Volumes & issues:
Volume 5, Issue 9
19 June 2010
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- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 4 –4
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0922
- Type: Article
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- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 5 –11
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0923
- Type: Article
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- Author(s): M. Williamson
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 12 –12
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0900
- Type: Article
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E&T reports from the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) held in Chicago 27-31 May. US President Obama's decision to cancel Nasa's Constellation Moon/Mars programme and replace its mission-oriented architecture with a vaguer technology-development programme has sparked broad dissent among the American space community. While industry pauses to assess how best to shut down its Constellation contracts and redeploy its workforce, politicians rail against the threatened loss of jobs in their respective states. More recently, Obama has back-pedalled as far as allowing Nasa's Orion capsule to serve as a space station 'lifeboat', but the Agency will still be reliant on Russia's Soyuz to launch its astronauts in the first place. And while a possible manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid has been mentioned, the specific target, spacecraft and launch vehicle hardware and budget required remain undecided. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 13 –13
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0924
- Type: Article
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- Author(s): M. Venables
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 14 –15
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0901
- Type: Article
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When an explosion ripped through BP's Deepwater Horizon rig, it not only cost 11 workers lives and created an environmental disaster of unheralded proportions, it also sent Shockwaves through the oil and gas industry. The true impacts are unknown, but one thing is for sure: the industry will never be the same again. When the rig sank two days after the explosion it left oil gushing from ruptured pipes. The Blow-Out Preventer (BOP) that was supposed to seal the well in the event of an incident like this failed to operate, leaving an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil a day gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. The BOP contains mechanisms designed to shut off the flow of oil and gas, either on command or automatically, when required or when a wellhead is damaged or experiences a blow-out. Investigators are trying to find out why the BOP atop the Deepwater Horizon well failed to activate as designed. The surface operation moved on with well-practised ease as the tried and tested combination of controlled oil burns, spraying chemical dispersants, and protective booms did their work. But it was below the ocean waves that the troubles were mounting. The Deepwater Horizon well sits in 1,500m of water. Although the procedures that were attempted to cap the well had worked in shallow waters they have never been tried at this level. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 16 –17
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0902
- Type: Article
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Best of the E&T inbox. - Author(s): E. Hiltunen
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 18 –20
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0903
- Type: Article
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This paper discussed the weak signals as to that of the newly futuristic emerging issues. These are technologies or scientific advances that would be needed in the future. - Author(s): O. Mival
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 21 –24
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0904
- Type: Article
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You know the situation: you're in a meeting and you need to check some facts only you didn't bring your laptop, and just one person can logon to the Wi-Fi so everyone is crowding around that screen gesticulating, trying to get their point across... It is this kind of problem that the Centre for Interaction Design at Edinburgh Napier University is working to overcome. In January 2009, the university funded a project to explore the impact of emerging technologies on how we live our lives and go about our daily activities in public, private and social spaces. This project is called Future Living Future Life and it seeks to deliver real-world practical benefits by designing, developing and implementing a series of "future" spaces, the first of which is the Future Meeting Room. So just what is a Future Meeting Room? Well, essentially it is a space designed to use the very cutting edge of current and emerging technologies to facilitate local and remote collaborative activities. In less academic terms, this means brainstorming, mind mapping, document or project review and creation in fact, anything that requires people to work together in real time. As you might imagine, this covers a lot of things. - Author(s): C. Edwards
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 25 –27
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0905
- Type: Article
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This paper discusses about the viability of electric vehicle. The electric batteries are so heavy, and take so long to charge, so the usage of electric vehicle is not convenient. As no one is expecting a sudden breakthrough in battery technology, rental schemes such as these may be the only way to improve the chances of success for electric vehicles in the near term. And in electronics more widely, it is all about designing around the limitations of batteries rather than hoping new forms will arrive that rewrite the rules on how much electrical energy you can get into the same space. - Author(s): A. Spurling
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 28 –29
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0906
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This paper discussed the latest design concepts for the kitchen of the future. At Grand Designs Live 2010, the House of the Future is entirely open-plan and clinically white. Round the corner is a rather different example of a space-saving kitchen. The Anima concept kitchen employs one space to make two rooms. An oblong unit serves as preparing/dining surface, until a storage unit slides up from the middle at the touch of a button. On one side it has kitchen shelves with utensils and glasses; on the other a living space is created with a built-in TV. Just add chairs. Also designed to combat space constraints, Electrolux's future concept 'Heart of the Home' has an amorphous surface, so that it can be bar/cooker at the touch of your hand. Press the surface and its malleable material will achieve the depth of a saucepan. Temperature controls will materialise to be touched. - Author(s): S.A. Holgate
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 30 –32
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0907
- Type: Article
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In this paper photonics industry phases and telecommunication industry. The current challenge to bring 'fibre to the home' at a cost people can afford with enough capacity in the network to bring information into homes is dealt with. - Author(s): C. Edwards
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 34 –35
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0908
- Type: Article
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Transparent materials could lead to a new generation of smart objects. Some electronic devices can be made transparent when they are not used. The Novaled organic light emitting diodes proposed for home lighting in designs produced by Ingo Maurer are see-through when switched off. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 36 –38
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0909
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Broadcasters have suffered something of a double whammy in the past few years. As the Internet really started showing its promise as an advertising medium, it prompted advertisers to divert some of their spending away from TV Then came the global downturn which, like others before it, forced them to cut back on what they were spending anyway. Against this backdrop, TV broadcasters are also increasingly switching to digitaltransmission and committing to 24-hour programming and all that brings with it, such as subsidiary channels and programmes in high definition (HD). The pressure is on, then, to cut costs and improve efficiency. It's here that automation is proving important. - Author(s): M. Langdon
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 39 –41
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0910
- Type: Article
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Need a bigger ship? Why buy a brand new vessel when you can can chop the old one in half and add a new middle? Mark Langdon finds out how Nexans got to grips with a bit of heavy-duty recycling. - Author(s): R. Pool
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 42 –43
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0911
- Type: Article
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New information on how biofuels burn is paving the way to greener transport fuels, reports Rebecca Pool. While biofuels such as bioethanol and bio-diesel can offer a clean alternative to petroleum-based transport fuels, anxieties on risks to biodiversity or depleted food supplies have tarnished their green image. But amid the very public debate, the combustion chemistry of biofuels has been forgotten. What happens when these fuels burn, what pollutants are formed and are the fuels as environmentally-friendly as we think? The answers to such fundamental questions have been long known for hydrocarbon fuels, but when it comes to any biofuel, the level of understanding is a lot less. And this lack of knowledge threatens to slow industry take-up. - Author(s): S. Davies
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 44 –45
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0912
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In the drive to reduce carbon emissions the pressure is on to generate more and more electricity from renewable sources. The EU has set an ambitious target of generating 20 percent of electricity from renewables by the end of the decade, with further increases over the following years. It is observed that reliable and cost-effective storage is the key to keeping the lights on in the renewable world. This paper shows that a Cambridge company that has a solution. - Author(s): P. Hunter
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 46 –46
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0913
- Type: Article
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Increased access to high-performance computing power and the development of robotics means physicians and technologists can reshape the frontiers of surgical procedure. The article looks briefly at these developments. (4 pages) - Author(s): J. Hayes
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 51 –51
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0914
- Type: Article
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The UK's new government is shaking-up public sector IT in the UK: what are the implications for IT practice? No one expected public sector IT to go untouched by UK's new coalition administration, and the proposals in its 'Programme for Government' published at the end of May outline at least 14 points with resonance to the way it wants public sector information and communications technology to be managed in the UK. - Author(s): M. Farish
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 52 –54
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0915
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Mike Farish visits a model racing-car manufacturer, and discovers an industry that is just as wrapped up in the challenges and techniques of design as its lifesize counterpart. Models or not, the vehicles it produces do share some common traits with full-size F1 cars and indeed mass-produced vehicles. These include: the need for compressed development timescales; the incorporationat least at the top end of the range of advanced materials such as carbon fibre; a worldwide supply chain; and the use in their design of sophisticated computer-aided design (CAD). - Author(s): B. Jones
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 55 –57
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0916
- Type: Article
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The article gives a review of a conference on University challenge, a topic relating to collaboration between industry and academia. Delegates from companies, government agencies, schools, other academics and the funding bodies attended the conference, to examine how university science could be applied to their business, find new partners and investigate potential funding options. A number of case studies were presented at the conference. They highlighted user-focused research as a partnership between university and industry, and outlined the availability of several different funding routes that can be accessed to initiate and support this kind of collaborative work. - Author(s): L. Collins
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 58 –61
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0917
- Type: Article
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MOBILE operators are in a bind. The uptake of smartphones has led to an unprecedented increase in the volume of data flowing over their networks. They've been scrambling to keep up, investing in capacity even as they consolidate their 3G networks and make ready for a shift to 4G technologies. The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance, which exists to ease the transition from current to 4G networks, is already concerned about the operating costs of the new networks, and so is pushing equipment vendors to come up with systems that can manage themselves, as well as interoperability at the network and service-management level so that equipment from different vendors can collaborate to optimise overall performance. - Author(s): C. Evans-Pughe
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 62 –63
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0918
- Type: Article
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Since an antenna's shape dictates the frequencies it can send and receive, making one that stretches like a rubber band may seem as counter-intuitive as building an elastic violin. However, scientists think that elasticity could be one way to compensate for stretchiness in the equipment (or person) to which the antenna is attached, and could also act as a useful tuning mechanism for radios trying to find space in overcrowded wavebands. In this paper, the author discusses an elastic antenna that could make wearable electronics comfortable and make cognitive radios possible. - Author(s): J. Dwyer
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 64 –67
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0919
- Type: Article
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The author is an industry commentator has just filed his 100th management column for the IET website. The author states that most large companies not just in manufacturing are led by people whose grip on reality is so tenuous it's a wonder they can brush their own teeth. The opinion column's rather grand aim was as weapon of mass instruction, to lay out the issues besetting manufacturing, engineering and IT or related activities, and comment upon them entertainingly if possible. - Author(s): W. Altman
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 68 –69
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0920
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India knows how to embrace new technology that's why it's an emerging economic power. Will Altman bones up on the main players and what business with India will be like. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 71 –71
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0925
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Dates for your diary. - Author(s): I. Pearson
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 74 –75
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0921
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The world future society estimates that worldwide average lifespan will increase by one year per year by 2025, and this is echoed by a variety of sources. It is good news from one point of view, but you may immediately recognise that this means major problems for pensions we will have to work longer, if we live longer. At least, that is the conventional wisdom, but it takes no account of the increasing productivity of robots and Al, which may be able to increase wealth faster than we spend it, so actually it is entirely possible that we may need to work less, even if we live longer. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 76 –77
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0926
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The emphasis is on history in this issue's roundup of new technology titles. - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, p. 78 –79
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0927
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Techies flocked to buy an iPad in the UK last month - but was it worth it? And what accessories are on offer? - Author(s): J. Pollard
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 80 –80
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0928
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This article marks the 100th anniversary of Roy Plunkett, the inventor of Teflon. - Author(s): M. Barfield
- Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 81 –81
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0929
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Mike Barfield's regular page of engineering news, views and pictures which defy belief - and rightly so! - Source: Engineering & Technology, Volume 5, Issue 9, page: 82 –82
- DOI: 10.1049/et.2010.0930
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It's revision time and Jack has to justify his biology A level to a sceptical engineer Dad.
Editorial: Battery bottleneck
News
Special report: Where next for Nasa?
News in brief
Analysis: Deepwater drilling in deep trouble
Letters to the Editor
Message from the future
Multi-touching the dream
Power vacuum
The home hub
Second light
See-through plan [electronics transparent]
Here is the news [automation broadcasting]
Cut and shut ship
Up in smoke [power biofuels]
Saving for a windless day [power storage]
Supercomputer super-surgeons
Analysis: Coalition changes will shape IT's next decade
A model industry [manufacturing miniature]
University challenge [Collaboration between industry and academia]
Mobile networks go self-service
At a stretch [comms antennas]
Creating a buzz
India means business
Events
Future perfect?
Book reviews
Gadgets
The eccentric engineer
E&Tcetera
Jack's blog
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