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Electrification System Overcomes Rail Tunnel Space Constraints
The system consists of an aluminum rail, held to the tunnel roof by drop tubes and registration arms, with the contact wire that carries the power supply fed into a slot in the base of the rail.
Cost-Effective SiC Power Switch Developed
The power switch combines 12 smaller SiC power devices in series to reach a power rating of 15 kilovolts and 40 amps.
Outage Management App Wins Itron Award
The winner was a mobile and web application for outage management that predicts and proactively communicates outages to customers.
Partnership Aims at Municipal Wastewater Efficiency
The system was designed to treat up to 165,000 gallons per day but has since shown the capacity to handle more than 200,000 gpd.
The Dark Side of Big Data
Big Data are driving decisions in virtually every area of life. But when models are flawed because of bias or faulty statistical data, then people can get hurt, says mathematician Cathy O’Neil.
Artificial Intelligence Could Help Diagnose Crop Diseases
Identifying a disease correctly when it first appears is a crucial step for effective disease management.
Achieving Ultra-Low Friction Without Oil Additives
The new surface treatment results in a friction coefficient of approximately 0.01 in a base oil environment, about 10 times less than the friction coefficient obtained on an untreated surface.
Reservoirs Are Underappreciated Source of Greenhouse Gases
The total global warming effect of a reservoir is best predicted by how biologically productive it is, with more algae- and nutrient-rich systems producing more methane.
Smartphone Offers Microscope Tool for Microbiology
Education through game play is the idea behind a 3D-printed microscope.
Research Foundation Seeks Water Ideas
The Water Research Foundation released RFPs for three Emerging Opportunities projects and one Focus Area project.
Companies Agree to Develop Market for Traction Inverters
Strukton and AmePower will seek business from public transport companies that refurbish fleets or add rolling stock.
Brain-controlled Robotic Hand Restores Sense of Touch
A quadriplegic man experiences the sense of touch through a robotic arm controlled with his brain.
Solvent Removes Barrier to Perovskite Solar Cell Commercialization
Researchers have combined methylamine and acetonitrile to develop a clean solvent with a low boiling point and low viscosity that quickly crystallizes perovskite films at room temperature.
Fabricated Microfibers Could Aid in Tissue Regeneration
The researchers demonstrated that neural stem cells were able to attach and align on a microfiber scaffold.
Brain-Inspired Device Powers Artificial Systems
An artificial neural network used memristor synapses supporting sophisticated learning rules in order to carry out reversible learning of noisy input data.
Beaver-Like Wetsuits in the Works
MIT engineers have fabricated fur-like, rubbery pelts and used them to identify the mechanism by which air is trapped between individual hairs when the pelts are plunged into liquid.
Study: 430M Vehicles Will Use Telematics by 2025
Besides customers, there are three main sets of players in the transportation data services value chain: OEMs, hardware suppliers and end users.
Microcontrollers Are Aimed at Industrial Machinery
The MCUs may help manufacturers increase the basic performance of their systems.
Nuclear Weapon's Safety Mechanisms Tested in Simulated Accident
The high-fidelity unit contained standard components that make up a weapon—explosives and other hazardous materials—but no enriched uranium or plutonium.
Semi-Autonomous Buses Proposed to Reduce Traffic
The SMFe-bus has a lead module with a human driver and several driverless modules strung together without being physically attached to the lead vehicle or to each other.