Quantum Computation as Geometry

by Michael A. Nielsen et al. Science 24, Feb 2006 Quantum computers hold great promise for solving interesting computational problems, but it remains a challenge to find efficient quantum circuits that can perform these complicated tasks. Here we show that finding optimal quantum circuits is essentially equivalent to finding the shortest path between two points in a certain curved geometry. By recasting the problem of finding quantum circuits as a geometric problem, we open up the possibility of using the mathematical techniques of Riemannian geometry to suggest new quantum algorithms or to prove limitations on the power of quantum computers. Read more

Electrodes with High Power and High Capacity for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

by Kisuk Kang et al. Science, 17 Feb 2006 New applications such as hybrid electric vehicles and power backup require rechargeable batteries that combine high energy density with high charge and discharge rate capability. Using ab initio computational modeling, we identified useful strategies to design higher rate battery electrodes and tested them on lithium nickel manganese oxide, a safe, inexpensive material that has been thought to have poor intrinsic rate capability. By modifying its crystal structure, we obtained unexpectedly high rate-capability, considerably better than lithium cobalt oxide, the current battery electrode material of choice. Read more

Evolving COTS Cooling for Military Environments

by Randy Banton Military & Aerospace Electronics, February 2006 The trend of escalating power consumption of processors and communications infrastructure chips presents an increasing challenge for deploying high-performance processing systems in military environments. This challenge exists regardless of the cooling method: air-cooled, conduction-cooled, spray-cooled, or liquid-flow-through systems. Read more

Researchers Develop Low-Density, Environmentally Friendly Foam

Sandia National Laboratories 13 Feb 2006 Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, Calif., have developed a low-density, energy-absorbing foam that, among other potential applications, could help avoid a complete wipeout for the nation’s $200 million surfboard manufacturing market. Read more

Study Indicates Speed Cameras Could Curb Road Deaths

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Press Release, 20 Feb 2006 A study by Israeli and American researchers, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, says that reducing speed limits and extensive use of speed camera networks could significantly reduce the high number of road deaths in the United States. Read more

Rivers, Water and Sediments

University of the Basque Country Press Release, 21 Feb 2006 Important rivers usually have a number of tributary streams which have their sources in the mountains. It is not just water that goes on the journey but sediments, stones and other material. These materials are transported dissolved, in suspension or deposited as sediment at the bottom of the river. A research team from the Department of Geodynamics have begun a study in order to find out the amount of sediments transported from the Urola, Urumea and Deba river basins in the Basque Country. The aim is to analyse how factors, both natural and non-natural, affect the presence and the transport of these sediments in these waters. Read more

IBM Squeezes More into Microchips

BBC News, 21 Feb 2006 Researchers at IBM have discovered a way of getting more out of the current method used to make computer chips. They say they have been able to etch circuits on silicon wafers that are a third of the width of those produced using existing technology. The technique could lead to smaller and higher capacity chips, and delay a switch to costlier and unproven chip-making methods. Read more

A Word to the Wise on WiMax

by Joanna Glasner Wired News, 21 Feb 2006 Mobile WiMax made a leap from concept to reality in December, when the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers approved a standard for 802.16e, which adds mobility to previous standards designed mainly for fixed services. This week will also be a momentous one for the fledgling standard, with the WiMax Summit 2006 taking place in Paris. It's too early to say whether WiMax will ever enjoy the widespread adoption forecast by its most ardent backers. But if you don't mind taking a risk, it's worth getting acquainted with the major players behind WiMax. Here are a few of the basic W's to consider. Read more

Electronic Transport in Nanometre-Scale Silicon-on-Insulator Membranes

by Pengpeng Zhang et al. Nature, 9 Feb 2006 The widely used 'silicon-on-insulator' (SOI) system consists of a layer of single-crystalline silicon supported on a silicon dioxide substrate. When this silicon layer (the template layer) is very thin, the assumption that an effectively infinite number of atoms contributes to its physical properties no longer applies, and new electronic, mechanical and thermodynamic phenomena arise, distinct from those of bulk silicon. The development of unusual electronic properties with decreasing layer thickness is particularly important for silicon microelectronic devices, in which (001)-oriented SOI is often used. Here we show -- using scanning tunnelling microscopy, electronic transport measurements, and theory -- that electronic conduction in thin SOI(001) is determined not by bulk dopants but by the interaction of surface or interface electronic energy levels with the 'bulk' band structure of the thin silicon template layer. This interaction enables high-mobility carrier conduction in nanometre-scale SOI; conduction in even the thinnest membranes or layers of Si(001) is therefore possible, independent of any considerations of bulk doping, provided that the proper surface or interface states are available to enable the thermal excitation of 'bulk' carriers in the silicon layer. Read more

Numerical Simulations of Current Generation and Dynamo Excitation

by R. A. Bayliss et al. arXiv.org E-print Archive, 17 Feb 2006 The role of turbulence in current generation and self-excitation of magnetic fields has been studied in the geometry of a mechanically driven, spherical dynamo experiment, using a three dimensional numerical computation. A simple impeller model drives a flow which can generate a growing magnetic field, depending upon the magnetic Reynolds number, Rm, and the fluid Reynolds number. When the flow is laminar, the dynamo transition is governed by a simple threshold in Rm, above which a growing magnetic eigenmode is observed. The eigenmode is primarily a dipole field tranverse to axis of symmetry of the flow. In saturation the Lorentz force slows the flow such that the magnetic eigenmode becomes marginally stable. For turbulent flow, the dynamo eigenmode is suppressed. The mechanism of suppression is due to a combination of a time varying large-scale field and the presence of fluctuation driven currents which effectively enhance the magnetic diffusivity. For higher Rm a dynamo reappears, however the structure of the magnetic field is often different from the laminar dynamo; it is dominated by a dipolar magnetic field which is aligned with the axis of symmetry of the mean-flow, apparently generated by fluctuation-driven currents. The fluctuation-driven currents have been studied by applying a weak magnetic field to laminar and turbulent flows. The magnetic fields generated by the fluctuations are significant: a dipole moment aligned with the symmetry axis of the mean-flow is generated similar to those observed in the experiment, and both toroidal and poloidal flux expulsion are observed. Read more

Bacterial Motors Could Inspire Nanotechnology

PhysOrg.com, 20 Feb 2006 An Oxford University physicist sees the future of nanotechnology in the workings of one of Nature's tiniest motors, that which allows some bacteria to swim by rotating slender filaments known as flagella. Read more

Researchers Scrutinize 'Spintronics' as History in the Making

PhysOrg.com, 20 Feb 2006 W. Patrick McCray is attempting to understand the history of nanotechnology as it emerges, a goal that he will pursue with his research group at the new Center for Nanotechnology in Society. Funded by the NSF, the center opened just last month at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Read more

Ocean Flyer

by Tim Thwaites New Scientist, 18 Feb 2006 Yoshiaki Kodama is weaving a magic carpet large enough to carry a ship. Conjured up from thin air at the flick of a switch, this slippery blanket will help transport a fully laden tanker or container ship across the ocean at higher speed, and using far less fuel, than ever before. Read more

Space-Elevator Tether Climbs a Mile High

by Kimm Groshong NewScientist.com, 15 Feb 2006 A slim cable for a space elevator has been built stretching a mile into the sky, enabling robots to scrabble some way up and down the line. The desired outcome of development and testing is a 62,000-mile tether that robotic lifters -- powered by laser beams from Earth -- can climb, ferrying cargo, satellites and eventually people into space. Read more

Prestige Is Factored Into Journal Ratings

by Philip Ball Nature, 16 Feb 2006 Journal rankings should measure quality, not just quantity, say researchers who are proposing a new way to assess the status of science publications. Whereas the commonly used impact factor simply measures the number of citations per paper, the researchers say their ranking scheme also measures the significance of those citations, giving a truer measure of a journal's standing in the community. Read more

Scale Invariance and Universality of Force Networks in Static Granular Matter

by Srdjan Ostojic et al. Nature, 16 Feb 2006 Force networks form the skeleton of static granular matter. They are the key factor that determines mechanical properties such as stability, elasticity, and sound transmission, which are important for civil engineering and industrial processing. Previous studies have focused on investigations of the global structure of external forces (the boundary condition) and on the probability distribution of individual contact forces. So far, however, precise knowledge of the disordered spatial structure of the force network has remained elusive. Here we report that molecular dynamics simulations of realistic granular packings reveal scale invariance of clusters of particles interacting by means of relatively strong forces. Despite visual variation, force networks for various values of the confining pressure and other parameters have identical scaling exponents and scaling function, thereby determining a universality class. Unexpectedly, the flat ensemble of force configurations (a simple generalization of equilibrium statistical mechanics) belongs to this universality class, whereas some widely studied simplified models do not. This implies that the elasticity of the grains and their geometrical disorder do not affect the universal mechanical properties. Read more

15 Tech Concepts You'll Need to Know in 2006

by Alex Hutchinson Popular Mechanics, January 2006 Scientific and technological breakthroughs can take years to develop, but when they leave the lab and enter the world at large, word spreads quickly. Here's a look at the advances you'll be hearing about in the coming year. Read more

Superconductivity in Entirely End-Bonded Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

by I. Takesue et al. Physical Review Letters, 10 Feb 2006 We report that entirely end-bonded multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) can exhibit superconductivity with a transition temperature (T_c) as high as 12 K, which is approximately 30 times greater than T_c reported for ropes of single-walled nanotubes. We find that the emergence of this superconductivity is highly sensitive to the junction structures of the Au electrode/MWNTs. This reveals that only MWNTs with optimal numbers of electrically activated shells, which are realized by end bonding, can allow superconductivity due to intershell effects. Read more

Temperature-Activated Interfacial Friction Damping in Carbon Nanotube Polymer Composites

by Jonghwan Suhr et al. Nano Letters, 25 Jan 2006 (online) Effect of temperature on interfacial sliding in single-walled carbon nanotube polycarbonate composites is investigated experimentally. We show that interfacial slip at the tube-polymer interfaces can be activated at relatively low dynamic strain levels (~0.35%) by raising temperature to ~90 C. We attribute this to increased mobility of the polymer chain backbones at elevated temperatures and thermal relaxation of the radial compressive stresses at the tube-polymer interfaces. These results show the potential of polymer nanocomposites as high-temperature damping materials for vibration and acoustic suppression in a variety of dynamic systems. Read more

Bulk Gratings Home in on Optical Components

by Frédéric Verluise fibers.org News, 20 Feb 2006 Manufacturers looking to incorporate mux/demux functionality in their products can choose from a wide range of techniques. Bulk grating technology provides the ideal platform for creating such devices, as well as meeting the needs of many other advanced optical components. Read more

Shallow Etch Could Power VCSEL Breakthrough

by Dan Birkedal & Dirk Jessen fibers.org News, 16 Feb 2006 Multimode VCSELs operating at 850 nm are the dominant source for today's short-range datacom applications. However, despite advantages such as on-chip testing and straightforward fiber coupling, these surface-emitting devices are still to impact the longer range and higher speed datacom and telecom applications. Read more

Nanofuel Cells Provide Remote Power

by R. Colin Johnson EE Times, 20 Feb 2006 A researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories has demonstrated a fuel cell measuring just 200 nanometers across that potentially can be integrated on-chip to supply power from a hydrogen reservoir for decades. Today, there are only two ways to power remote sensors and similar devices that require little power over years of unattended use. For devices with lifetimes of less than 10 years, the solution is expensive, bulky lithium batteries. For longer lifetimes, the answer is batteries that draw energy from radioactive isotopes. Read more

Solar Cell Developers Look beyond Silicon

by Chappell Brown EE Times, 20 Feb 2006 A new slant on compound semiconductors has produced a high-efficiency photovoltaic process that might beat existing technologies in cost of production as well. HelioVolt has developed a process based on rapid thermal annealing and anodic bonding that allows high-performance copper-indium-gallium-selinide films to be deposited on just about any substrate. Founder and photovoltaic pioneer Billy Stanbery claims the process can dramatically shorten manufacturing time and reduce the thermal budget by a factor of 10 to 100. The process could allow a new class of materials for building integrated photovoltaics. Read more

Reconfigurable Cores Boost Processor Power

by Clive Maxfield EE Times, 20 Feb 2006 The first commercial microprocessor debuted in 1971 with 2,300 transistors, a 108-kHz system clock, and a 4-bit bus. Since then, chip architects have increased the computational performance and throughput of successors by increasing the transistor count, the data bus width or the clock speed, and by introducing such execution-related tweaks as pipelining and speculative execution. But as those traditional techniques run out of steam, microprocessor and system designers are breaking out of the mold and crafting architectures that combine multiple processing cores combined with reconfigurable computing techniques. Read more

The Computational and Storage Potential of Volunteer Computing

by David P. Anderson & Gilles Fedak arXiv.org E-print Archive, 16 Feb 2006 "Volunteer computing" uses Internet-connected computers, volunteered by their owners, as a source of computing power and storage. This paper studies the potential capacity of volunteer computing. We analyzed measurements of over 330,000 hosts participating in a volunteer computing project. These measurements include processing power, memory, disk space, network throughput, host availability, user-specified limits on resource usage, and host churn. We show that volunteer computing can support applications that are significantly more data-intensive, or have larger memory and storage requirements, than those in current projects. Read more

Step 1 Taken in Bleeding Spacecraft Healing Themselves

by David R. Butcher Industrial Market Trends, 31 Jan 2006 Engineers in the UK took inspiration from nature for their recent spacecraft study. People’s wounds heal themselves, and perhaps so too will future spacecraft. No, really. Read more

Revved Up About Small Cars

by David R. Butcher Industrial Market Trends, 31 Jan 2006 The last thing anyone wants is for ‘80s fashion to come back into style -- unless we’re talking about automobiles. Fuel-efficient and thrifty, smaller cars are catching up to SUVs in popularity. And automakers are taking notice. Read more

The Role of Pair Dispersion in Turbulent Flow

by Mickaël Bourgoin et al. Science, 10 Feb 2006 Mixing and transport in turbulent flows -- which have strong local concentration fluctuations -- are essential in many natural and industrial systems including reactions in chemical mixers, combustion in engines and burners, droplet formation in warm clouds, and biological odor detection and chemotaxis. Local concentration fluctuations, in turn, are intimately tied to the problem of the separation of pairs of fluid elements. We have measured this separation rate in an intensely turbulent laboratory flow and have found, in quantitative agreement with the seminal predictions of Batchelor, that the initial separation of the pair plays an important role in the subsequent spreading of the fluid elements. These results have surprising consequences for the decay of concentration fluctuations and have applications to biological and chemical systems. Read more

Saving Energy in Office Buildings

Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends, 20 Jan 2006 Precooling a structure in the morning before temperature rises has been done before. It later saves energy during times of peak demand and you might even have done it intuitively at home. But now, engineers from Purdue University have developed a 'control' algorithm which promises to reduce energy consumption -- and electricity bills -- by as much as 30 percent for small office buildings which represent the majority of commercial structures. So far, this method has only been tested in California, but the researchers say that their control software could be used anywhere after minor adaptations. Read more

First Solar-Powered Nano Motor

PhysOrg.com, 24 Jan 2006 An international team of scientists has created the first molecular motor powered solely by sunlight. By acting like pistons that move back and forth, these motors, which are only nanometers or billionths of meters across, could help read out data as ones and zeroes for molecular photonics and electronics, two rapidly growing fields aimed at the construction of chemical computers. Read more

Re-Engineering Iraq

by Glenn Zorpette IEEE Spectrum, February 2006 U.S. and Iraqi officials have spent billions on restoring Iraq's electrical system -- so why is Baghdad getting just 6 hours of electricity a day? To answer that question, the IEEE Spectrum executive editor traveled to Iraq to see and write about the technical and social issues involved in restoring Iraq's electrical and communications systems. His exclusive report examines the bureaucracies, geopolitics, violence, fear, corruption and illegal energy black market which have plagued this massive undertaking. Read more

Rugged Computers Power the Digital Battlefield

by Ben Ames Military & Aerospace Electronics, January 2006 As Pentagon leaders push to digitize the battlefield for net-centric warfare, they put more pressure than ever on deployed electronics. Troops carry laptops, PDAs, and tablets into the thick of battle. And as they push rugged computers harder than ever, manufacturers seek tougher display screens, more reliable hard drives, and faster processors. Read more

DOE Funding Opportunity - Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaics Research and Development

The Solar Energy Technologies Program solicits applications for advanced and applied research and development, education and collaboration in crystalline silicon PV cell and module technology through this University Photovoltaic Crystalline Silicon R&D Funding Opportunity Announcement. A single accredited college or university will be selected to conduct research and development activities to achieve the following: • Advance crystalline silicon PV cell and module technology and manufacturing processes that address the key barriers identified above; • Expand opportunities to educate undergraduate and graduate students in PV systems and manufacturing R&D; and • Address ways to accelerate transferring PV technologies to industry for commercial production utilizing a model that appropriately protects proprietary interests for the mutual benefit of the selected university/college and the U.S. PV industry as a whole. Read more

DARPA Solicitation - Information Theory for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) requests information on research ideas and approaches that could provide superior theoretical insights to guide the design and deployment of next-generation wireless mobile networks. The requested information is sought to inform an anticipated research program on Information Theory for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks. DARPA currently anticipates that the envisioned program would be funded at approximately $13,500,000 over five years. DARPA anticipates funding at most two cross-institution teams to conduct this long-term fundamental research. Read more

Plasticization-Enhanced Hydrogen Purification Using Polymeric Membranes

by Haiqing Lin et al. Science, 3 Feb 2006 Polymer membranes are attractive for molecular-scale separations such as hydrogen purification because of inherently low energy requirements. However, membrane materials with outstanding hydrogen separation performance in feed streams containing high-pressure carbon dioxide and impurities such as hydrogen sulfide and water are not available. We report highly permeable, reverse-selective membrane materials for hydrogen purification, as exemplified by molecularly engineered, highly branched, cross-linked poly(ethylene oxide). In contrast to the performance of conventional materials, we demonstrate that plasticization can be harnessed to improve separation performance. Read more

Optical Signatures of Coupled Quantum Dots

by E. A. Stinaff et al. Science, 3 Feb 2006 An asymmetric pair of coupled InAs quantum dots is tuned into resonance by applying an electric field so that a single hole forms a coherent molecular wave function. The optical spectrum shows a rich pattern of level anticrossings and crossings that can be understood as a superposition of charge and spin configurations of the two dots. Coulomb interactions shift the molecular resonance of the optically excited state with respect to the ground state, enabling light-induced coupling of the quantum dots. This result demonstrates the possibility of optically coupling quantum dots for application in quantum information processing. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Material Design and Surface Engineering

The Material Design and Surface Engineering program element supports generic research on links between microstructure design and control and properties, performance, and engineering of materials and surfaces for novel applications in civil and mechanical systems and components. Research is also included that expands the knowledge base on: the design of materials, coatings, and surface treatments for service under extreme conditions; tribology, corrosion, friction and wear; novel materials solutions for life-cycle design, ecomaterials, nano-technology, and biomedical applications and related model based simulation and computational materials engineering. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - NanoManufacturing

The NanoManufacturing Program was established in 2001 to promote fundamental research and education at the nanoscale, and to transfer developments in nanoscience and nanotechnology discoveries from the laboratory to industrial application with prominent societal impacts. The program emphasizes scaleup of nanotechnology for high rate production, reliability, robustness, yield, efficiency and cost issues for manufacturing products and services. NanoManufacturing capitalizes on the special material properties and processing capabilities at the nanoscale, and promotes integration of nanostructures to functional micro devices and meso/macroscale architectures and systems, as well as the interfacing issues across dimensional scales. The program covers interdisciplinary research and promotes multi-functionality across all energetic domains, including mechanical, thermal, fluidic, chemical, biochemical, electromagnetic, optical etc. The focus of NanoManufacturing is in a systems approach, encompassing nanoscale materials and structures, fabrication and integration processes, production equipment and characterization instrumentation, theory/modeling/simulation and control tools, biomimetic design and integration of multiscale functional systems, and industrial application. The program places special emphasis in NanoManufacturing education and training of the workforce, involvement of socio-economic sciences, addressing the health, safety and environmental implications, development of manufacturing infrastructure, as well as outreach and synergy of the academic, industrial, federal and international community. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Sensor Technologies for Civil and Mechanical Systems

The Sensor Technologies for Civil and Mechanical Systems program element supports research on acquiring and using information about civil and mechanical systems to improve their safety, reliability, cost, and performance. This includes research that extends the knowledge base for development of advanced sensors for solution of inverse problems related to system identification and characterization, and for implementation of real time adaptive system performance capabilities that use the sensed information. Examples of research areas to be supported include innovative developments in sensor technologies, analytical strategies for CMS monitoring, and active noise and vibration control technologies. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Structural Systems and Hazards Mitigation of Structures

The Structural Systems and Hazards Mitigation of Structures program element focuses on experimental, analytical and computational research on design and performance enhancement of structural systems. The program supports research on new technologies for improving the behavior and response of structural systems subject to natural hazards; fundamental research on safety and reliability of constructed systems and of indoor environmental conditions; innovative developments in analysis and model based simulation of structural behavior and response including soil-structure interaction; design concepts that improve structure performance and flexibility; and application of new control techniques for structural systems. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Interfacial, Transport, and Thermodynamics

The Interfacial, Transport, and Thermodynamics Program supports research in engineering science areas related to interfacial phenomena, mass transport phenomena, separation science, and phase equilibrium solution thermodynamics. Recently, emphasis is placed on molecular engineering approaches as applied to processing of soft materials, especially thin films and porous media. Often surface-active molecules direct the formation of responsive or functional surfaces at the nano-scale. Methods such as molecular simulation are sometimes used, in addition to experimental observation. New theories and simulation approaches determining the thermodynamic, interfacial, and mass transport phenomena properties of fluids and fluid mixtures in biological and other fluids with complex molecules are supported. Proposals dealing with pollution prevention at the source and energy storage in the context of the above phenomena are also entertained. International collaboration and industrial is encouraged. Generally, non-reactive systems are studied. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - GeoEnvironmental Engineering and GeoHazards Mitigation

The research portfolio for the Geoenvironmental Engineering and GeoHazards Mitigation (GEH) program element includes projects on geoenvironmental engineering, including physical, chemical, thermal and biological processes that affect the properties of geologic materials; contaminant transport and hydraulic properties of geologic materials involved in surface and subsurface flow; and construction for remediation and containment of geoenvironmental contamination. The GEH program also supports research in geological engineering and engineering geology, geotechnical earthquake engineering and strong ground motions, piping (particle erosion, transport, and deposition), scouring, tsunamis (both earthquake and non-earthquake generated), landslides and debris flows, forest fires, droughts and floods. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Fluid Dynamics and Hydraulics

The Fluid Dynamics and Hydraulics Program supports fundamental research concerning the mechanisms that govern fluid flow phenomena. Topics of interest include Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, experimental and computational investigations, instrumentation and flow diagnostics, micro- and nano- scale flow phenomena, multi-scale and multi-physics phenomena, biological and biomedical fluid flow, and environmental flows. Proposed research should contribute to the basic understanding of fluid dynamics, thus enabling the better design, predictability, efficiency and control of systems that involve fluids. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Engineering Education Programs

Research is sought that contributes to our basic understanding of how students learn engineering. We are looking for significant breakthroughs in understanding so that our undergraduate and graduate engineering education can be transformed to meet the needs of the changing economy and society. We are interested in research that addresses: the aims and objectives of engineering education, the content and organization of the curriculum, how students learn problem solving, creativity and design, new methods for assessment and evaluation of how students learn engineering, and research that helps us understand how to attract a more talented and diverse student body to all levels of engineering study. It is expected that successful proposals will most likely be comprised of multidisciplinary teams of engineers and other fields that bring expertise pertinent to learning research. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Electronic Materials

Supports research that investigates the fundamental phenomena associated with the synthesis and processing of electronic and photonic materials. The objective is to increase fundamental understanding and develop predictive capabilities for relating synthesis, processing, and microstructure of these materials to their properties and performance in various applications and environments. Topics supported include basic processes and mechanisms associated with nucleation and growth of thin films; nanostructure definition and etching processes; bulk crystal growth; and the interrelationship among experimental conditions, phenomena, and properties. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Control Systems Program

The Control Systems Program supports advances and novel developments in control system strategies and technologies with broad applicability to both mechanical and civil systems; embedded / distributed real-time control and mechatronic systems; control of dynamical systems at all scales (nano to micro to macro), with or without humans in the loop. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Ceramics

Supports research investigating the characteristics of ceramic materials as they relate to the complex interplay among processing, development, and manipulation of microstructure, and properties and their ultimate performance in various applications and environments. The materials studied include oxides, carbides, nitrides, and other ceramics, including diamond and carbon-based materials. The microstructures investigated range from crystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous to composite and nanostructured. Potential uses include, but are not limited to, electronic and electrical, electrochemical, structural, optical/photonic, and biological/medical applications. Read more

NSF Funding Opportunity - Materials Processing and Manufacturing

Novel processing methodologies or the processing of new materials can open up opportunities for new product development, for research leading to next-generation machines, for improvements in product performance and cost, and for minimizing the environmental impact through the complete life-cycle. The MPM Program advances the fundamental knowledge base that is needed for the realization of desired product attributes through the application of the systematic integration of processing-material-performance relationships. It supports analytical and experimental research that leads to the generation of such fundamental knowledge. MPM also supports research activities that incorporate connectivity of this materials processing knowledge to sensing systems for process control. Read more

Will Google Help Navigate Your Jetta?

ZDNet News, 3 Feb 2006 The American unit of Germany's Volkswagen said on Friday that it is working on a prototype vehicle that features Google's satellite-mapping software to give drivers a bird's-eye view of the road ahead. Read more

Robot Set Loose to Film Your Insides

by Duncan Graham-Rowe New Scientist, 26 Jan 2006 Next time you go under the knife, it may not be just the surgeon poking about inside you. A radio-controlled robot could be roaming round in there too, providing an extra eye for surgeons performing minimally invasive "keyhole" procedures. Read more

Colloids Get Complex

by Alfons van Blaaderen Nature, 2 Feb 2006 Self-organization of soft-matter components can create complex and beautiful structures. But the intricate structures created by adding a second stage of organization could reveal more than just a pretty face. Read more

Single Electron Tunneling Transistor with Tunable Barriers

by Akira Fujiwara et al. Applied Physics Letters, 30 Jan 2006 We have achieved the operation of single-electron tunneling (SET) transistors with gate-induced electrostatic barriers using silicon nanowire metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor structures. The conductance of tunnel barriers is tunable by more than three orders of magnitude. By using the flexible control of the tunable barriers, the systematic evolution from a single charge island to double islands was clearly observed. We obtained excellent reproducibility in the gate capacitances: values on the order of 10 aF, with the variation smaller than 1 aF. This flexibility and controllability both demonstrate that the device is highly designable to build a variety of SET devices based on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology. Read more

Sony Puts Robot Dog to Sleep

CNN.com, 2 Feb 2006 The world's first mass-marketed robot, Sony's Aibo, recognizes its owners' faces and is programmed for sympathy, like a canine companion. Its eyes light up in red to show anger, green to convey happiness. It even learns its own name. Aibo owners tend to be fiercely loyal, too. The robots have even been hacked by tinkerers seeking to add their own modifications. But none of that prevented Sony Corp. from announcing last week that it was scrapping the four-legged robot pet as part of the company's bid to reverse flagging fortunes and cut costs. Read more

The Path Forward for Biofuels and Biomaterials

by Arthur J. Ragauskas et al. Science, 27 Jan 2006 Biomass represents an abundant carbon-neutral renewable resource for the production of bioenergy and biomaterials, and its enhanced use would address several societal needs. Advances in genetics, biotechnology, process chemistry, and engineering are leading to a new manufacturing concept for converting renewable biomass to valuable fuels and products, generally referred to as the biorefinery. The integration of agroenergy crops and biorefinery manufacturing technologies offers the potential for the development of sustainable biopower and biomaterials that will lead to a new manufacturing paradigm. Read more

Freezing as a Path to Build Complex Composites

by Sylvain Deville et al. Science, 27 Jan 2006 Materials that are strong, ultralightweight, and tough are in demand for a range of applications, requiring architectures and components carefully designed from the micrometer down to the nanometer scale. Nacre, a structure found in many molluscan shells, and bone are frequently used as examples for how nature achieves this through hybrid organic-inorganic composites. Unfortunately, it has proven extremely difficult to transcribe nacre-like clever designs into synthetic materials, partly because their intricate structures need to be replicated at several length scales. We demonstrate how the physics of ice formation can be used to develop sophisticated porous and layered-hybrid materials, including artificial bone, ceramic-metal composites, and porous scaffolds for osseous tissue regeneration with strengths up to four times higher than those of materials currently used for implantation. Read more

Military and Commercial Avionics Draw from Same Technology Well

by J.R. Wilson Military & Aerospace Electronics, January 2006 The economic imperatives to use as many commercially developed components as possible and to avoid duplication in research and development often put commercial and military aviation electronics on the same track and headed in the same direction. Read more

Understanding Phenomena Controlling PEM Fuel Cell performance and Durability

Sandia National Laboratories News Release, 26 Jan 2006 Two researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are working to understand several key phenomena that control hydrogen-fueled PEM (proton exchange membrane or polymer electrolyte membrane) fuel cells. Ken S. Chen is developing computational models to describe the phenomena while Mike Hickner is performing physical experimentation. Read more

Internetworking Wireless LAN and Cellular

The December 2005 issue of IEEE Wireless Communications magazine includes a featured topic on internetworking between the WLAN and cellular networks. Four research articles on the topic cover areas such as multihopping and radio resource management frameworks, along with a look at the new IEEE 802.11e standard. Read more

Control-by-Thought Firm Updates Results

by Peter Clarke EE Times. 2 Jan 2006 Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. has reported the latest findings with respect to its BrainGate neural interface system. The BrianGate is an implantable microelectrode array that combined with a digital signal processing system has allowed individuals to exercise control over electronic systems through the power of thought. The company has demonstrated the use of BrainGate to allow an individual to control a television simply by thinking. Read more

Nano-Interfaces with Cells

PhysOrg.com, 4 Jan 2006 Coatings made with titanium and peppered with pores only nanometers or billionths of a meter wide could help interface living cells with electronics for prosthetics and other advanced devices. Read more

Munich Startup Aims Analog at Digital Apps

by Peter Clarke EE Times, 4 Jan 2006 Aspien GmbH is a fabless semiconductor company that aims to replace conventional digital signal processors and digital function blocks with proprietary and much simpler analog equivalents, which the company claims can outperform the original blocks. Read more

Methods of Avoiding Circuit Contamination

Several papers about preventing contamination during circuit manufacture appear in the December 2005 issue of IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability. Read more

Special-Purpose Computing

The January-February 2006 issue of Computing in Software & Engineering magazine includes several papers covering special-purpose computing. Read more

Displays That Give a Clear View

PhysOrg, 4 Jan 2006 Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Potsdam have succeeded in constructing transparent OLED displays using light-emitting polymers. Their brightness, operating life time and efficiency are so high that the first commercial applications can be envisaged. Read more

Public Safety Communications Challenges Examined

The Janaury 2006 issue of IEEE Communications Magazine takes an in-depth look at the communication technology issues facing public safety workers. Articles examine spectrum considerations, the controversial TETRA radio network and push-to-talk, plus ideas on how to replace the prevailing public safety model of Land Mobile Radio networks. Read more

Covalently Bridging Gaps in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes with Conducting Molecules

by Xuefeng Guo et al. Science, 20 Jan 2006 Molecular electronics is often limited by the poorly defined nature of the contact between the molecules and the metal surface. We describe a method to wire molecules into gaps in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Precise oxidative cutting of a SWNT produces carboxylic acid-terminated electrodes separated by gaps of ≤10 nanometers. These point contacts react with molecules derivatized with amines to form molecular bridges held in place by amide linkages. These chemical contacts are robust and allow a wide variety of molecules to be tested electrically. In addition to testing molecular wires, we show how to install functionality in the molecular backbone that allows the conductance of the single-molecule bridges to switch with pH. Read more