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New technique allows rapid
screening for new types of solar
cells
Approach could bypass the time-consuming steps currently needed to test
new photovoltaic materials.
The worldwide quest by researchers to find better, more efficient materials
for tomorrow’s solar panels is usually slow and painstaking. Researchers

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typically must produce lab samples — which are often composed of multiple
layers of different materials bonded together — for extensive testing.
Now, a team at MIT and other institutions has come up with a way to bypass
such expensive and time-consuming fabrication and testing, allowing
for a rapid screening of far more variations than would be practical through
the traditional approach.
The new process could not only speed up the search for new formulations,
but also do a more accurate job of predicting their performance, explains
Rachel Kurchin, an MIT graduate student and co-author of a paper describing
the new process that appears this week in the journal Joule. Traditional
methods “often require you to make a specialized sample, but that differs
from an actual cell and may not be fully representative” of a real solar cell’s
performance, she says.
This experimental setup was used by the team to measure the electrical
output of a sample of solar cell material, under controlled conditions of varying
temperature and illumination. The data from those tests was then
used as the basis for computer modeling using statistical methods to predict
the overall performance of the material in real-world operating conditions.

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Study boosts hope for cheaper fuel cells
Researchers show how to optimize nanomaterial for fuel-cell cathodes
Simulations by scientists show how carbon nanomaterials may be optimized
to replace expensive platinum in cathodes for electricitygenerating
fuel cells
Simulations by Rice University scientists show how carbon nanomaterials may be
optimized to replace expensive platinum in cathodes for electricity-generating fuel
cells for transportation and other applications.
Credit: Yakobson Research Group/Rice University
Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes or modified graphene Nano ribbons may be
suitable replacements for platinum for fast oxygen reduction, the key reaction in
fuel cells that transform chemical energy into electricity, according to Rice University
researchers.
The findings are from computer simulations by Rice scientists who set out
to see how carbon nanomaterials can be improved for fuel-cell cathodes.
Their study reveals the atom-level mechanisms by which doped nanomaterials
catalyze oxygen reduction reactions (ORR).

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The Rice researchers, including lead author and former postdoctoral associate
Xiaolong Zou and graduate student Luqing Wang, used computer
simulations to discover why graphene nanoribbons and carbon nanotubes
modified with nitrogen and/or boron, long studied as a substitute for expensive
platinum, are so sluggish and how they can be improved.
Doping, or chemically modifying, conductive nanotubes or nanoribbons
changes their chemical bonding characteristics. They can then be used as
cathodes in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. In a simple fuel cell, anodes
draw in hydrogen fuel and separate it into protons and electrons.
While the negative electrons flow out as usable current, the positive protons
are drawn to the cathode, where they recombine with returning electrons
and oxygen to produce water.
The models showed that thinner carbon nanotubes with a relatively high
concentration of nitrogen would perform best, as oxygen atoms readily
bond to the carbon atom nearest the nitrogen. Nanotubes have an advantage
over nanoribbons because of their curvature, which distorts chemical
bonds around their circumference and leads to easier binding, the researchers
found.
The tricky bit is making a catalyst that is neither too strong nor too weak as
it bonds with oxygen. The curve of the nanotube provides a way to tune
the nanotubes' binding energy, according to the researchers, who determined
that "ultrathin" nanotubes with a radius between 7 and 10 angstroms
would be ideal. (An angstrom is one ten-billionth of a meter; for
comparison, a typical atom is about 1 angstrom in diameter.)
They also showed co-doping graphene nanoribbons with nitrogen and boron
enhances the oxygen-absorbing abilities of ribbons with zigzag edges.
In this case, oxygen finds a double-bonding opportunity. First, they attach
directly to positively charged boron-doped sites. Second, they're drawn by
carbon atoms with high spin charge, which interacts with the oxygen atoms'
spin-polarized electron orbitals. While the spin effect enhances adsorption,
the binding energy remains weak, also achieving a balance that
allows for good catalytic performance.
The researchers showed the same catalytic principles held true, but to
lesser effect, for nanoribbons with armchair edges.

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Making solar energy more efficient
With global warming an ever-present worry, renewable energy -- particularly solar
power -- is a burgeoning field. Now, two doctoral students in the School of Architecture
& Design (Arc/D) have demonstrated methods of optimizing the capture of
sunlight in experiments at the Center for Design Research.
Green-roof boost
Mohammed Alshayeb started by asking himself what might be done to boost the
performance of solar panels. "The efficiency of a photovoltaic panel is measured
under standard testing conditions -- at 77 degrees Fahrenheit," he said. "Every degree
that the temperature increases decreases performance."
Alshayeb wondered if there was a way to "extract the heat out of the panels" when
the temperature rises above 77. Because most solar panels are installed on building
roofs, Alshayeb decided to compare the effects of three different types of roof
materials -- highly reflective (i.e., white), conventional (black) and vegetated
(green) -- on the panels' performance.
The CDR roof is mostly covered with sedum, planted in trays. So Alshayeb established
his test bed there, installing a solar panel monitoring system over the green
roof, as well as nearby white and black portions. He also installed temperature, humidity
and light sensors and a weather station to record conditions like wind speed.
The sensors made recordings every five minutes for a year, and Alshayeb then analyzed
the data.

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What he found was that, contrary to industry practice, which favors white
roofs over black, white roofs actually slightly decreased the efficiency of the
solar panels due to the heat they reflected up toward the panels. However,
compared to the vegetated roof, the high-reflective and conventional roof
materials were not significantly different from one another. Panels installed
over the green roof performed best, generating an average of 1.4 percent
more energy as compared to those over the white and black roofs.
Bending light
Another of Chang's students, Afnan Barri, wanted to see whether she could
improve the performance of light shelves. A traditional light shelf is a fixed,
horizontally mounted plane that can be placed either outside, inside or on
both sides of a window in order to reflect and redirect sunlight inside a
building. Light shelves can thus reduce the use of artificial lighting and
electricity.
Traditional, fixed light-shelf systems have limited effectiveness, as they are
only capable of functioning while the angle of the sun to the earth is just
right. Previous experiments have shown that movable light shelves and
ones with curved surfaces can diffuse sunlight with greater efficiency than
traditional fixed, flat systems. This is where Barri's idea of a Dynamic Thermal-Adaptive
Curved Lightshelf (DTACL) came about. She thought: "What
if there were a system that could combine all these methods to enhance
the delivery of natural light into buildings throughout the day without the
use of mechanical and electrical controls, and unlike existing movable systems?"
Her project includes computer simulations and a field experiment to collect
a year's worth of data on the performance of the DTACL system through
different weather conditions on the KU campus. She created and placed on
the lawn of the CDR four experimental rooms the size of refrigerators fitted
with sensors and light shelves. Three of the rooms have fixed light shelves
in various configurations, while one, the DTACL, uses an adaptive, composite
material called Thermadapt, invented by Ronald P. Barrett and commercialized
by a company he runs with his son, KU Professor of Engineering
Ron Barrett-Gonzalez. Thermadapt changes shape in response to heat
and sunlight, curving upward. When it cools, it flattens back out.
Barri theorized that the DTACL system would transfer light inside a building
more efficiently than the fixed systems, and her initial results have proven
that to be the case.

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Capturing the properties of very
hot compounds
MIT researchers demonstrate a new electrochemical method to study thermodynamic
processes in an ultra-high temperature molten oxide.
The thermodynamic properties of compounds such as aluminum oxide, which
are known as refractory materials because they melt at temperatures above
2,000 degrees Celsius (3,632 Fahrenheit), have been difficult to study because
few vessels can withstand the heat to contain them, and those that do
often react with the melt and contaminate it.
Now MIT researchers are showcasing a container-less electrochemical method
to study the thermodynamic properties of these hot melts in
a paper published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.
“We have a new technique which demonstrates that the rules of electrochemistry
are followed for these refractory melts,” says senior author Antoine Allanore
, an associate professor of metallurgy. “We have now evidence that these
melts are very stable at high temperature, they have high conductivity.”

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The greatest showman
STORY: The period musical drama is
based on the life and times of 19th
-century showman PT Barnum,
who founded the famous Barnum
and Bailey Circus.
8/10
Star Cast:
Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams,
Zack Efron
Director:
Michael Gracey
Writers:
Jenny Bicks (screenplay by), Bill
Condon (screenplay by)
REVIEW: The film tells Barnum's
|
rags to riches story and explores
how his meteoric rise to fame and fortune was muddled
with allegations of exploiting the disabled for
his circus. However, many also argued that his vision
unified the outcasts and acknowledged their existence
when their own disowned them.

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Must Watch TV Series
Twin Peaks:
The Return
One wonder what
must have gone
through the minds of
Showtime executives
every week as another
hour-long edition
of David Lynch's truly
mind-melting revival
of his cultclassic
ABC series
aired to the confusion—yet
delight—of
its viewers. While no
one quite knew what
to expect from Twin
Peaks: The Return, it's
possible that a completely
disjointed narrative,
surprise celebrity cameos, and a talking brain on a stick
were not exactly what anyone hoped for. While the new Twin
Peaks dove right back into the larger mystery of Laura Palmer's
murder—and spun wildly away from the town of Twin Peaks, with
settings ranging from Manhattan to the flyover states—one thing
is for certain: It is a damn miracle that David Lynch got full rein
to do whatever the hell he wanted for a blissful 18 episodes.

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Big Little Lies
David E. Kelly's adaptation of Liane Moriarty's novel could
have been a by-the-book miniseries adaptation of a popular
novel about wealthy women and their catty schemes (which
end in a shocking murder). Under the direction of Jean-Marc
Vallée, however (and with the brilliant performances from
Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, and
Laura Dern), the miniseries was less your typical whodunit
and more a moody satire of modern parenting and a disturbing
take on the lengths to which domestic violence can penetrate
a family's psyche. But as dark as it can be, the show
was ultimately hugely satisfying, balancing the somewhat
bleak tone with a heightened, comedic take on the lengths
at which adults can exhibit the most immature, childlike
traits.

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The Handmaid's Tale
Hulu's serial adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale couldn't
have come at a better time—even if it was in production
well before the election results came in last November.
While many have found many parallels between the
American in which we live today and the fictional Republic
of Gilead on the show, Margaret Atwood's dystopian
tale of an ultra-patriarchal society—one that has forced
the few remaining fertile women into a form of slavery,
serving as surrogates for wealthy couples following a global
natural disaster that left most women unable to conceive—would
have seemed relevant and deeply troubling
had Hillary Clinton become president, too, as The Handmaid's
Tale'sthemes are universal and, unfortunately,
timeless. The disturbing nature of the show aside, at
least we can welcome the return of Elisabeth Moss to
the small screen, playing yet another feminist icon in the
starring role of Offred

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The Good Place
Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur
built an incredible, wacky afterlife for his latest
series, which fills the self-referential and absurdist
void left open when Parks and Rec went off the
air in 2015. When Eleanor (Kristen Bell) lands in
the Good Place after her death, she immediately
realizes there's been some bureaucratic mistake—
but she intends to keep quiet in order to keep
herself away from the Bad Place. Season One ended
with a major twist that could have derailed
the entire series, but the show's second season
sees Schur and his writing staff brilliantly skewing
the traditional sitcom format, delivering an impressively
airtight and incredibly funny narrative
each week. And alongside Bell, the show boasts a
tremendous cast of talent including Ted Danson,
William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny
Jacinto, and breakout star D'Arcy Carden as Janet,
the all-knowing concierge to the hereafter.

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Coutinho completes 160-million-euro
Barcelona move
Coutinho, 25, signed a fiveyear
contract in a ceremony
alongside Barca president
Josep Maria Bartomeu
BARCELONA: Philippe Coutinho officially joined Barcelona
on Monday, completing a move from Liverpool thought
to be worth 160 million euros ($192 million), making it
the third richest transfer in history.
Coutinho, 25, signed a five-year contract in a ceremony
alongside Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
But minutes before he put pen to paper, the club said
a thigh injury would delay his debut until the end of
January.

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Real fall 16 points behind Barcelona
after draw with Celta
BARCELONA: Real Madrid's faltering title defence continued as they
were held to a thrilling 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo on Sunday which
saw them fall 16 points behind runaway leaders Barcelona, who
beat Levante 3-0 to stay nine points clear at the top of La Liga.
Real looked to be heading for a second successive league defeat after
their 3-0 loss to Barca in their last outing when Daniel Wass
lobbed over Keylor Navas to put Celta ahead in the 33rd minute.

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ICC Test rankings: Australia swap places
with England after Ashes triumph
Australia's innings and 123-run win over England on final
day of the fifth and final Ashes Test have pushed
them to third spot in the latest ICC team rankings.
Australia have moved into third place while England
have dropped to fifth position following the conclusion
of the Ashes in Sydney today.

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Apple's legendary Lisa OS to be released for free
AN FRANCISCO: The Computer History Museum in California has
planned to release Apple's legendary Lisa operating system (OS) for
free as open source this year, the media reported.
The Mountain View-based museum announced that the source code
for Lisa, Apple's computer that predated the Mac, has been recovered
and was being reviewed by the tech giant itself, reports
9to5Mac.
Lisa, released in 1983, was one of the first personal computers to
come equipped with a graphical user interface and a support for
mouse, but ultimately only sold 10,000 units.
"Just wanted to let everyone know the sources to the OS and applications
were recovered, I converted them to Unix end of line conventions
and spaces for Pascal tabs after recovering the files using Disk
Image Chef, and they are with Apple for review," said Al Kossow, a
software curator at the museum.
"After that's done, the code that is cleared for release by Apple will
be made available in 2018. The only thing I saw that probably won't
be able to be released is the American Heritage dictionary for the
spell checker in Lisa Write."
The source code for both the OS and applications has been recovered.
Once that code is finished being reviewed by Apple, the museum will
make the code available sometime this year, Kossow added.

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CorrosionRADAR is a patented sensing system comprised of a thin long
flexible sensor which can detect and locate corrosion in the most difficult,
inhospitable and inaccessible environments including pipe racks,
pipe bends, buried pipelines etc.
Benefits: In comparison to other existing technologies in the market,
CorrosionRADAR offers key advantages such as; inspection range of up
to a kilometer, flexibility which enables the sensor to be used on flanges,
pipe support or any other complex geometry, and finally its comparably
low cost.
Applications: One of the key advantages of the technology lies in
its versatility and applicability to various industry sectors. Essentially
wherever monitoring the corrosion & corrosion under insulation is required,
CorrosionRADAR can provide cost effective, smart and environmental
friendly solutions.

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Encryption, data
and government:
Lessons learned
The KRACK vulnerability has been one of the many highly publicised cyber security
weaknesses that are more frequently making it to the front pages of
news papers and websites.
KRACK or Key Reinstallation Attacks allow attackers to break the encryption
that protects your traffic while traversing the air between your device and its
connected wireless access point.
The recent news and subsequent publicity around the KRACK vulnerability
has meant that many more people now know what WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
is and the risks to their privacy and security when using Wi-Fi without
encryption.
Encryption is the key to keeping people safe online. Encryption is a mathematical
formula that randomises data to make the original content unreadable
to unauthorized parties. All most every commonly used encryption algorithm
produces at least one string of numbers that can be used to decipher the data
into its original legible form. This string of number is the key.

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The protection provided by a good encryption algorithm is its resistance to
brute-forcing, a method of hacking by taking attempts at guessing the key. A
key must be large enough so that an attacker or snooper cannot guess the
combination of numbers in any reasonable amount of time. An additional
method of protection comes from the algorithms resistance to cryptanalysis,
the process of deciphering the encrypted message by analyzing the algorithm
and its output.
Every piece of data that is encrypted has it own randomized key that is required
to reconstruct the original form. This means that even if a cybercriminal
stole your businesses encrypted files it would potentially take them hundreds
of years to crack each of the keys.
The problem with forcing a change in standards is that they are currently set
by the ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) who have already
rejected new standards from the US intelligence agency, the NSA
(National Security Agency), based on the fears of a hidden backdoor. Additional
problems arise when you consider that the ISO do not enforce these
standards and there is no global governmental organization that could do
this. If an encryption backdoor is to be rolled out in a small selection of countries,
criminal communications would be the least of the governments concerns
as adversary governments shift all their cyber resources into exploiting
this backdoor.
Although KRACK might seem like a huge threat to our general security, it isn’t.
Thanks to the responsible disclosure of the vulnerability, vendors have
already taken affirmative action, and most have released a patch for affected
devices.
Its only effect on criminal organisations would be to drive them to use
emerging technologies that are more secure, more undetectable and far
less understood. There is no patch or easily followed advice for this, the
damage would be permanent, and the solution would end up making
the problem worse.

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An in-screen fingerprint sensor will be a real
thing in 2018
On December 12, Synaptics (one of the biggest names in the biometric
industry) announced that it was finally ready to start mass-producing
the first-ever fingerprint sensor that's hidden underneath a
smartphone display.
Synaptics is using its new Clear ID FS9500 sensor to make this all
possible, and according to Forbes reporter Patrick Moorhead, using
the new sensor is "fast and simple." The sensor doesn't actually turn
on until you're ready to use it to help conserve battery life, and when
you do go to unlock your phone, you'll see a fingerprint icon near the
bottom of your phone's display.
Just put your finger on this icon (that OEMs can customize the look of) and your
phone will be unlocked with the same level of security and convenience we've
come to expect from sensors on current handsets.

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The World’s
First Robot
Citizen :Sophia
(robot)
Sophia is a social humanoid
robot developed by Hong
Kong-based company
Hanson Robotics. Sophia
was activated on April 19,
2015 *1+ and made her first
public appearance at South
by Southwest Festival
(SXSW) in mid-March
2016 in Austin, Texas, United
States *2+ . She is able to display
more than 62 facial expressions.
Sophia has been covered by
media around the globe and
has participated in many
high-profile interviews. In
October 2017, the robot became
a Saudi Arabian
citizen, the first robot to
receive citizenship of any country. In November
2017, Sophia was named
the United Nations Development Programme's
first ever Innovation Champion,
and the first non-human to be given
any United Nations title.
Features: Cameras within her eyes
combined with computer algorithms allow
Sophia to see. She can follow faces, sustain
eye contact, and recognize individuals. She
is able to process speech and have conversations
using Alphabet’s Google Chrome
voice recognition technology and other
tools

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Asus ROG Strix Hero edition review: The
working class hero

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Amazon Echo Plus Review:
The digital personal assistant everyone

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