Tech

A study from the Case Western Reserve University nursing school provides a profile of women with the dual responsibilities of full-time paid work and unpaid care for an elderly family member.

"We often hear caregivers talk about 'how much time and effort it takes' to provide care for their family members or neighbors," said Evanne Juratovac, PhD, RN (GCNS-BC), assistant professor of nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and the study's lead researcher, "so we examined the experience of doing the workload on these women caregivers as the 'workers."

PITTSBURGH—Most people want to take mediations as prescribed, even if they sometimes need a little help remembering. For them, an automated system that monitors drug taking and provides feedback after the fact may be more useful than one that nags people when it is time to take a pill, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say.

Nanoparticles have been heralded as a potential "disruptive technology" in biomedicine, a versatile platform that could supplant conventional technologies, both as drug delivery vehicles and diagnostic tools.

First, however, researchers must demonstrate the properly timed disintegration of these extremely small structures, a process essential for their performance and their ability to be safely cleared out of a patient's body after their job is done. A new study presents a unique method to directly measure nanoparticle degradation in real time within biological environments.

The isolation of graphene at the University in 2004 led to the discovery of many other 2D crystals. While graphene has an unrivalled set of superlatives, these crystals cover a large range of properties: from the most conductive to isolating, from transparent to optically active.

The next step is to combine several of these crystals in a 3D stack. This way, one can create 'heterostructures' with novel functionalities – capable of delivering applications as yet beyond the imagination of scientists and commercial partners.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign use a printing process to assemble tiny cells into multilayer stacks for extraordinary levels of photovoltaic conversion efficiency.

As an energy source, the Sun has always been a dependable provider. Although it freely shines on everyone, the ability to capture and convert the Sun's abundant energy is anything but free. However, new technologies aimed at achieving "full spectrum" operation in utility-scale photovoltaics may soon make solar energy a viable option.

TOKYO, JAPAN – To increase the sugar concentration and resulting marketability of tomato juice, growers have traditionally used techniques such as subjecting plants to salt and water stresses. In a new study published in HortTechnology (February 2014), Ken Takahata and Hiroyuki Miura from Tokyo University of Agriculture reported on a prototypic method known as "basal wire coiling" that shows potential as a simple and effective method for increasing the sugar concentration in tomato fruit juice.

This news release is available in Spanish.

A new method of monitoring identifies what information will be relevant on social networks up to two months in advance. This may help predict social movements, consumer reactions or possible outbreaks of epidemics, according to a study in the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M) is participating.