donald Nally, conductor (PRISM Quartet; The Crossing) Handel: Messiah — Andrew Davis, conductor; Noel Edison, chorus master (Elizabeth DeShong, John Relyea, Andrew Staples & Erin Wall; Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Toronto Mendelssohn Choir) Mansurian: Requiem — Alexander Liebreich, conductor; Florian Helgath, chorus master (Anja Petersen & Andrew Redmond; Münchener Kammerorchester; RIAS Kammerchor) Music Of The Spheres — Nigel Short, conductor (Tenebrae) Tyberg: Masses — Brian A. Schmidt, conductor (Christopher Jacobson; South Dakota Chorale) Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance: Buxtehude: Trio Sonatas, Op. 1 — Arcangelo Death & The Maiden — Patricia Kopatchinskaja & The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Divine Theatre – Sacred Motets By Giaches De Wert — Stile Antico Franck, Kurtág, Previn & Schumann — Joyce Yang & Augustin Hadelich Martha Argerich & Friends – Live From Lugano 2016 — Martha Argerich & Various Artists Best Classical Instrumental Solo: Bach: The French Suites — Murray Perahia Haydn: Cello Concertos — Steven Isserlis; Florian Donderer, conductor (The Deutsch Kammerphilharmonie Bremen) Levina: The Piano Concertos — Maria Lettberg; Ariane Matiakh, conductor (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin) Shostakovich: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 — Frank Peter Zimmermann; Alan Gilbert, conductor (NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester) Transcendental — Daniil Trifonov Best Classical Solo Vocal Album: Bach & Telemann: Sacred Cantatas — Philippe Jaroussky; Petra Müllejans, conductor (Ann-Kathrin Brüggemann & Juan de la Rubia; Freiburger Barockorchester) Crazy Girl Crazy – Music By Gershwin, Berg & Berio — Barbara Hannigan (Orchestra Ludwig) Gods & Monsters — Nicholas Phan; Myra Huang, accompanist In War & Peace – Harmony Through Music — Joyce DiDonato; Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor (Il Pomo D’Oro) Sviridov: Russia Cast Adrift — Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Constantine Orbelian, conductor (St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra & Style Of Five Ensemble) Best Classical Compendium: Barbara — Alexandre Tharaud; Cécile Lenoir, producer Higdon: All Things Majestic, Viola Concerto & Oboe Concerto — Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Tim Handley, producer Kurtág: Complete Works For Ensemble & Choir — Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor; Guido Tichelman, producer Les Routes De L’Esclavage — Jordi Savall, conductor; Benjamin Bleton, producer Mademoiselle: Première Audience – Unknown Music Of Nadia Boulanger — Lucy Mauro; Lucy Mauro, producer Best Contemporary Classical Composition: Danielpour: Songs Of Solitude — Thomas Hampson, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony Higdon: Viola Concerto — Roberto Díaz, Giancarlo Guerrero & Nashville Symphony Mansurian: Requiem —Alexander Liebreich, Florian Helgath, RIAS Kammerchor & Münchener Kammerorchester Schoenberg, Adam: Picture Studies —Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony Zhou Tian: Concerto For Orchestra —Louis Langrée & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

[damiencordle]

Joshua Damien Cordle. I Found This Interesting

Ultrathin nanotech promises to help tackle antibiotic resistance.

Researchers have invented a nano-thin superbug-slaying material that could one day be integrated into wound dressings and implants to prevent or heal bacterial infections.

The innovation -- which has undergone advanced pre-clinical trials -- is effective against a broad range of drug-resistant bacterial cells, including 'golden staph', which are commonly referred to as superbugs.

Antibiotic resistance is a major global health threat, causing about 700,000 deaths annually, a figure which could rise to 10 million deaths a year by 2050 without the development of new antibacterial therapies.

The new study led by RMIT University and the University of South Australia (UniSA) tested black phosphorus-based nanotechnology as an advanced infection treatment and wound healing therapeutic.

Results published in Advanced Therapeutics show it effectively treated infections, killing over 99% of bacteria, without damaging other cells in biological models.

The treatment achieved comparable results to an antibioticin eliminating infection and accelerated healing, with wounds closing by 80% over seven days.

The superbug-killing nanotechnology developed internationally by RMIT was rigorously tested in pre-clinical trials by wound-healing experts at UniSA. RMIT has sought patent protection for the black phosphorus flakes including its use in wound healing formulations, including gels.

RMIT co-lead researcher, Professor Sumeet Walia, said the study showed how their innovation provided rapid antimicrobial action, then self-decomposed after the threat of infection had been eliminated.

"The beauty of our innovation is that it is not simply a coating -- it can actually be integrated into common materials that devices are made of, as well as plastic and gels, to make them antimicrobial," said Walia from RMIT's School of Engineering.

A previous study led by RMIT revealed that black phosphorus was effective at killing microbes when spread in nano-thin layers on surfaces used to make wound dressings and implants such as cotton and titanium, or integrated into plastics used in medical instruments.

How the invention works

Black phosphorus is the most stable form of phosphorus -- a mineral that is naturally present in many foods -- and, in an ultra-thin form, degrades easily with oxygen, making it ideal for killing microbes.

"As the nanomaterial breaks down, its surface reacts with the atmosphere to produce what are called reactive oxygen species. These species ultimately help by ripping bacterial cells apart," Walia said.

The new study tested the effectiveness of nano-thin flakes of black phosphorus against five common bacteria strains, including E. coli and drug-resistant golden staph.

"Our antimicrobial nanotechnology rapidly destroyed more than 99% of bacterial cells -- significantly more than common treatments used to treat infections today."

The global war on superbugs

Co-lead researcher Dr Aaron Elbourne from RMIT said healthcare professionals around the world were in desperate need of new treatments to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance.

"Superbugs -- the pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics -- are responsible for massive health burdens and as drug resistance grows, our ability to treat these infections becomes increasingly challenging," Elbourne, a Senior Research Fellow in RMIT's School of Science at RMIT, said.

"If we can make our invention a commercial reality in the clinical setting, these superbugs globally wouldn't know what hit them."

Treatment efficacy in preclinical models of wound infection

Lead researcher from UniSA, Dr Zlatko Kopecki, and his team performed the pre-clinical trials to show how daily topical application of the black phosphorus nanoflakes significantly reduced infection.

"This is exciting as the treatment was comparable to the ciprofloxacin antibiotic in eradicating wound infection and resulted in accelerated healing, with wounds closing by 80% over seven days," Dr Kopecki said.

Dr Kopecki, who is also a Channel 7 Children's Research Foundation Fellow in Childhood Wound Infections, said antibiotic treatments are becoming scarce.

"We urgently need to develop new alternative non-antibiotic approaches to treat and manage wound infection," he said.

"Black phosphorus seems to have hit the spot and we look forward to seeing the translation of this research towards clinical treatment of chronic wounds."

The team wants to collaborate with potential industry partners to develop and prototype the technology.

Story Source:

Materials provided by RMIT University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Emmeline P. Virgo, Hanif Haidari, Zo L. Shaw, Louisa Z. Y. Huang, Tahlia L. Kennewell, Luke Smith, Taimur Ahmed, Saffron J. Bryant, Gordon S. Howarth, Sumeet Walia, Allison J. Cowin, Aaron Elbourne, Zlatko Kopecki. Layered Black Phosphorus Nanoflakes Reduce Bacterial Burden and Enhance Healing of Murine Infected Wounds. Advanced Therapeutics, 2023; DOI: 10.1002/adtp.202300235

[damiencordle]

Joshua Damien Cordle. I Found This Interesting.

Better cybersecurity with new material

Digital information exchange can be safer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly with the help of a new type of random number generator for encryption developed at Linköping University, Sweden. The researchers behind the study believe that the new technology paves the way for a new type of quantum communication.

In an increasingly connected world, cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important to protect not just the individual, but also, for example, national infrastructure and banking systems. And there is an ongoing race between hackers and those trying to protect information. The most common way to protect information is through encryption. So when we send emails, pay bills and shop online, the information is digitally encrypted.

To encrypt information, a random number generator is used, which can either be a computer programme or the hardware itself. The random number generator provides keys that are used to both encrypt and unlock the information at the receiving end.

Different types of random number generators provide different levels of randomness and thus security. Hardware is the much safer option as randomness is controlled by physical processes. And the hardware method that provides the best randomness is based on quantum phenomena -- what researchers call the Quantum Random Number Generator, QRNG.

"In cryptography, it's not only important that the numbers are random, but that you're the only one who knows about them. With QRNG's, we can certify that a large amount of the generated bits is private and thus completely secure. And if the laws of quantum physics are true, it should be impossible to eavesdrop without the recipient finding out," says Guilherme B Xavier, researcher at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Linköping University.

His research group, together with researchers at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), has developed a new type of QRNG, that can be used for encryption, but also for betting and computer simulations. The new feature of the Linköping researchers' QRNG is the use of light emitting diodes made from the crystal-like material perovskite.

Their random number generator is among the best produced and compares well with similar products. Thanks to the properties of perovskites, it has the potential to be cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Feng Gao is a professor at IFM and has been researching perovskites for over a decade. He believes that the recent development of perovskite light emitting diodes (PeLEDs) means that there is an opportunity to revolutionise, for example, optical instruments.

"It's possible to use, for example, a traditional laser for QRNG, but it's expensive. If the technology is eventually to find its way into consumer electronics, it's important that the cost is kept down and that the production is as environmentally friendly as possible. In addition, PeLEDs don't require as much energy to run," says Feng Gao.

The next step is to develop the material further to make the perovskite lead-free and to extend its lifetime, which is currently 22 days. According to Guilherme B Xavier, their new QRNG could be available for use in cybersecurity within five years.

"It's an advantage if electronic components that are to be used for sensitive data are manufactured in Sweden. If you buy a complete randomness generator kit from another country, you can't be sure that it's not being monitored."

The study was funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation through the Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology and the European Research Council.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Linköping University. Original written by Anders Törneholm. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Joakim Argillander, Alvaro Alarcón, Chunxiong Bao, Chaoyang Kuang, Gustavo Lima, Feng Gao, Guilherme B. Xavier. Quantum random number generation based on a perovskite light emitting diode. Communications Physics, 2023; 6 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s42005-023-01280-3

[damiencordle]

A lightweight wearable device helps users navigate with a tap on the wrist

Scientists at Rice University in Houston, Texas have developed a fabric-based wearable device that "taps" a user's wrist with pressurized air, silently helping them navigate to their destination. The study, published August 29 in the journal Device, demonstrated that users correctly interpreted which direction the device was telling them to go an average of 87% of the time. Since the wearable embeds most of its control system within the fabric itself, using air instead of electronics, it can be built lighter and more compact than existing designs.

"We envision this device will be used by individuals who need or desire information to be transmitted to them privately and in a way that can be seamlessly integrated into clothing or other wearables," said Marcia O'Malley (@MarcieOMalley), Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University and an author of the study.

The wearables may benefit amputees who use prosthetic limbs, people with hearing loss, and specialists such as surgeons, pilots, and soldiers who are inundated with visual and auditory information.

Visual and auditory cues like a flashing light on a dashboard or the ping of a new text message can effectively transmit information. However, many people are overwhelmed by such cues in their daily lives -- and with too many notifications conveyed the same way, information can get lost in the clutter. "Haptics," or touch-based stimuli, which include hot or cold sensations or cues based on pressure applied to the skin, can offer an alternative.

But while devices that produce visual cues or sounds are prevalent in everyday life, devices that use haptic cues are still uncommon since they usually require bulky hardware that weighs down the wearer.

To overcome this obstacle, the Rice University researchers developed a light, comfortable wearable device from textile materials that can be worn on a user's arm. The team tested the device by measuring forces applied to the user as a function of pressure and the shape of the wearable -- a task that proved somewhat challenging since different users had different experiences with cues from the same device, said Barclay Jumet (@JUMETkinmecrazy), a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering and the lead author of the study.

"Every person has a differently shaped arm, a different perception of what "feels good" in terms of the forces applied and the timing of the forces, and different capabilities in responding to the type of haptic cues we delivered," said Jumet. "Fortunately, our textile-based platform is easily tailorable and adjustable to a range of body types and sizes."

After testing the performance of their haptic textile sleeves in a lab-based study involving human participants, the researchers set out to see how well these devices could help users navigate in a real-world scenario. They integrated two of the sleeves into a shirt and completed the ensemble with a textile belt where they attached auxiliary components, making the device portable. Next, an experimenter sent cues to the user wearing the device, directing them where to walk for one kilometer.

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"We were impressed that the user was able to navigate the streets of Houston and subsequently trace 50-meter-long Tetris pieces on an open field with 100% accuracy in receiving and interpreting navigational haptic cues," said Daniel Preston (@ProfDanPreston), an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and the corresponding author of the study.

In another navigation test, the participant again interpreted the cues with total accuracy, this time while riding an electric scooter over paved bricks, concrete sidewalks, and graveled paths.

"Further development will seek to improve the ability to convey even more complex cues that remain easily and naturally discerned by the user," said Preston.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Barclay Jumet, Zane A. Zook, Anas Yousaf, Anoop Rajappan, Doris Xu, Te Faye Yap, Nathaniel Fino, Zhen Liu, Marcia K. O’Malley, Daniel J. Preston. Fluidically programmed wearable haptic textiles. Device, 2023; 100059 DOI: 10.1016/j.device.2023.100059

[damiencordle]

I Found This Interesting. Joshua Damien Cordle

Discovery of a fundamental law of friction leads to new materials that can minimize energy loss

Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Elisa Riedo and her team have discovered a fundamental friction law that is leading to a deeper understanding of energy dissipation in friction and the design of two-dimensional materials capable of minimizing energy loss.

Friction is an everyday phenomenon; it allows drivers to stop their cars by breaking and dancers to execute complicated moves on various floor surfaces. It can, however, also be an unwanted effect that drives the waste of large amounts of energy in industrial processes, the transportation sector, and elsewhere. Tribologists-those who study the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion-have estimated that one-quarter of global energy losses are due to friction and wear.

While friction is extremely widespread and relevant in technology, the fundamental laws of friction are still obscure, and only recently have scientists been able to use advances in nanotechnology to understand, for example, the microscopic origin of da Vinci's law, which holds that frictional forces are proportional to the applied load.

Now, Riedo and her NYU Tandon postdoctoral researcher Martin Rejhon have found a new method to measure the interfacial shear between two atomic layers and discovered that this quantity is inversely related to friction, following a new law.

This work-conducted in collaboration with NYU Tandon graduate student Francesco Lavini, and colleagues from the International School for Advanced Studies, the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste Italy, as well as Prague's Charles University-could lead to more efficient manufacturing processes, greener vehicles, and a generally more sustainable world.

"The interaction between a single atomic layer of a material and its substrate governs its electronic, mechanical, and chemical properties," Riedo explains, "so gaining insight into that topic is important, on both fundamental and technological levels, in finding ways to reduce the energy loss caused by friction."

The researchers studied bulk graphite and epitaxial graphene films grown with different stacking orders and twisting, measuring the hard-to-access interfacial transverse shear modulus of an atomic layer on a substrate. They discovered that the modulus (a measure of the material's ability to resist shear deformations and remain rigid) is largely controlled by the stacking order and the atomic layer-substrate interaction and demonstrated its importance in controlling and predicting sliding friction in supported two-dimensional materials. Their experiments showed a general reciprocal relationship between friction force per unit contact area and interfacial shear modulus for all the graphite structures they investigated.

Their 2022 paper, "Relation between interfacial shear and friction force in 2D materials" was published online in Nature Nanotechnology and was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and the U.S. Army Research Office.

"Our results can be generalized to other 2D materials as well," Riedo, who heads NYU Tandon's PicoForce Lab, asserts. "This presents a way to control atomic sliding friction and other interfacial phenomena, and has potential applications in miniaturized moving devices, the transportation industry, and other realms."

"Elisa's work is a great example of NYU Tandon's commitment to a more sustainable future," Dean Jelena Kovačević says, "and a testament to the research being done at our newly launched Sustainable Engineering Initiative, which focuses on tackling climate change and environmental contamination through a four-pronged approach we're calling AMRAd, for Avoidance, Mitigation, Remediation and Adaptation."

Story Source:

Materials provided by NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Martin Rejhon, Francesco Lavini, Ali Khosravi, Mykhailo Shestopalov, Jan Kunc, Erio Tosatti, Elisa Riedo. Relation between interfacial shear and friction force in 2D materials. Nature Nanotechnology, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41565-022-01237-7

[damiencordle]

I Found This Interesting. Joshua Damien Cordle

Can your phone tell if a bridge is in good shape?

A new study suggests mobile data collected while traveling over bridges could help evaluate their integrity.

Want to know if the Golden Gate Bridge is holding up well? There could be an app for that.

A new study involving MIT researchers shows that mobile phones placed in vehicles, equipped with special software, can collect useful structural integrity data while crossing bridges. In so doing, they could become a less expensive alternative to sets of sensors attached to bridges themselves.

"The core finding is that information about structural health of bridges can be extracted from smartphone-collected accelerometer data," says Carlo Ratti, director of the MIT Sensable City Laboratory and co-author of a new paper summarizing the study's findings.

The research was conducted, in part, on the Golden Gate Bridge itself. The study showed that mobile devices can capture the same kind of information about bridge vibrations that stationary sensors compile. The researchers also estimate that, depending on the age of a road bridge, mobile-device monitoring could add from 15 percent to 30 percent more years to the structure's lifespan.

"These results suggest that massive and inexpensive datasets collected by smartphones could play an important role in monitoring the health of existing transportation infrastructure," the authors write in their new paper.

The study, "Crowdsourcing Bridge Vital Signs with Smartphone Vehicle Trips," is being published in Nature Communications Engineering.

The authors are Thomas J. Matarazzo, an assistant professor of civil and mechanical engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point; Daniel Kondor, a postdoc at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna; Sebastiano Milardo, a researcher at the Senseable City Lab; Soheil S. Eshkevari, a senior research scientist at DiDi Labs and a former member of Senseable City Lab; Paolo Santi, principal research scientist at the Senseable City Lab and research director at the Italian National Research Council; Shamim N. Pakzad, a professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Lehigh University; Markus J. Buehler, the Jerry McAfee Professor in Engineering and professor of civil and environmental engineering and of mechanical engineering at MIT; and Ratti, who is also professor of the practice in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Bridges naturally vibrate, and to study the essential "modal frequencies" of those vibrations in many directions, engineers typically place sensors, such as accelerometers, on bridges themselves. Changes in the modal frequencies over time may indicate changes in a bridge's structural integrity.

To conduct the study, the researchers developed an Android-based mobile phone application to collect accelerometer data when the devices were placed in vehicles passing over the bridge. They could then see how well those data matched up with data record by sensors on bridges themselves, to see if the mobile-phone method worked.

"In our work, we designed a methodology for extracting modal vibration frequencies from noisy data collected from smartphones," Santi says. "As data from multiple trips over a bridge are recorded, noise generated by engine, suspension and traffic vibrations, [and] asphalt, tend to cancel out, while the underlying dominant frequencies emerge."

In the case of the Golden Gate Bridge, the researchers drove over the bridge 102 times with their devices running, and the team used 72 trips by Uber drivers with activated phones as well. The team then compared the resulting data to that from a group of 240 sensors that had been placed on the Golden Gate Bridge for three months.

The outcome was that the data from the phones converged with that from the bridge's sensors; for 10 particular types of low-frequency vibrations engineers measure on the bridge, there was a close match, and in five cases, there was no discrepancy between the methods at all.

"We were able to show that many of these frequencies correspond very accurately to the prominent modal frequencies of the bridge," Santi says.

However, only 1 percent of all bridges in the U.S. are suspension bridges. About 41 percent are much smaller concrete span bridges. So, the researchers also examined how well their method would fare in that setting.

To do so, they studied a bridge in Ciampino, Italy, comparing 280 vehicle trips over the bridge to six sensors that had been placed on the bridge for seven months. Here, the researchers were also encouraged by the findings, though they found up to a 2.3 percent divergence between methods for certain modal frequencies over all 280 trips, and a 5.5 percent divergence over a smaller sample. That suggests a larger volume of trips could yield more useful data.

"Our initial results suggest that only a [modest amount] of trips over the span of a few weeks are sufficient to obtain useful information about bridge modal frequencies," Santi says.

Looking at the method as a whole, Buehler observes, "Vibrational signatures are emerging as a powerful tool to assess properties of large and complex systems, ranging from viral properties of pathogens to structural integrity of bridges as shown in this study. It's a universal signal found widely in the natural and built environment that we're just now beginning to explore as a diagnostic and generative tool in engineering."

As Ratti acknowledges, there are ways to refine and expand the research, including accounting for the effects of the smartphone mount in the vehicle, the influence of the vehicle type on the data, and more.

"We still have work to do, but we believe that our approach could be scaled up easily -- all the way to the level of an entire country," Ratti says. "It might not reach the accuracy that one can get using fixed sensors installed on a bridge, but it could become a very interesting early-warning system. Small anomalies could then suggest when to carry out further analyses."

The researchers received support from Anas S.p.A., Allianz, Brose, Cisco, Dover Corporation, Ford, the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, the Fraunhofer Institute, the former Kuwait-MIT Center for Natural Resources and the Environment, Lab Campus, RATP, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), SNCF Gares & Connexions, UBER, and the U.S. Department of Defense High-Performance Computing Modernization Program.

Story Source:

Materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Original written by Peter Dizikes. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Thomas J. Matarazzo, Dániel Kondor, Sebastiano Milardo, Soheil S. Eshkevari, Paolo Santi, Shamim N. Pakzad, Markus J. Buehler, Carlo Ratti. Crowdsourcing bridge dynamic monitoring with smartphone vehicle trips. Communications Engineering, 2022; 1 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s44172-022-00025-4

[damiencordle]

I Found This Interesting. Joshua Damien Cordle

Magnetic molecules on surfaces: Advances and challenges in molecular nanoscience

In the field of molecular magnetism, the design of devices with technological applications at the nanoscale -- quantum computing, molecular spintronics, magnetic cooling, nanomedicine, high-density information storage, etc. -- requires those magnetic molecules that are placed on the surface to preserve their structure, functionality and properties. Now, a paper published in the journal Coordination Chemistry Reviews analyses the most updated knowledge on the processes of deposition and organization of magnetic molecules on surfaces (nanostructuring), a determining process for the progress of technologies that involve a miniaturisation of engines and a more efficient functioning in nanometric dimensions.

The study -- signed by the researchers Carolina Sañudo, Guillem Gabarró-Riera and Guillem Aromí, from the Group of Magnetism and Functional Molecules of the Faculty of Chemistry and the Institute of Nanosciences and Nanotechnology of the University of Barcelona (IN2UB) -- describes the global scenario of the progress of the research in this field, and it proposes new ways to make advances in the organization in two dimensions (2D) of magnetic molecules, regarding its technological applications.

The article includes recommendations to select the best deposition method for each molecule, a review of the used surfaces in these processes, apart from guidelines for an effective characterization and future perspectives based on bidimensional materials. Moreover, the authors provide a new critical perspective on how, in a near future, to reach the effective application of the molecular systems in a device to get a faster technology using less energy.

Molecular nanoscience and magnetic materials

In the process to select the top deposition method on surfaces for each magnetic molecule, we have to consider each molecule and its structure, as well as the surface and structure it has. "The selection of the top method depends on the system, but it will always be possible to find a proper combination to deposit the molecular systems," notes the lecturer Carolina Sañudo, from the Department of Inorganic and Organic Chemistry of the UB.

"The protocols vary in each case and the first step is to determine the desired characteristics of the surface," she continues. "For example, if we want to study spintronics, we will need a conducting surface. Once the surface and its nature have been determined, it is essential to determine the shape anisotropy of the molecule while looking at its crystalline structure, its properties -- can it sublimate? can it dissolve? in which solvents? -- and potential anchor points -- does it have functional groups that allow chemisorption, and if it doesn't, what are the options for physisorption? If not, what are the physisorption options? Once we have all these details, we can design a deposition protocol. For example, if our molecule has an available sulphur group, we can anchor it by chemisorption to a gold (Au) surface. If the molecule can undergo sublimation, we can do it by evaporation," she concludes.

Smaller and more efficient electronic devices

The synthesis of new molecules with better properties is an unstoppable process, "but stability does not always go hand in hand with magnetic properties. Right now, the molecule with the highest blocking temperature T -- below which the molecule behaves like a magnet -- is extremely unstable. In particular, it is an organometallic compound and this makes it very difficult (or impossible) to place it on the surface or use it in a technological device."

To improve the design of magnetic molecules and obtain more efficient surface deposition processes, the stability of new organometallic monomolecular magnets (SMMs) has to be improved if they are to be used effectively. On the other hand, magnetic molecules that are not so good SMMs or that are quantum bits (qubits), or molecules that have spin-allowed electronic transitions, have features that make them very difficult to use -- due to lack of or little anisotropy in their shape or multiple anchoring functional groups that make diverse depositions of the molecule on the surface possible.

"To avoid this, it is necessary to advance the organisation of D2 molecules. For example, by forming two-dimensional organometallic materials (MOFs) in which the nodule is the molecule, and depositing the nanolayers that are already implicitly ordered on a surface. A 2D MOF, where each nodule is a qubit, would allow us to obtain an array of ordered qubits on a surface. This is a very important challenge and some groups like ours are working on it," the researcher says.

Reducing the energy consumption of technological devices is another goal of surface deposition technology. "The designed devices -- she continues -- can have very low power consumption if we have a device that stores information in SMM, or we use qubits in a perfectly ordered 2D matrix, or a system with spin-enabled electronically transition -- enabled molecules on a surface by molecular spintronics. In addition, they would be faster and more miniaturised than current devices."

In this field, the synthesis of inorganic compounds has generated magnet molecules that can function at temperatures around liquid nitrogen, "and this has been a major breakthrough," says the researcher. Technologies such as tunnelling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) with functionalised tips are the techniques that have made it possible to identify the position of the molecules on the surface. In particular, AFM with functionalised tips can become a very useful technique to characterise surface molecules.

"The discovery that a magnesium oxide (MgO) layer of a few nanometres is needed to decouple the molecule from the surface to maintain the molecular properties once the molecule is deposited is a major breakthrough. It is also worth mentioning the coating of large surface areas by monolayers of molecules with a high percentage of order, since the arrangement of the molecule on the surface in different ways can produce different interactions and, therefore, cause not all molecules to maintain their properties. These two points are crucial for the future development of devices based on the use of molecules deposited on surfaces," says Carolina Sañudo.

Magnetic molecules: future challenges

For now, obtaining SMMs at elevated temperatures, or synthesising qubits with longer relaxation times (T1) and coherence times (T2) that facilitate use in larger devices, is a challenge for chemists. Being able to obtain large areas coated with monolayers of equal and ordered molecules will also represent a very relevant progress, and this challenge includes characterisation. For this reason, the application of synchrotron light techniques -- such as GIXRD, HAXPES and XMCD -- will be essential.

"In order to achieve this order of the molecules on the surface, the UB Group of Magnetism and Functional Molecules is considering using 2D MOFs, i.e. coordination polymers that extend in two dimensions and are made up of extremely thin layers stacked by Van der Waals forces. Our team also wants to address other challenges, such as measuring the T1 and T2 relaxation times for a qubit deposited on a surface and confirming that they maintain (or improve) the measured values," the researcher concludes.

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Barcelona. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Guillem Gabarró-Riera, Guillem Aromí, E. Carolina Sañudo. Magnetic molecules on surfaces: SMMs and beyond. Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 2023; 475: 214858 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2022.214858

[damiencordle]

I Found This Interesting. Joshua Damien Cordle

Disposable electronics on a simple sheet of paper

Discarded electronic devices, such as cell phones, are a fast-growing source of waste. One way to mitigate the problem could be to use components that are made with renewable resources and that are easy to dispose of responsibly. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have created a prototype circuit board that is made of a sheet paper with fully integrated electrical components, and that can be burned or left to degrade.

Most small electronic devices contain circuit boards that are made from glass fibers, resins and metal wiring. These boards are not easy to recycle and are relatively bulky, making them undesirable for use in point-of-care medical devices, environmental monitors or personal wearable devices. One alternative is to use paper-based circuit boards, which should be easier to dispose of, less expensive and more flexible. However, current options require specialized paper, or they simply have traditional metal circuitry components mounted onto a sheet of paper. Instead, Choi and colleagues wanted to develop circuitry that would be simple to manufacture and that had all the electronic components fully integrated into the sheet.

The team designed a paper-based amplifier-type circuit that incorporated resistors, capacitors and a transistor. They first used wax to print channels onto a sheet of paper in a simple pattern. After melting the wax so that it soaked into the paper, the team printed semi-conductive and conductive inks, which soaked into the areas not blocked by wax. Then, the researchers screen-printed additional conductive metal components and casted a gel-based electrolyte onto the sheet.

Tests confirmed that the resistor, capacitor and transistor designs performed properly. The final circuit was very flexible and thin, just like paper, even after adding the components. To demonstrate the degradability of the circuit, the team showed that the entire unit quickly burned to ash after being lit on fire. The researchers say this represents a step toward producing completely disposable electronic devices.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Science Foundation.

Story Source:

Materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Related Multimedia:

An electronic circuit printed on paper burning

Journal Reference:

Mya Landers, Anwar Elhadad, Maryam Rezaie, Seokheun Choi. Integrated Papertronic Techniques: Highly Customizable Resistor, Supercapacitor, and Transistor Circuitry on a Single Sheet of Paper. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2022; DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c13503

[damiencordle]

Joshua Damien Cordle - I Found This Interesting

Just by changing its shape, scientists show they can alter material properties

By confining the transport of electrons and ions in a patterned thin film, scientists find a way to potentially enhance material properties for design of next-generation electronics

Like ripples in a pond, electrons travel like waves through materials, and when they collide and interact, they can give rise to new and interesting patterns.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have seen a new kind of wave pattern emerge in a thin film of metal oxide known as titania when its shape is confined. Confinement, the act of restricting materials within a boundary, can alter the properties of a material and the movement of molecules through it.

In the case of titania, it caused electrons to interfere with each other in a unique pattern, which increased the oxide's conductivity, or the degree to which it conducts electricity. This all happened at the mesoscale, a scale where scientists can see both quantum effects and the movement of electrons and molecules.

In all, this work offers scientists more insight about how atoms, electrons and other particles behave at the quantum level. Such information could aid in designing new materials that can process information and be useful in other electronic applications.

"What really set this work apart was the size of the scale we investigated," said lead author Frank Barrows, a Northwestern University graduate student in Argonne's Materials Science Division (MSD). "Investigating at this unique length scale enabled us to see really interesting phenomena that indicate there is interference happening at the quantum level, and at the same time gain new information about how electrons and ions interact."

Altering geometry to change material properties

Normally, when an electric current is applied to an oxide like titania, electrons flow through the material in a simple wave form. At the same time, ions -- or charged particles -- also move around. These processes give rise to the material's electronic transport properties, such as conductivity and resistance, which are exploited in the design of next-generation electronics.

"What we did in our study was try to understand how we can change material properties by confining the geometry or shape of the film," said co-author Charudatta Phatak, a materials scientist and group leader in Argonne's MSD.

To start, researchers created films of titania, then engineered a pattern on them. In the pattern were holes that were a mere 10 to 20 nanometers apart. Adding the geometric pattern altered the movement of electrons the same way that throwing rocks into a body of water alters the waves that ripple through it. In the case of titania, the pattern caused electron waves to interfere with each other, which led the oxide to conduct more electricity.

"The interference pattern basically held in place the oxygen or ions that normally would be moving in materials like titania. And we found that holding those in place was important or necessary to get constructive interference of those waves," Phatak said.

The researchers investigated conductivity and other properties using two techniques: electron holography and electron energy loss spectroscopy. To that end, they leveraged resources at Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, to fabricate their samples and make some of the measurements.

"We wouldn't have been able to see this unique pattern of interference if we weren't able to produce enough of these holes in a pattern, which is very hard to do," said Barrows. "Expertise and resources at the CNM and Argonne's Materials Science Division proved critical to helping us observe this emergent behavior."

Future applications

In the future, if researchers can better understand what gave rise to the increase in conductivity, they could potentially find ways to control electrical or optical properties and harness this information for quantum information processing. Insights could also be used to expand our understanding of materials that can switch resistance. Resistance measures how much a material resists the flow of electrons in an electrical current.

"Resistance-switching materials are of interest because they can be information carriers -- one resistance state can be 0 and the other can be 1," said Phatak. "What we've done can give us a bit more insight into how we can control these properties by using geometric confinements."

Story Source:

Materials provided by DOE/Argonne National Laboratory. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Frank Barrows, Hanu Arava, Chun Zhou, Paul Nealey, Tamar Segal-Peretz, Yuzi Liu, Saidur Bakaul, Charudatta Phatak, Amanda Petford-Long. Mesoscale Confinement Effects and Emergent Quantum Interference in Titania Antidot Thin Films. ACS Nano, 2021; 15 (8): 12935 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.1c01340

[damiencordle]

I Found This Interesting. Joshua Damien Cordle

Engineering Discovery Challenges Heat Transfer Paradigm That Guides Electronic and Photonic Device Design

A research breakthrough from the University of Virginia School of Engineering demonstrates a new mechanism to control temperature and extend the lifetime of electronic and photonic devices such as sensors, smart phones and transistors.

The discovery, from UVA's experiments and simulations in thermal engineering research group, challenges a fundamental assumption about heat transfer in semiconductor design. In devices, electrical contacts form at the junction of a metal and a semiconducting material. Traditionally, materials and device engineers have assumed that electron energy moves across this junction through a process called charge injection, said group leader Patrick Hopkins, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering with courtesy appointments in materials science and engineering and physics.

Charge injection posits that with the flow of the electrical charge, electrons physically jump from the metal into the semiconductor, taking their excess heat with them. This changes the electrical composition and properties of the insulating or semiconducting materials. The cooling that goes hand-in-hand with charge injection can significantly degrade device efficiency and performance.

Hopkins' group discovered a new heat transfer path that embraces the benefits of cooling associated with charge injection without any of the drawbacks of the electrons physically moving into the semiconductor device. They call this mechanism ballistic thermal injection.

As described by Hopkins' advisee John Tomko, a Ph.D. student of materials science and engineering: "The electron gets to the bridge between its metal and the semiconductor, sees another electron across the bridge and interacts with it, transferring its heat but staying on its own side of the bridge. The semiconducting material absorbs a lot of heat, but the number of electrons remains constant."

"The ability to cool electrical contacts by keeping charge densities constant offers a new direction in electronic cooling without impacting the electrical and optical performance of the device," Hopkins said. "The ability to independently optimize optical, electrical and thermal behavior of materials and devices improves device performance and longevity."

Tomko's expertise in laser metrology -- measuring energy transfer at the nanoscale -- revealed ballistic thermal injection as a new path for device self-cooling. Tomko's measurement technique, more specifically optical laser spectroscopy, is an entirely new way to measure heat transfer across the metal-semiconductor interface.

"Previous methods of measurement and observation could not decompose the heat transfer mechanism separately from charge injection," Tomko said.

For their experiments, Hopkins' research team selected cadmium oxide, a transparent electricity-conducting oxide that looks like glass. Cadmium oxide was a pragmatic choice because its unique optical properties are well suited to Tomko's laser spectroscopy measurement method.

Cadmium oxide perfectly absorbs mid-infrared photons in the form of plasmons, quasiparticles composed of synchronized electrons that are an incredibly efficient way of coupling light into a material. Tomko used ballistic thermal injection to move the light wavelength at which perfect absorption occurs, essentially tuning the optical properties of cadmium oxide through injected heat.

"Our observations of tuning enable us to say definitively that heat transfer happens without swapping electrons," Tomko said.

Tomko probed the plasmons to extract information on the number of free electrons on each side of the bridge between the metal and the semiconductor. In this way, Tomko captured the measurement of electrons' placement before and after the metal was heated and cooled.

The team's discovery offers promise for infrared sensing technologies as well. Tomko's observations reveal that the optical tuning lasts as long as the cadmium oxide remains hot, keeping in mind that time is relative -- a trillionth rather than a quadrillionth of a second.

Ballistic thermal injection can control plasmon absorption and therefore the optical response of non-metal materials. Such control enables highly efficient plasmon absorption at mid-infrared length. One benefit of this development is that night vision devices can be made more responsive to a sudden, intense change in heat that would otherwise leave the device temporarily blind.

"The realization of this ballistic thermal injection process across metal/cadmium oxide interfaces for ultrafast plasmonic applications opens the door for us to use this process for efficient cooling of other device-relevant material interfaces," Hopkins said.

Tomko first-authored a paper documenting these findings. Nature Nanotechnology published the team's paper, Long-lived Modulation of Plasmonic Absorption by Ballistic Thermal Injection, on November 9; the paper was also promoted in the journal editors' News and Views. The Nature Nanotechnology paper adds to a long list of publications for Tomko, who has co-authored more than 30 papers and can now claim first-authorship of two Nature Nanotechnology papers as a graduate student.

The research paper culminates a two-year, collaborative effort funded by a U.S. Army Research Office Multi-University Research Initiative. Jon-Paul Maria, professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State University, is the principal investigator for the MURI grant, which includes the University of Southern California as well as UVA. This MURI team also collaborated with Josh Caldwell, associate professor of mechanical engineering and electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University.

The team's breakthrough relied on Penn State's expertise in making the cadmium oxide samples, Vanderbilt's expertise in optical modeling, the University of Southern California's computational modeling, and UVA's expertise in energy transport, charge flow, and photonic interactions with plasmons at heterogeneous interfaces, including the development of a novel ultrafast-pump-probe laser experiment to monitor this novel ballistic thermal injection process.

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science. Original written by Karen Walker. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

John A. Tomko, Evan L. Runnerstrom, Yi-Siang Wang, Weibin Chu, Joshua R. Nolen, David H. Olson, Kyle P. Kelley, Angela Cleri, Josh Nordlander, Joshua D. Caldwell, Oleg V. Prezhdo, Jon-Paul Maria, Patrick E. Hopkins. Long-lived modulation of plasmonic absorption by ballistic thermal injection. Nature Nanotechnology, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41565-020-00794-z

[damiencordle]

I Found This Interesting. Joshua Damien Cordle

'Avengers Endgame': Time travel explained by scientists

Michael Milford    

At the end of Avengers: Infinity War half the people (including heroes and villains) in the universe were gone in the snap of a finger from Thanos (Josh Brolin).

So how can Avengers: Endgame (in cinemas from this week) try to bring them back? 

Well, with that tried and tested movie plot device: time travel. Plus a surprising amount of scientific jargon thrown in, including quantum mechanics, Deutsch propositions, eigenvalues and inverted Möbius strips.

But don’t think that everything you hear during the movie was created in the minds of some crazy screenwriter. Many of the time-travel concepts in Endgame are connected, at least in name, to recent scientific theory, simulation and speculation.

Let’s dive into the science of quantum time travel and discuss whether eigenvalues can really save the universe, but be warned: moderate spoilers ahead.

Time travel 101

The key premise of the movie is that the only thing that can reverse the deaths of half the universe are the things that caused those deaths in the first place: the powerful Infinity Stones.

Problem is, Thanos destroyed these in the present day, so the stones are only available in the past. Retrieving them will require a convoluted journey back in time to multiple locations by the remaining Avengers.

Is time travel actually possible? We’ve known since Albert Einstein posed his Theory of Special Relativity more than 100 years ago that travel forward in time is relatively easy.

All you need to do is move at close to the speed of light and you can theoretically travel millions or even billions of years into the future within your lifetime.

But could you get back again? This feat appears to be much more difficult. Here are a few challenges and possible solutions.

Enter quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is mentioned a lot in the movie and there are in fact many emerging theories about quantum time travel, including some that potentially solve the grandfather paradox.

In quantum mechanics, atomic particles are more like indistinct waves of probability. So, for example, you can never know both exactly where a particle is and what direction it’s moving. You only know there is a certain chance of it being in a certain place.

A British physicist named David Deutsch, who is mentioned in the movie, combined this idea with the Many Worlds theory, and showed that the grandfather paradox can disappear if you express everything probabilistically.

Like the particles, the person going back in time only has a certain probability of killing their grandfather, breaking the causality loop. This has been simulated successfully.

This might seem strange, and while some of the jargon used in the movie may seem a little over the top, you can be sure that real quantum science is even stranger than movie makers could ever imagine. It’s clear that even scientists are struggling to make sense of the implications of quantum theory.

Terminology for effect

The time-travel theory scenes (of which there are several) are filled with technical jargon, some out of place, some in the right ballpark.

Here are a few of the terms we hear in the movie concerning time travel:

Eigenvalues: In discussing their approach to time travel, characters Tony Stark and Bruce Banner mention eigenvalues. This is most likely an example of movie maths talk for effect, as eigenvalues are a fairly low-level (basic) concept in linear algebra.

Verdict: A case of the math mumbles

Planck scale: The Planck scale is all about very small things. Planck length, time and mass are base units used in physics. A Planck length is 1.616 × 10−35m. That’s very small.

It is the distance that light travels in one unit of Planck time – which is also a very small amount of time. Given the movie is about quantum mechanics-based time travel, chatting Planck scales don’t seem too far off topic.

Verdict: Planck has a point.

Inverted Möbius strip

The time-travel jargon also discusses inverting a Möbius strip. A normal Möbius strip is a surface with only one side. You can create one easily by taking a strip of paper, twisting it once, and then sticking it together.

Although a Möbius strip has a range of interesting mathematical properties, its technical relevance to time travel is tenuous, beyond some high-level attempts to explain the grandfather paradox.

Verdict: Twisting theory a little.

Verdict

From a scientific perspective, it’s intriguing to have a new movie with such a heavy plot foundation in time travel, and the movie doesn’t pull many punches in diving straight into both the jargon and implications of various time-travel scenarios.

While some of the mathematical terminology is clearly there for effect, the plot makes a reasonable effort to adhere to current high level-thinking about time travel—to a point.

Time travel is one of those captivating scientific concepts that is perhaps furthest from implementation by scientists, and so its pivotal role in a movie about superheroes who can fly, go subatomic, destroy universes and change reality is perhaps particularly apt.

Michael Milford is a professor at Queensland University of Technology and Peter Stratton is a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Queensland.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.