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DOT Proposes Performance Metrics to Reduce Highway Congestion
The proposed regulation calls for increased transparency and accountability in setting and achieving targets for performance impacting commuters and truck drivers.
Natural and Man-Made Structures Are Best Flood Defense: Study
A neighborhood-wide hybrid approach combining both nature-based features and human-made solutions proved most effective in protecting coastal areas from storm flooding.
Building a Better Blueberry Picker
Currently, most fresh blueberries in the U.S. are hand harvested, which means that labor costs and shortages and low harvest efficiency can create bottlenecks to further development of the industry.
Samsonite Uses EID to Anonymously Track Bags
Travelers can use an app to check the location of their suitcase within a distance of 70 meters and be notified if it is moved closer or farther away from them.
Solar Industry Transitions to 1,500-Volt DC Systems
In these higher-voltage projects, BOS requirements are lower and strings are longer—allowing for fewer combiner boxes, less wiring and less trenching—all of which drive PV system costs down.
Multiline Anchor for Floating Wind Turbines Under Development
The proposed networked system would save money and require fewer anchors and geotechnical site investigations.
Spider-Bots Could Speed Production of Large-Scale Structures
Each spider is equipped with an extruder similar to those on traditional 3D printers, but is limited—for now—to using a cornstarch-and-sugarcane printing substance known as poly lactic acid.
Uranium in Groundwater Successfully Trapped and Neutralized
In experiments on water containing uranium, specific amounts of phosphate were added, forming calcium phosphate, which chemically neutralized and structurally incorporated the uranium.
Consider Pressure Drop When Sizing Injection Pumps
Chemical injection pumps charged with injecting fluids into a pipe must be properly sized in order to overcome the pressure in the pipe.
Servos Can Help Prevent Machines from Falling Down
Eccentricity machined into rolls can cause wobble—defined as the angular deviation of the axis of rotation over one revolution.
Shell Unveils Ultra-Energy-Efficient City Car Concept
Built around Gordon Murray Design’s iStream platform, the Shell Concept Car incorporates lightweight materials—the car weighs just 550kg—with a low CO2 footprint and embodied energy.
Appliance Systems May Benefit from Low-V Motors
Moving subsystems to low voltage isolates them from the high-voltage input, making them safer for maintenance personnel and designers.
Pumping in Parallel Is Not Always Simple
Inadequate flow rate often plagues two-pump systems, particularly in plants that are more than 10 years old.
Nanowire-Based Battery Can Be Recharged Over 200,000 Times
UCI doctoral candidate Mya Le Thai cycled the testing electrode up to 200,000 times over three months without detecting any loss of capacity or power and without fracturing any nanowires.
Selecting the Right Vacuum Pump for the Job
Laboratory managers specifying vacuum pumps have much to consider when evaluating the four basic types of pumps.
3D-Printed Clothes: Custom Garments, No Waste
This technology not only has the potential to reduce waste, labor costs and CO2 equivalent, but can modernize clothing production by encouraging localized manufacturing and production.
A Flush Plan May Help Optimize Seal Life
Circulating fluid to or from the seal chamber will maintain proper lubrication, pressure, temperature and solids management.
Test Driving: Insufficient to Demonstrate Autonomous Vehicles' Safety
Under even the most aggressive test-driving assumptions, it would take existing fleets hundreds of years to log sufficient miles to adequately assess the safety of autonomous vehicles.
San Francisco to Require Solar Panels on Smaller New Buildings
The new ordinance builds on state law by requiring the 15% of roof area that is already required to be “solar ready” to have either solar photovoltaic or solar water panels actually installed.
Robot Falcon Chases Birds Away from Airports
Bird control at airports worldwide costs billions of dollars, the result of defacement of property by bird droppings and damage to aircraft equipment arising from bird strikes.