Wolfram|Alpha

This sounds incredibly cool. So much so that I happned to catch the Kurzweil tweet in the middle of the night last night and immediate hit the site to sign up for updates. If I end up getting a sneak preview I’ll be sure to do a new post.

For those who aren’t familiar with Stephen Wolfram, he’s the guy behind Mathematica, among other feats of computational genius.

From KurzweilAI.net:

Wolfram|Alpha: Searching for Truth

H+, April 6, 2009 “[Computational knowledge engine] Wolfram|Alpha will raise the level of scientific things that the average person can do,” Stephen Wolfram told computer scientist/science-fiction writer Rudy Rucker. “People will find that the world is more predictable than they might have expected. Just as running Google is like having a reference librarian to help you, running Wolfram|Alpha will be like having a house scientist to consult for you.” Audio interview   Read Original Article>>

Short-selling regulation

I see the SEC is looking into placing new restrictions on short-selling. A terrible idea and one that sends the entirely wrong idea to the market. Do we have a capitalist economy, or not?

I agree some regulation [ ... kills me to write that] in the financial and public sector needs to come to pass, but this accomplishes nothing aside from cheap public relations. If the markets are so weak selling short is capable of breaking them, maybe they should be broken.

From the link:

The Securities and Exchange Commission is carefully weighing options for reining in rushes of short-selling that can sink stock prices and will work seriously on a plan to give shareholders access to annual corporate ballots for directors, the agency’s chief said Monday.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro and the other four SEC commissioners are scheduled to vote Wednesday on new short-selling rules _ a change being pushed by investors and lawmakers _ and are expected to put forward several separate proposals for public comment.

“We will be very deliberative in our effort to determine what is in the best interest of investors,” Schapiro said in an address to a conference of the Council of Institutional Investors, a group representing public, corporate and union pension funds that together have an estimated $3 trillion in assets.

The SEC will open for comment a proposal to reinstate the so-called uptick rule or take other measures designed to stem market dislocation caused by excesses of short selling, which involves betting against a stock.

Twitter and Google

Here’s a CIO.com Web 2.0 adviser post on whether Twitter makes a better fit with Google because of its searchable information or Facebook for the social networking aspect. Efforts to monetize Twitter ought to be interesting as well as tracking its potential acquisition.

You find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/davidkonline.

From the CIO.com link:

We pump lots of information into Twitter, and Google has shown, time and again, that it’s the mechanism on the Web that lets us sort through that information.

But to me, Twitter is just as much about people as it is information, and that’s where a Google acquisition falls a little short. While Google’s social team has been making some innovative products (like Friend Connect), the company hasn’t been the place where people want to connect with the people important to them in their life; Facebook has been that place for a couple years now.

Sully on torture, part two

Here’s part one from November. Andrew Sullivan has long written about the U.S. implementation of torture, often a singular voice out in the void. His constant, and necessary, drumbeat helped to keep my focus on this shameful subject.

Now that details are coming to light about exactly what the Bush 43 regime perpetrated and what (if anything) was truly gained, this topic will become mainstream news.

Here’s Sully today on torture. He, Glenn Greenwald, the TPM gang and others deserve a lot of credit in continuing to pursue this difficult subject when the mainstream media either completely ignored torture, or worse used the Nazi-era euphemism preferred by the Bush team, “enhanced interrogation.”

From the second link:

I should be clear. I oppose all such torture as illegal and criminal and immoral even if tangible intelligence gains were included in the morass of lies and red herrings that we got. But if torture advocates really do insist that America needs to embrace this evil if it is to survive, then we need to see and judge the evidence that they keep pointing to off-stage. We need a real and thorough and definitive investigation. If Cheney is right, he has nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of. And the Congress should move to withdraw from the Geneva Conventions, withdraw from the UN Torture Treaty, amend domestic law to enshrine torture, and allow future presidents of the United States to torture suspects legally.

More sunlight please. Let us have this debate in full and in detail. And soon – before it is too late.

Medicine and torture

As more and more details on the Bush 43 administration’s unprecedented use of torture come to light, most Americans will experience increasing outrage  I’ve been blogging on the topic since essentially day one of this blog, and I’m still shocked by the level of deception administration officials presented Americans while violating the Constitution, United States law and international law.

Implementing torture is a stain on our history that must be brought into the open and dealt with. No less than the national honor of the United States is at stake.

This particular detail is one more heartbreaking element to an already soiled tale.

From the second link:

Medical personnel were deeply involved in the abusive interrogation of terrorist suspects held overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency, including torture, and their participation was a “gross breach of medical ethics,” a long-secret report by the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded.

And to make the unthinkable even worse:

Facilitating such practices, which the Red Cross described as torture, was a violation of medical ethics even if the medical workers’ intentions had been to prevent death or permanent injury, the report said. But it found that the medical professionals’ role was primarily to support the interrogators, not to protect the prisoners, and that the professionals had “condoned and participated in ill treatment.”

At times, according to the detainees’ accounts, medical workers “gave instructions to interrogators to continue, to adjust or to stop particular methods.”

News from the department of “no duh,” part two

I would’ve provided the same result for half the funding and none of the scientific rigor.

The release:

Substituting water for sugar-sweetened beverages can reduce excess calorie consumption

April 6, 2009– Replacing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) with water could eliminate an average of 235 excess calories per day among children and adolescents, according to a study published in the April 2009 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. The study’s authors conclude that such a replacement would be a simple and effective way to reduce excess intake of calories causing childhood overweight and obesity, as well as address dental cavities and other health problems associated with added sugar. And they predict no detrimental effects on nutrition.

“The evidence is now clear that replacing these ‘liquid calories’ with calorie-free beverage alternatives both at home and in schools represents a key strategy to eliminate excess calories and prevent childhood obesity,” said Y. Claire Wang, MD, ScD, assistant professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the study’s lead author.

Dr. Wang and colleagues analyzed what children and teens reported they ate and drank on two different days, using nationally representative data from the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. They then estimated the impact of substituting water for SSBs on the total energy intake of youths ages two to 19.

No data suggest that youths increase their consumption of other foods and beverages to compensate for drinking fewer SSBs, and so every can of soda or fruit drink that is replaced by water means a net reduction of calories. Almost 90 percent of U.S. children and adolescents currently consume SSBs on any given day, including soda, fruit drinks, punches, sports drinks and sweetened tea, and the calories contained in these drinks can represent more than 10 percent of their total daily intake. There is growing evidence that sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is an important contributor to rising youth obesity rates in the United States.

“This study shows the substantial impact that replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with water could have,” said C. Tracy Orleans, senior scientist and distinguished fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which co-funded the study along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Reversing the rise in childhood obesity requires finding approaches like this to close the gap between daily energy intake and daily energy expenditure. Changes such as this one can potentially add up to significant benefits for the population as a whole.”

In contrast to the caloric reduction noted when replacing SSBs with water, the researchers found no difference when replacing SSBs with milk. But they emphasized the calcium, protein and other nutritional benefits that reduced-fat milk provides, in contrast to most SSBs. Though the findings suggest that reducing SSB consumption may prevent unhealthy weight gain, the researchers say that widespread recommendations to decrease SSB consumption are unlikely to lead to unnecessary or harmful weight loss in healthy-weight or underweight teens.

A 2008 study by the same team of researchers found that children consume SSBs in a variety of locations-homes, schools, fast-food establishments and other restaurants. Up to 70 percent of the consumption occurs in the home environment, whereas seven to 15 percent of consumption occurs in schools.

“Making children and teens more active is important,” Dr. Wang noted, “However, simply eliminating the extra calories they don’t need from these sugary drinks can tip the energy balance in a major way.” A typical 15-year-old boy would need to jog for 30 minutes in order to burn off the calories contained in a 12-oz can of soda. The alternative drink best suited to reduce excess caloric consumption is water.

“These beverages are nothing more than different forms of sugar water, which kids don’t need.” said Steven Gortmaker, PhD, professor of the Practice of Health Sociology at the Harvard School of Public Health and the senior author on the study. “Unless they are running marathons, which we do not recommend for kids, water is the best choice for quenching their thirst. It is also low cost, especially when it comes from a clean tap source.”

 

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About the Mailman School of Public Health

The only accredited school of public health in New York City and among the first in the nation, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting millions of people locally and globally. The Mailman School is the recipient of some of the largest government and private grants in Columbia University’s history. Its more than 1000 graduate students pursue master’s and doctoral degrees, and the School’s 300 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as infectious and chronic diseases, health promotion and disease prevention, environmental health, maternal and child health, health over the life course, health policy, and public health preparedness. www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu

April 2009 media tips from Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The latest story ideas coming out of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The release:

April 2009 Story Tips

Story ideas from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Sensors—Math to the rescue . . .

Making sense of the enormous amounts of information delivered by all types of sensors is an incredible challenge, but it’s being met head on with knowledge discovery techniques developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Some of the strategies and approaches are outlined in a recently published book, “Knowledge Discovery from Sensor Data,” (http://books.google.com/books?id=dq7uAA3ssPcC) edited by a team led by Auroop Ganguly of ORNL’s Computational Sciences and Engineering Division. The book is specifically aimed at analyzing dynamic data streams from sensors that are geographically distributed. “We are especially interested in looking for changes – even ones that are very gradual — and anomalies,” Ganguly said. This work helps to validate and assign uncertainties to models developed to understand issues related to climate, transportation and biomass. Co-authors include Olufemi Omitaomu and Ranga Raju Vatsavai of ORNL. This research was originally funded by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. 

Cyber Security—Meeting of minds . . .

Dozens of the nation’s authorities on cyber security will be participating in the Fifth Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Research Workshop April 13-15 (http://www.ioc.ornl.gov/csiirw). The focus of this event, which is open to the public, is to discuss novel theoretical and empirical research to advance the field. “We aim to challenge, establish and debate a far-reaching agenda that broadly and comprehensively outlines a strategy for cyber security and information intelligence that is founded on sound principles and technologies,” said Frederick Sheldon, general chair and a member of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, a sponsor of the workshop. Other sponsors are the University of Tennessee and the Federal Business Council. The workshop, hosted by ORNL, is being held in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery. 

Material—Graphene cleanup . . .

Graphene, a single-layer sheet of graphite, has potential as a remarkable material, particularly for electronics and composite applications. However, working with the material leaves molecular-scale rough edges, which can spoil its properties. Researchers at MIT and the Laboratory for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research (LINAN) and Advanced Materials Department in San Luis Potosi, Mexico have been working with graphitic nanoribbons. Separate research performed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed theory-based computer simulations with quantum mechanical calculations that explain how a process called Joule heating cleans up graphene as the rough carbon edges vaporize and then reconstruct at higher, voltage-induced temperatures. The collaborative project was recently described in Science magazine. 

Energy—Tighten up . . .

An effort to gather environmental data related to the energy efficiency of buildings through weatherization technologies will be conducted in a joint project that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Building Technologies, Research and Integration Center. ORNL engineer Andre Desjarlais says his group’s research will focus on the study of a building’s air tightness by monitoring unintended air movement – air leakage – between outdoors and indoors. In heating climates, up to 30 percent of the energy used in a building can be attributed to air leakage. The tests will be conducted at Syracuse University, which is also a partner. Other partners are the Air Barrier Association of America and it members, along with the New York State Energy Office. The DOE funding source is the Office of Building Technologies.

Job loss at 50-year high

Ouch.

From the link:

Here’s another sign of how bad the recession is: It has eliminated more jobs as a proportion of the work force than any downturn since 1958, according to economists.

The Labor Department said Friday that employers cut 663,000 jobs last month, bringing the total net losses in the current recession to 5.1 million. The unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent in March, the department said, the highest in more than 25 years.

Go below the fold for more stats from the link:

Obama’s approval split

Split on party lines to a historic degree. This is a direct result of the Limbaughian efforts to demonize the president, but it’s more damningly evidence the GOP is totally bereft of ideas at the moment.

From the link:

For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades. The 61-point partisan gap in opinions about Obama’s job performance is the result of a combination of high Democratic ratings for the president — 88% job approval among Democrats — and relatively low approval ratings among Republicans (27%).

This polarization is partly a function of how U.S. politics has been played for a while (and I think it’s fair to place some blame on the internet and partisan political forums fostering an us-against-them mentality), but it’s also clearly the direct result of a deliberate Republican strategy.

Very dangerous territory for the GOP. The hope is if Obama’s effort to solve the financial crisis fails, or when aspects of the meltdown don’t respond the way the general public is hoping for, Obama gets the blame and a chastened public turns to the GOP for solutions.

This cunning plan has a lot of holes. One, the public is giving Obama a lot of latitude in dealing with the economy and currently blames the previous GOP administration for the bulk of the problem. Two, the GOP is totally bereft of ideas (see this post for a great example) and even if the public turns on Obama, the Democrats have plenty of ammunition to say, “At least we’re trying. Do you really trust the Republicans, the party who opposed Obama from day one?”

I think the GOP is very likely facing a much heavier backlash than expected for immediately turning on Obama. The public rallied around Bush after 9/11, and I think the public understands this deep economic slowdown requires the same level support to ensure the nation doesn’t fail. When Limbaugh, as the de facto voice of the GOP, says he hopes Obama fails, most people hear the GOP wants America to fail. Don’t think these sounds bites are going away. They may fade from memory, but you’ll be seeing a lot of Rush in 2010 and 2012.

The Tea Party phenomenon

Here’s some talking points from the Heritage Foundation for any Tea Partiers out there.

A sample from the link:

Lower Taxes: Senator Jim DeMint’s “American Option” would have reduced business taxes from 35 percent to 25 percent to spur rapid growth in wages, jobs and business incomes. It also would have permanently repealed the Alternative Minimum Tax and reduced the individual tax rate to three levels—10, 15, and 25 percent—giving Americans more of their own money to fuel the economy and increasing disposable income for an average family of four by up to $4,500 by 2013.

On the whole, I’m just not getting the Tea Party movement. It doesn’t seem to be gaining much actual attention outside the blogosphere and the usual right wing hangouts. All in all the movement seems fairly fragmentary and largely comprised of angry cranks with a few opportunists thrown in for good measure.

The odds of the activity adding positively to the national dialog on this economic crisis is near zero. Overall the public supports Obama right now and is offering him the chance to solve these problems. The public is also pinning the crisis on the Bush 43 administration for the most part. I doubt the Tea Party movement will do anything to change public opinion.

To give examples of the fractured nature of Tea Partiers you need look no further than the comments on the linked site.

Here’s a small taste:

• “Some Tea Party organizers are making a huge mistake by making this about President Obama. This is about all our legislators who are not listening and following the constitution.”
• “‘organizers are making a huge mistake by making this about President Obama’ Wrong! It is in fact “ALL” about this Marxist ideologue.”
• “While the media will make our rallies out to be against the President, they are not and should not. We need to protest against the coup d’etat that took place on Jan. 21st. The battles began over a year before that and culminate in November.”
• “The problems we currently face are because of Government in General. Not political parties.”

This movement is all over the map — it’s not about Obama, it is about Obama, it’s about government. Sheesh. And “the coup d’etat” on January 21st? Really? What planet are these people living on and how exactly are these comments going to persuade the average American to take them seriously? Seriously.

Dreher v. gay marriage

Rod Dreher crawled out on his worm-eaten plank of theocratic social conservatism to opine on the topic of gay marriage and had his panicked fear of those homosexuals wanting to share in recognition of their committed love shown to be … well, shown to be just what it is. Homophobia coupled with hysterics.

After some bloggy exchanges here’s Rod (the apparent rod-fearer) with his weak sauce response:

Andrew Sullivan is still banging on about my “panic” over homosexuality, and his colleague Ta-Nehisi Coates likens me to a segregationist. Never mind that being accused of “panic” by Andrew is like being called a sot by Amy Winehouse, what I find so instructive about this exchange is how many on the left reflexively treat conservative objections to, and critical questions about, same-sex marriage: they describe conservatives as emotionally unhinged and bigoted.

And his theocratic beliefs force him to see this issue in terms of conservative or liberal. Nope. That’s only for those who choose to base legislation on the dogma of their particular religion. Sounds a lot like those medievals over in the Mideast, huh?

And placing Sullivan on the left? Er, yeah.

Social networking and privacy

Privacy is the big bugaboo with social networking. Just ask Facebook after its terms of service debacle. This CIO.com article does a good job of laying out the importance of privacy (or lack there of for users) in terms of social networks being able to significantly monetize and how any social networking site is one security breach away from losing all the cards up its sleeve.

From the link:

As social networks like Facebook and LinkedInstrive to formulate sustainable business models built upon advertising or the selling of premium services, the biggest hurdle they face might rest within their users’ increased awareness of online privacy.

The common assumption that social networking users don’t care about privacy is misguided. The majority of people who use social networks (nearly 60 percent or more) have already modified their privacy settings, according to two separate research studies from the Pew Internet & American Life Project and School of Information and Library Science. Furthermore, privacy experts warn that an unfortunate (but perhaps inevitable) security breach that exposes user data over social networks in the coming years could cause a privacy tipping point in which users push back in a more substantive and widespread way.

“Privacy will become more important when the information is used for more nefarious reasons, like for stealing your identity,” says Larry Ponemon, president of the Ponemon Institute, a privacy research firm.

For their part, executives at major social networking sites and their advertisers argue that a culture of greater openness on the Web will prevail. They also say increased user attention to privacy could actually be advantageous to their business: If people feel comfortable with who can see their Facebook profile, for instance, they are more likely to be honest with the information they contribute to the network, which helps in serving up relevant ads that people might click on.

Words of wisdom for job seekers

Something to keep in mind during the search for employment.

From the link:

One of Jaffe’s tips stood out, and I thought it was worth sharing. It was to not take rejection in your job search personally. His press release notes:

“It’s not you. It’s the economy. Please, please remember that what’s happening is a reflection of the overall economy. It’s not a commentary on your specific qualifications. Sometimes stuff just happens…and we all get stuffed in the process. Don’t take it personally.”

In other words, lots of highly qualified people (like yourself) are on the market and aren’t getting responses to their résumés or callbacks for interviews—let alone job offers. It’s not because you lack credentials. It’s not because you’re doing something wrong. It’s the economy, so don’t beat yourself up over the lack of progress you’re making in your job search. 

Virus batteries

Pretty amazing technology.

The release:

MIT virus battery could power cars, electronic devices

CAMBRIDGE, Mass–For the first time, MIT researchers have shown they can genetically engineer viruses to build both the positively and negatively charged ends of a lithium-ion battery.

The new virus-produced batteries have the same energy capacity and power performance as state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries being considered to power plug-in hybrid cars, and they could also be used to power a range of personal electronic devices, said Angela Belcher, the MIT materials scientist who led the research team.

The new batteries, described in the April 2 online edition of Science, could be manufactured with a cheap and environmentally benign process: The synthesis takes place at and below room temperature and requires no harmful organic solvents, and the materials that go into the battery are non-toxic.

In a traditional lithium-ion battery, lithium ions flow between a negatively charged anode, usually graphite, and the positively charged cathode, usually cobalt oxide or lithium iron phosphate. Three years ago, an MIT team led by Belcher reported that it had engineered viruses that could build an anode by coating themselves with cobalt oxide and gold and self-assembling to form a nanowire.

In the latest work, the team focused on building a highly powerful cathode to pair up with the anode, said Belcher, the Germeshausen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Biological Engineering. Cathodes are more difficult to build than anodes because they must be highly conducting to be a fast electrode, however, most candidate materials for cathodes are highly insulating (non-conductive).

To achieve that, the researchers, including MIT Professor Gerbrand Ceder of materials science and Associate Professor Michael Strano of chemical engineering, genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then grab hold of carbon nanotubes to create a network of highly conductive material.

Because the viruses recognize and bind specifically to certain materials (carbon nanotubes in this case), each iron phosphate nanowire can be electrically “wired” to conducting carbon nanotube networks. Electrons can travel along the carbon nanotube networks, percolating throughout the electrodes to the iron phosphate and transferring energy in a very short time.

The viruses are a common bacteriophage, which infect bacteria but are harmless to humans.

The team found that incorporating carbon nanotubes increases the cathode’s conductivity without adding too much weight to the battery. In lab tests, batteries with the new cathode material could be charged and discharged at least 100 times without losing any capacitance. That is fewer charge cycles than currently available lithium-ion batteries, but “we expect them to be able to go much longer,” Belcher said.

The prototype is packaged as a typical coin cell battery, but the technology allows for the assembly of very lightweight, flexible and conformable batteries that can take the shape of their container.

Last week, MIT President Susan Hockfield took the prototype battery to a press briefing at the White House where she and U.S. President Barack Obama spoke about the need for federal funding to advance new clean-energy technologies.

Now that the researchers have demonstrated they can wire virus batteries at the nanoscale, they intend to pursue even better batteries using materials with higher voltage and capacitance, such as manganese phosphate and nickel phosphate, said Belcher. Once that next generation is ready, the technology could go into commercial production, she said.

 

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Lead authors of the Science paper are Yun Jung Lee and Hyunjung Yi, graduate students in materials science and engineering. Other authors are Woo-Jae Kim, postdoctoral fellow in chemical engineering; Kisuk Kang, recent MIT PhD recipient in materials science and engineering; and Dong Soo Yun, research engineer in materials science and engineering.

The research was funded by the Army Research Office Institute of the Institute of Collaborative Technologies, and the National Science Foundation through the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers program.

Hydrogen car breakthrough

I don’t think this addresses the key issue with hydrogen vehicles– namely the cost of getting the hydrogen to the car is far too high right now for hydrogen cars to be a viable transportation option.

The release from today:

April 2, 2009

New storage system design brings hydrogen cars closer to reality

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -

Hydrogen-storage
system discussion
Download photo

caption below

Researchers have developed a critical part of a hydrogen storage system for cars that makes it possible to fill up a vehicle’s fuel tank within five minutes with enough hydrogen to drive 300 miles.

The system uses a fine powder called metal hydride to absorb hydrogen gas. The researchers have created the system’s heat exchanger, which circulates coolant through tubes and uses fins to remove heat generated as the hydrogen is absorbed by the powder.

 

The heat exchanger is critical because the system stops absorbing hydrogen effectively if it overheats, said Issam Mudawar, a professor of mechanical engineering who is leading the research.

“The hydride produces an enormous amount of heat,” Mudawar said. “It would take a minimum of 40 minutes to fill the tank without cooling, and that would be entirely impractical.”

Researchers envision a system that would enable motorists to fill their car with hydrogen within a few minutes. The hydrogen would then be used to power a fuel cell to generate electricity to drive an electric motor.

The research, funded by General Motors Corp. and directed by GM researchers Darsh Kumar, Michael Herrmann and Abbas Nazri, is based at the Hydrogen Systems Laboratory at Purdue’s Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories. In February, the team applied for three provisional patents related to this technology. 

“The idea is to have a system that fills the tank and at the same time uses accessory connectors that supply coolant to extract the heat,” said Mudawar, who is working with mechanical engineering graduate student Milan Visaria and Timothée Pourpoint, a research assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics and manager of the Hydrogen Systems Laboratory. “This presented an engineering challenge because we had to figure out how to fill the fuel vessel with hydrogen quickly while also removing the heat efficiently. The problem is, nobody had ever designed this type of heat exchanger before. It’s a whole new animal that we designed from scratch.”

The metal hydride is contained in compartments inside the storage “pressure vessel.” Hydrogen gas is pumped into the vessel at high pressure and absorbed by the powder.

“This process is reversible, meaning the hydrogen gas may be released from the metal hydride by decreasing the pressure in the storage vessel,” Mudawar said. “The heat exchanger is fitted inside the hydrogen storage pressure vessel. Due to space constraints, it is essential that the heat exchanger occupy the least volume to maximize room for hydrogen storage.”

 Conventional automotive coolant flows through a U-shaped tube traversing the length of the pressure vessel and heat exchanger. The heat exchanger, which is made mostly of aluminum, contains a network of thin fins that provide an efficient cooling path between the metal hydride and the coolant.

“This milestone paves the way for practical on-board hydrogen storage systems that can be charged multiple times in much the same way a gasoline tank is charged today,” said Kumar, a researcher at GM’s Chemical & Environmental Sciences Laboratory and the GM R&D Center in Warren, Mich. “As newer and better metal hydrides are developed by research teams worldwide, the heat exchanger design will provide a ready solution for the automobile industry.”

The researchers have developed the system over the past two years. Because metal hydride reacts readily with both air and moisture, the system must be assembled in an airtight chamber, Pourpoint said.

Research activities at the hydrogen laboratory involve faculty members from the schools of aeronautics and astronautics, mechanical engineering, and electrical and computer engineering.

 

PHOTO CAPTION:
Issam Mudawar, from left, a Purdue professor of mechanical engineering, discusses a hydrogen-storage system for cars with graduate student Milan Visaria and Timothée Pourpoint, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics and manager of the Hydrogen Systems Laboratory. Researchers have created the system’s heat exchanger, which is critical because it allows the system to be filled quickly. The research is funded by General Motors Corp. (Purdue News Service photo/Andrew Hancock)

A publication-quality photo is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2009/mudawar-hydrogen.jpg

Credit crunch continues to hurt small business

This seems like an area ripe for stimulus. Main Street and all that …

From the link:

Business brokers, who bring buyers and sellers together, say there are a growing number of people who want to buy, including many who have lost their jobs over the past year and need to make a living. And there are plenty who want to sell, including baby boomers hankering for retirement.

Getting financing for deals is still tough, although the government has taken steps to make Small Business Administration loans easier to obtain. The brokers say banks are not only uneasy about borrowers, they’re also questioning the health of the companies up for sale.

“Even with those changes, we feel that it seems as if the money may never reach the small business owner,” said Jeff Hoops, senior vice president of The Haley Group in Paso Robles, Calif.

Small businesses have found it hard to borrow from banks for years, long before the recession; a neophyte owner or company has been too risky for many banks to take on. The recession and banks’ unwillingness to lend in general over the past six months have made it that much harder.

IRS website gets traffic spike

No surprise IRS.gov’s traffic is up here on the homestretch to tax day, but almost 25% over last year? That’s a significant uptick.

The IRS release:

Visits to IRS.gov Up Sharply as Taxpayers Go Online to Get Tax Information

IR-2009-31, March 31, 2009 WASHINGTON — The number of visitors to IRS.gov is up more than 24 percent compared with last year, and more taxpayers rely on the Internal Revenue Service’s online resources to get answers to tax questions on the economic recovery legislation and to prepare and file tax returns accurately and timely.More than 138 million taxpayers already visited the IRS Web site this year, up from about 111 million from the same period last year. Taxpayers can find the latest information about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including details on extending health insurance for people who lost their jobs and tax breaks for first-time homebuyers. IRS also has developed “What if” scenarios and the possible tax implications for people who may be facing financially difficult times. Taxpayers periodically should check for updates to these pages. Some IRS online publications contain hyperlinks allowing users to get the answers they need quickly. The links allow users to jump immediately to other parts of publications and external Web sites, reducing the time it takes to access information. A total of 14 publications contain tailored hyperlinks that provide easier access, including Publication 3, Armed Forces’ Tax Guide, Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, and Publication 936, Home Mortgage Interest Deduction. Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, was issued for the first time with hyperlinks last year, and the new version now has more links than ever before. Publication 17 also is available online in Spanish for the first time. Available on IRS.gov this year is a new on-line tool that allows taxpayers to complete tax forms, perform basic mathematical calculations and e-file their federal income tax returns free of charge. Free File Fillable Forms is most suited for those who prepare their own paper returns without the assistance of a tax return preparer or tax preparation software. There are no income limitations to use Free File Fillable Forms, and the most commonly-used federal tax forms are available. Also available to taxpayers is Free File, which provides taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $56,000 or less in 2008 with free federal income tax preparation and electronic filing. Free File is free, fast and accurate. Taxpayers also can download IRS audio podcasts on a variety of topics in English and Spanish. Video tax tips are also available. Other electronic tools can be found on IRS.gov. Highlights include the following: Where’s My Refund? — Whether taxpayers opted for direct deposit or asked the IRS to mail a check, they can track their refund through the Where’s My Refund? tool. The Recovery Rebate Credit Calculator —The recovery rebate credit is a one-time benefit for people who didn’t receive the full economic stimulus payment last year and whose circumstances may have changed, making them eligible now for some or all of the unpaid portion of the credit. In most cases, taxpayers who received the full amount of the stimulus payment last year will not be eligible for it this year. The recovery rebate credit can be calculated using the online tool, Recovery Rebate Credit Calculator. How Much Was My 2008 Stimulus Payment? — Taxpayers will need to know the amount of their 2008 economic stimulus payment to calculate the recovery rebate credit. Taxpayers can use the online tool, How Much Was My 2008 Stimulus Payment?, to check how much their payment was in 2008.Taxpayers don’t need to report the 2008 stimulus payment as income because it’s not taxable. EITC Assistant — The earned income tax credit is a substantial credit for people who work but don’t earn a lot of money. Find out if you are eligible for the EITC by answering some questions and providing basic income information using the online EITC Assistant.   Taxpayers looking for the IRS online should type www.irs.gov into their Internet browser. Taxpayers should also beware of Web sites that may resemble IRS.gov but end in .com, .net, .org, .biz or any other domain name extension.   Also available isIRS.gov/Español, the IRS Web site offering tax forms, publications and information in Spanish. Interactive tools such as the following are available for individuals: EITC Assistant, (Asistente EITC); Free File(Presentacion FreeFile) Where’s My Refund? (¿Dónde Está Mi Reembolso?), How Much Was My 2008 Stimulus Payment (¿Cuánto fue mi Pago del Estímulo Económico?) and Recovery Rebate Credit (RRC) Calculator (Calculadora para el Crédito por Recuperación de la Devolución de Estímulo Económico.) Go below the fold for 2009 filing season stats:

GM sales way down

I really don’t see how General Motors can be considered a viable company right now. The bailout money that is basically already gone went solely toward paying bills and keeping the doors open. The very definition of a company running in the red.

From the link:

General Motors Corp. led the slide with a 45 percent U.S. sales plunge compared with a year earlier, while Ford Motor Co. reported a 41 percent drop. Sales at Toyota Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC both dropped 39 percent, while Honda Motor Co. reported a 36 percent decline.

Detroit-based GM sold a total of 155,334 light vehicles, while Ford sold a total of 131,102. Ford’s total came in slightly below that of Toyota, which reported U.S. sales of 132,802 units.

Jay Cutler is a baby

I doubt the Broncos have any trouble trading him, but any team taking on Jay Cutler better heavily lay in on the infant supplies to keep him happy.

Money saving auto insurance tips

Looking to buy auto insurance? Here’s two sets of tips to help save money. Hit these links for part one and part two.

You can get free comparisons from multiple auto insurance providers at WeCompareInsurance.com.

From the link to part one of auto insurance money-saving tips:

1.  
   1. Compare auto insurance quotes – this advice might sound simple, but it is the best way to find the best possible auto insurance rate. Get at least auto insurance quotes to compare and make certain you are comparing similar policies.

Conficker bust?

The end of the internet as we know it? Not so much. Maybe the black hats responsible for the worm got cold feet after Microsoft put a quarter million dollar bounty on their head.

From the link:

Malicious software installed on millions of computers has yet to wreak havoc on technology systems worldwide as some fear, but researchers warned that the “Conficker worm” could still strike in the future.

Also known as Downadup or Kido, Conficker turns infected PCs into slaves that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of slave computers.

Researchers feared that the network created by Conficker might be deployed on Wednesday for the first time since the worm surfaced last year because its code suggested it would seek to communicate with its master server on April 1.

They formed an industry-wide task force to fight the worm, bringing widespread attention that experts said probably scared off the criminals who command the army of slave computers, known as a botnet.

“The Conficker-infected machines attempted to call home to get new commands from their master but those calls went unanswered,” said Joris Evers, spokesman for security software maker McAfee Inc.

April Fool’s fun …

… from Google.

Peeking into the looming GM bankruptcy

It ain’t over ’til it’s over, but it looks more and more likely that Genernal Motors and Chrysler will both do some flavor of bankruptcy protection in the coming months. Particularly since it seems that’s the preferred outcome at the White House.

Here’s some tea leaf reading on the GM version:

A possible bankruptcy plan being discussed for General Motors (GM.N) includes quickly forming a new company of the automaker’s most profitable parts, while a group of other units would remain under bankruptcy protection for a longer period, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters on Tuesday.

GM also would seek to have a new deal in place with the United Auto Workers union prior to any bankruptcy filing, the source said.

GM warned earlier on Tuesday that there is a rising chance it could file for bankruptcy by June, as the company has 60 days to reach deeper concessions with bondholders and unions after its previous restructuring plan was rejected by the U.S. government as insufficient.

While the automakers would still prefer to avoid bankruptcy, advisers to both GM and Chrysler LLC have been working to prepare for potential bankruptcy filings that would aim to preserve, or sell off, the best parts of the companies.

Under the plans being considered, GM would seek to quickly move its most profitable units into a new company separate from its other units in the early days of the bankruptcy filing, said the source who asked to remain anonymous because the person was not authorized to speak to the media.

The aim would be to show consumers, taxpayers, and the government that the new GM can survive and compete in the autos sector as a viable company, the source said.

Searching Twitter

Tips from CIO.com on finding tweets you want to see.

From the link:

It’s easy to miss little gems of information on Twitter, the social networking service that allows users to exchange short messages. Because we all can’t spend hours in front of the service, we miss important messages (or tweets) posted by colleagues, friends and family while we’re away. As the list of people you follow on Twitter grows, the problem becomes more acute: hundreds of messages pass by and flow off the page before you’ve even had a chance to look at them.

You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/davidkonline