Tech

Chemistry for greenhouse gases

If fossil fuels burn completely, the end products are carbon dioxide and water. Today the carbon dioxide is a waste product, one that goes into the air — adding to global warming; or the oceans — acidifying them; or underground — with as yet unknown consequences.

Declining energy quality could be root cause of current recession

An overlooked cause of the economic recession in the U.S. is a decade long decline in the quality of the nation's energy supply, often measured as the amount of energy we get out for a given energy input, says energy expert Carey King of The University of Texas at Austin.

CHICAGO – In a study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), researchers say they may have an explanation as to why African Americans, despite having lower amounts of coronary artery calcification, are at increased risk for heart attacks and other cardiovascular events compared with Caucasians.

How authentic is your pomegranate juice?

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – You pick up a bottle of pomegranate juice at the store because you've learned that, although it costs more than most juices, it is replete with antioxidants that bring health benefits. But wait: Is the juice you've purchased really pomegranate juice? Or is the product label you have carefully read promising more than it delivers?

A 'USB' for medical diagnosis?

Biomedical engineers at UC Davis have developed a plug-in interface for the microfluidic chips that will form the basis of the next generation of compact medical devices. They hope that the "fit to flow" interface will become as ubiquitous as the USB interface for computer peripherals.

Health care costs and expenditures are expected to rise over the next decade or two and governments need methods to publicly finance these costs, states an analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100999.pdf.

In a first-of-its-kind study to measure the impact of the highest recommended specialist staffing levels in an intensive care unit, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine found that increased staffing by specially trained physicians and other health care professionals can enhance patient survival and enable patients to breathe sooner without assistance. The results of the study have been released online ahead of print in the journal Critical Care Medicine.

The Department of Computer Engineering, Sejong University in Korea and ETH Zurich in Switzerland have recently introduced a novel and simple framework for rendering subsurface scattering on surfaces represented by points. This is useful for realistically rendering a cloud of points representing translucent materials such as the human skin. This significant study is reported in Vol. 53, No. 5 of SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences.

Adolescents and young adults are most likely to abuse prescription medications. Yet prescription rates for controlled medications, or drugs the Drug Enforcement Administration deems as having the potential for abuse, have nearly doubled for those age groups in the past 14 years, according to a recent study published in Pediatrics. Overall, a controlled medication was prescribed for young adults at approximately one out of every six visits and for young adult by adolescents one out of every nine encounters.

An SOFC fuel cell produces electricity and heat with a very high efficiency. That means less carbon emissions for each kW produced. Furthermore, the production of electricity happens with nearly no emissions of pollutants such as nitrogen and sulphur oxides. Thus, SOFC fuel cells are a strong card in the future climate-friendly energy supply. SOFC fuel cells are flat and thin as a piece of paper, providing a voltage of approx. 1 volt. They are put together in stacks to achieve the desired voltage and wattage.

Experts demand better gender-equality training for the police

According to a new study by the University of Valencia (UV), "it is necessary to raise the awareness and level of training of the police in the area of violence against women". Researchers analysed the influence of sexism and empathy in more than 400 recently-hired local police.

Living in a deprived area increases the risk of violence more sharply for girls than boys, according to a Cardiff University study of former industrial areas.

The new results suggest violence prevention strategies need to focus more on local inequalities, especially to protect vulnerable adolescent girls.

Researchers from North Carolina State University and IBM have invented a way to update computer systems packaged in virtual machines in a computer "cloud" – even when those programs are offline.

CHICAGO – Using a mobile MRI unit, researchers followed runners for two months along a 4,500-kilometer course to study how their bodies responded to the high-stress conditions of an ultra-long-distance race, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).