Volumes & issues:
Volume 5, Issue 15
9 October 2010
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- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 4 –4
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1518
- Type: Article
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- Author(s): D. Lenton
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 6 –6
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1519
- Type: Article
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On Sunday 17 October, members of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society transmitted from the Marconi Hut at Sandford Mill Museum using a special event call-sign to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the first advertised airborne wireless and the first air-sea rescue involving wireless. Other amateur stations around the word were expected to take part, including the Marconi Radio Club of America, W1AA. They were commemorating a series of events that began in 1906 when 52 year old American writer and explorer Walter Wellman purchased a non-rigid dirigible airship from Mutin Godard in France with the intention of becoming the first person to reach the North Pole by air. (7 pages) - Author(s): P. Dempsey
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 15 –15
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1520
- Type: Article
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Technology and private-sector funding will drive progress towards the UN's ambitious development goals. The United Nations summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) confirmed one important aspect of their viability that was probably tacitly understood. Achieving the ambitious programme within its 2015 deadline will require an increasing contribution from the private sector. The MDG Gap Task Force revealed that overall UN funding will be $20bn short this year alone, with African nations struggling the most and falling $16bn below their original commitments. It also noted that among developed nations, only Belgium and the UK had committed to keep their payments at previously announced levels. But when the concrete details of implementing the eight MDGs are reviewed, the UN's promoter role gives way to the action being achieved through such private-sector groups as the UN Foundation (originally set up with a $1 bn grant from broadcasting mogul Ted Turner) and the Clinton Global Initiative (established by former US President Bill Clinton). Both those organisations held major meetings in New York alongside the opening of the UN General Assembly and had sessions specifically addressing what technology can do in the context of the MDGs. Kathy Calvin, the UN Foundation's CEO, is putting major effort into Goals Four, Five and Six through the $30m mHealth scheme set up with, among others, Vodafone. As its name suggests this addresses the use of mobile communications to improve public healthcare. 'When health workers were going out on vaccination campaigns or were tracking outbreaks of diseases or tracking stock-outs of commodities, such as condoms, they would typically write it down on a piece of paper and send it someplace. And maybe three months later, it would be noted,' she told FrontLines, in-house publication for the USAID development agency. 'Now, they're using handheld devices; in some cases, cellular phones. Even in the poorest of regions, mobile phones are prevalent. So that turned out to be a really tremendous leap for the World Health Organisation and other health workers. 'That led us to realise that there are many obstacles to wide-scale adoption of mobile technology for a broad array of health uses, whether they be diagnostic or reminders about taking drugs or data collection.' Mobile phones represent the only form of Internet connectivity in remote villages still to receive electricity, never mind landline phones. This feeds into the wider issue of how wireless comms can advance all the MDGs by fostering economic growth (e.g., making it easier for farmers to get the right crops to the right markets), improving education (e.g., enabling distance learning) and so on. A panel at the Clinton Global Initiative heard about this theme from figures as diverse as Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers and Ory Okolloh, one of the founders of the Ushahidi networking site being used in Haiti and Pakistan to assist crisis management. Chambers identified the importance of public-private partnerships specifically. He said the objective needed to be 'addressing the have-nots in the world at a much faster pace,' and doing this with both wired and wireless networks that users could afford. He also discussed how developing countries could 'skip a generation' and deploy the latest technologies more efficiently without incurring legacy costs seen in the West. Okolloh described how open source technologies such as Ushahidi can sit on top of such infrastructure to make services and tools easier to develop and distribute. 'Centres of innovation are not just in Silicon Valley today,' she said. 'This is a technology that was born in Kenya. We don't just consume technology now; we can produce it.' She argued for a need to move beyond handsets towards low-cost tablets. 'You want the $100 iPad,'she said, stressing that these would be more viable not only for sophisticated healthcare applications but also education. The UN itself though really put the stamp on how the private sector could couple with the almost Moore's Law-driven approach to using technology, implicit the visions of Okolloh, Chambers and Calvin. It did so by formally giving private-sector players a role in the MDG programme equal to that of nation states, by issuing a donor statement backed by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon. 'Rather than viewing the private sector merely as resource providers, we choose to recognise the private sector as equal partners around key development issues and will enter into partnerships with local and international companies of various sizes,' the statement says. 'We aim to collaborate with companies that focus not only on profit margin, but also on social and environmental impact, and whose work harmonises with our developmental goals.'. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 16 –17
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1521
- Type: Article
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Best of the E&T inbox. - Author(s): M. Harris
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 18 –22
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1522
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This article describes the sixteen most common metals: lithium; potassium; magnesium; barium; zinc; titanium; iron; nickel; copper; silver; tungsten; gold; aluminium; tin; lead; and uranium. - Author(s): B. Campbell
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 24 –27
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1500
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The development and use of nanomaterials in the field of energy storage is of critical importance to increase the efficiency and performance of batteries and supercapacitors. The increasing demand for clean, secure electricity supply and the electrification of much of the world's transportation systems is placing greater demands on these devices. Nanotechnology-based companies are at the forefront of much of this research and are adopting different strategies to meet the demands. Nanomaterials are now in use in a wider range of applications such as coatings, fuel and oil additives and tennis rackets. Energy efficiency and storage are high-priority applications which can use new and innovative materials to respond to both consumption and environmental demands. Nanotecture's alternative approach to the creation of high surface area materials brings many of the advantages of nanoparticles but with a simpler and therefore lower cost of manufacturing. - Author(s): K. Sangani
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 28 –29
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1501
- Type: Article
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A row over how Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) handles its customers' data is threatening half a million BlackBerrγ accounts in the United Arab Emirates. Will other countries follow suit in demanding access to unencrypted data to maintain a basic rule of law? Kris Sangani reports. - Author(s): C. Edwards
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 30 –33
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1502
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The present paper focuses on the development of new materials to serve as the successors to silicon in the semiconductor industry. The addition of foreign elements to tried-and-tested silicon processes is fraught with difficulty, but chipmakers may be forced to adopt half-metals and a select cadre of other materials to enable future semiconductor scaling. The development of graphene emerges as an new electronic material. - Author(s): P. Dempsey
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 34 –35
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1503
- Type: Article
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The intensive hype around 3DTV that marked the football World Cup continued, not all that surprisingly, at IBC broadcast technology conference in Amsterdam. Roaming the halls, you could easily have been convinced that the format was on the cusp of ubiquity. However, if you poked any of the broadcast professionals at the event, a different story emerged. Andy Quested, CTO of BBC HD, was blunt. The broadcaster was pushing ahead aggressively with its introduction of high-definition (HD) across its schedules but when it came to 3D, there were serious questions as to whether it was either sustainable or justifiable. - Author(s): S. Davies
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 36 –39
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1504
- Type: Article
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The paper mentions that companies are racing to sample the wealth of minerals below the surface of the ocean. The race to the seabed is being led by two companies, Nautilus Minerals with a project off Papua New Guinea (PNG), and Neptune Minerals in the seas off New Zealand. Nautilus is proposing to develop the Solwara SMS system in the territorial waters of PNG. Nautilus' proposed mining system will consist of an excavator, a support ship, and a riser and lifting system to pump metal sulphide debris to the surface. At present, the oil and gas industry is experimenting with seafloor processing that saves the expense of pumping huge amounts of water and sand to the surface for separation, only to have to pump it back to the seabed after extracting the oil. - Author(s): G. Richards
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 40 –41
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1505
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This article looks at the latest lofty development in the renewable sector particularly in wind farms. It discusses about the challenges of airborne wind turbines. Designs of airborne wind turbines (AWT) fall into two types - helium-filled blimps and kite-based designs, all of which are anchored to the ground via a winch-operated conductive tether. - Author(s): C. Edwards
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 42 –45
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1506
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Thin-film technology has propelled one supplier past silicon solar cell makers. But will the rarity of the raw materials bring an early end for the upstarts of PV. - Author(s): R. Pool
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 46 –47
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1507
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In May this year, British researchers announced a euro3m, European Union-funded project to develop 'radically innovative' electrical insulating tapes, based on nano-materials, for high-efficiency generators. Dubbed 'ANASTASIA', the 'advanced nanostructured tapes for electrotechnical high-power insulating applications' project aims to replace today's thick, semi-rigid insulating tapes with thinner, flexible version. These would have a higher field-strength and better thermal stability. - Author(s): M. Courtney
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 48 –51
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1508
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Software tools are emerging to help IT managers keep power usage under strict control. Martin Courtney looks at four packages that aim to empower the down powering process. - Author(s): J. Hayes
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 52 –53
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1509
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This article discusses about the e-commerce or selling online or e-tailing which could be showing the kind of rapid growth that creates premium employment opportunities for technologists. E-commerce used to be a satellite to the main business, but technology is conditioning consumer habits. - Author(s): C. Evans-Pughe
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 54 –57
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1510
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With shortages of essential metals predicted, the mining industry is turning to bacteria to make use of poorer ores, and even extract metals from old mining waste.Yet Europe has ores and minerals of its own, many of which have been economically exploitable in the past. So with impending scarcity whether for political reasons or depletion of natural resources in mind, European scientists are examining the potential to extract metals from low grade unexploited ores, mining wastes and process-wastes using mineral-munching bacteria. - Author(s): A. Dinovitzer
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 58 –59
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1511
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Welding has become a high-tech process that needs sophisticated procedures, strong technical back-up and a new way of thinking. The common weld is a much maligned beast. Despite the layman's preconception that welding is a rough, unsubtle industrial process, it is actually a complex procedure with many parameters affecting the result. - Author(s): C. Evans-Pughe
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 60 –63
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1512
- Type: Article
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Key metals used in electronics are extracted from war-torn regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The author finds out what is being done to stop this evil trade. The tin industry cannot certify mines as conflict free, and the UN does not have the capacity either. Most people believe that certification should be down to the DRC government. - Author(s): W. Webb
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 64 –65
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1513
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Being mobile will be about using handsets to entertain in a spare moment. It will be about the handset as jewellery, as an object of beauty and fascination. It will be about social connectedness, with the mobile enabling many forms of communications with many communities. Of course, the mobile will still let you to make calls and return emails but it already does that. Being mobile will be so much more. - Author(s): G. Clapperton
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 66 –69
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1514
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When this article was commissioned, one of the first things the editor said was to consider the precious metals to by all means, but above all to consider why some are worth more than others. "Think about something like gold," he said, "whose value is intrinsic, as opposed to steel, whose value is in the application. "It's not fair to pick on a casually tossed word when someone's actually taking the time to throw paid work at you. But the really interesting thing about gold is that it has no intrinsic value at all its value is the exact opposite of intrinsic. Yes, of course it's rare and we all know that (that's "rare" as in "the High Street is full of jewellers selling it") but its density militates against using it in tools or any other industrial application. You could argue, pretty successfully, that gold investments represent the perfect market; if people went off it, or it fell from fashion, the market would simply fall apart. And yet it's one of the better investments to be in when the economy is troubled, explains Martin Arnold, senior researcher at ETF Securities. Put simply, when times are tough people would prefer to invest in things rather than in concepts. - Author(s): N. Smith
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 70 –71
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1515
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The paper mentions that a radical approach to managing large organisations that literally turns received wisdom on its head could be what the management has been looking for. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 73 –73
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1523
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Dates for your diary. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 77 –77
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1524
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Evolution, innovation and a new novel from science-fiction legend William Gibson. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, p. 78 –79
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1516
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This issue, Bryan Betts looks at National Instruments' new version of Labview while Kris Sangani compares mobile office apps. - Author(s): J. Pollard
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 80 –80
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1517
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Summary form only given. The paper presents Justin Pollard who invented a death ray and the War of Currents. A death ray, a horrific form of execution, and an elephant called Topsy. - Author(s): M. Barfield
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 81 –81
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1525
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- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 15, page: 82 –82
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.1526
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Jack is working with Dad during his gap year. Can he survive in an engineering organisation where compliance is all?
Editorial: Copper and robbers
News
Analysis: UN goals need business backing
Letters to the Editor
Top of the table
Pores for thought [energy storage devices]
Secrets of the data stream [security system]
Silicon's successors
Thrown into relief [3D TV]
Mining the depths
Flying turbines
Material gains
Every little helps
Curbing the kilowatts [IT data centres]
New purchase on IT careers? [e-commerce sector is creating job opportunities for IT professionals]
The mining bug
Around the weld [welding]
Blood and treasure
Being mobile [smartphone revolution]
Raising the gold standard
Turn your business on this head
Events
Book reviews
Software
The eccentric engineer
E&Tcetera
Jack's blog
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