Archive for June, 2010

Health Information Technology at The George Washington University Hospital Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Representatives from several Federal Agencies including Food and Drug Administration, Health Resources and Services Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology spent nearly two hours taking a first-hand look at the implementation of health information technology and electronic health records system at The George Washington University Hospital, which is nearest to the White House.

The visit was hosted by three entities, the hospital, The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Federal Health Community in conjunction with National Health Information Technology Week.

One of the mission goals of The George Washington University Hospital is to implement advanced medical technology to provide world class service to patients. CHIME has a membership that includes more than 1,400 Chief Information Officers and over 70 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms. The HIMSS Federal Health Community is a networking platform and community that works to foster cross-agency information sharing through monthly educational teleconferences focused on federal health IT initiatives.

The Federal agency visitors witnessed demonstrations of GW Hospital’s Emergency Department information systems, Radiology PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), order management and nursing documentation systems, as well as physician documentation and workflow. Insights into their operation were provided by clinicians who shared how the systems helped them in patient care and by IT analysts who explained how the systems worked.

Read the press release at PRWeb.

Nanotechnology and the Environment Saturday, June 19th, 2010

While the use of nanotechnology in food and medicine is viewed with some apprehension because of the possibility of unexpected dangers, clean energy is one area where its use is seen as highly promising. Nanomaterials and nanocoatings are considered to offer promising opportunities for energy-related applications such as batteries, supercapacitors, fuel-cells, hydrogen-storage, thermoelectrics and photovoltaics.

The Nano4Energy conference being organized by Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) at the University of Birmingham will focus on the potential of nanotechnology for clean energy. The conference, to be held on June 30, 2010, will see representatives from Nissan and the Carbon Trust discussing the role of nanotechnology in clean energy solutions.

Reviewing new developments in nanotechnology related to energy generation and energy storage will be a focus area. In particular, new technologies nearing commercialization will be featured at the conference, as will be the companies leading clean energy solutions.

Success in this area requires adequate networking and interactions among the players constituting the supply chain and the conference will provide a forum for industry professionals and academics to discuss the developments and issues.

The representative of Nissan Europe will discuss their new 100% Electric, zero emission, compact car that is expected to push the boundaries of clean energy transport. Another participant, Nanoco, will discuss the use of quantum dots in the manufacture of high efficiency, low-cost solar cells.

Read the release about the conference at the Material Handling World magazine.

Cognitive Science: What is its Significance? Thursday, June 17th, 2010

The earlier science of psychology has been replaced by the interdisciplinary field of cognitive science. It combines the insights of computer science (information processing), psychology, linguistics (how we acquire and use language), neuroscience (the physical basis of mind and its operations) and philosophy (norms and logic). This concentration of insights can provide us with a more comprehensive idea about the working of our minds.

The new science “seeks to understand how humans, animals, and robots are able to acquire, represent, and use knowledge,” (to use the words of one university offering courses in cognitive science). The brain is a physical organ and it stores memories and makes connections between them; the mind is that strange something that guides our behavior and interpretations of things; and our conscious experiences has a great role in shaping our mind.

Cognitive science is finding practical applications in a broad range of areas from education through improving the mental capabilities of elderly citizens to debilitating the minds of enemy forces in war. You will find stories about all these types of applications at this blog. And a science that can help with the effectiveness of our children’s education, improve the condition of the elderly and fight successful wars cannot but be important.

Read about some cognitive science courses at Universities.com.

Energy Innovation: The Next Focus Area for the USA? Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

The members of American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC) include top business leaders such as Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft; Norm Augustine, former Chairman of Lockheed Martin; Ursula Burns, chairman and chief executive of Xerox; John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins; Chad Holliday, chairman of Bank of America and former CEO of DuPont; Jeff Immelt, chief executive of GE; and Tim Solso, chairman and chief executive of Cummins. These leaders have first hand experience of what innovation can do to the country and the world. And they think that the next focus area for US innovation should be in the area of low-cost and clean energy.

AEIC has now produced a report titled “A Business Plan for America’s Energy Future.” The recommendations of the plan include:

  • Create a Congressionally mandated Energy Strategy Board charged with (1) developing and monitoring a National Energy Plan for Congress and the executive branch, and (2) oversight of a New Energy Challenge Program.
  • Increase investment in clean energy research to more than three times the present amount to $16 billion, to change the present scenario of all the best energy innovations, such as fuel cells, energy storage technologies and wind technologies occurring outside the US.

Read the news release at PR Newswire

Nanotechnology’s Potential to Help with Sustainable Energy Monday, June 14th, 2010

Using fossil fuels as the main energy source is not a sustainable solution as fossil fuels are exhaustible, sooner than later at current rates of consumption. These sources of energy also lead to increased carbon emissions and global warming. Hence, a serious search has been on for sustainable and environment friendly sources of energy.

Current solutions such as solar, wind and other such sources of energy have not yet become economic, while going for biofuels might lead to land being diverted from food crops to commercial crops, leading to food shortage.

The suggested solutions to energy problems include using renewable sources of energy, improving the energy use efficiency of industrial processes and preventing loss and wasteful use of energy. The new science of nanotechnology is promising some solutions to the energy problem.

Hydrogen is considered an almost inexhaustible source of energy if technology can be developed to tap it conveniently and economically. Nanomaterials such as Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers might be able to help in this area. Nanotechnology also promises better storage of energy preventing, for example, battery power leakage.

Nanotechnology can also help reduce the cost of solar energy by making it possible to produce less expensive PhotoVoltaic cells.

Read about the European inititatives of using nanotechnology for solving energy problems of the world at Nanotech-Now.com.

Cloud Computing Development Initiative by Microsoft in Taiwan Sunday, June 13th, 2010

Taipei Computex held at the Taipei World Trade Center exhibition halls during June 1 to 5, 2010, saw Microsoft’s OEM division president, Steve Guggenheimer, opening the firm`s first Software and Service Excellence Center in Taiwan. The center will focus on development of cloud computing technology and related applications.

Top Taiwanese enterprises such as Quanta Computer Inc., Inventec Corp. and Delta Electronics Inc. have already deputed their engineers to the center. Over the next three years, more than 100 Taiwanese high-tech companies are expected to join the center. The center is dedicated to development of cloud computing servers.

This is the fourth center of Microsoft in Taiwan, with earlier ICT (Information and Communication Technology) centers being established in 2003, 2006 and 2008 respectively. Guggenheimer complimented Taiwanese achievements in notebook PCs, netbook PCs, handsets, LCDs, and related IT (information technology) products. The new Software and Service Excellence Center will consolidate Taiwanese excellence by extending its product range into the cloud computing area.

Microsoft’s eXtreme Computing Group (XCG) has already initiated work on a prototype of next-generation servers based on cloud computing technology as the first R&D project in the center with Quanta and Delta. Other Taiwanese OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) companies joining the center can also expect support from Microsoft.

Read the news at CENS.com.

Tissue Regeneration and Repair Research Center and a Teaching Initiative Friday, June 11th, 2010

Georgia Tech is an Engineering School and Emory University is a Medical School. They have formed a partnership to study tissue formation and repair. The collaborative team of scientists and clinicians has the mission of understanding how tissues are formed and learning how they can be regenerated or repaired.

The coming together of biology, bioengineering and medicine is leading to many prospects. For example, researchers expect to deliver islet cells for diabetes, neural regeneration for spinal cord injuries and more substantial heart repair. In due time, it might even be possible to build organs like heart, kidney and liver. This is the promise of regenerative medicine that the GTEC and Emory Center is pursuing.

Long-term research efforts include not only doing research now but also helping to create tomorrow’s researchers. This was the task that the Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB) of GTEC focused upon when they developed biotechnology toolboxes for use in local schools. This initiative resulted from a grant of $15,000 from DeKalb County Development Authority n 2008 for developing the toolboxes.

The toolboxes help Atlanta teachers to share with their students hands-on laboratory experiences in cutting-edge techniques. Students get exposed to authentic, problem-solving approaches to real-life situations. IBB has been conducting middle school camps for limited groups of students since 2004 to provide them an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in the field of bioengineering.

The toolkit development included translating the camp curriculum into learning modules that can be used in any classroom and training a pilot group of teachers in using the toolboxes. This pilot group was then able to train other teachers to extend the reach of the program.

Read about this initiative at ERC Showcase.

New Hard Disk Drive Research Facility Thursday, June 10th, 2010

A new international research hub at ANSIN, Queens University Belfast, has received £7.5 million worth of equipment from Seagate Technologies. Seagate will partner the hub in developing new levels of information and data storage, and the hub also expects to attract a variety of international companies who will do research in the areas of new medical sensors, security devices and many other applications.

The facility will be based in the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen’s. The ANSIN facility will enable working with materials from micron scale, i.e. 50 times smaller than the width of human hair, down to layers a few atoms thick.

The first IBM PC/XTs had bulky hard disks that had a capacity of 10MB. At the time writing this, news comes about Hitachi releasing 320GB 7mm high 2.5-inch hard disks. With further advances, you might soon be able to carry a whole library of reading, listening and viewing material in your pocket!

Advances like these require new materials and using them in ways that people have not yet thought of. That is the kind of research the ANSIN facility hopes to make possible. The equipment provided by Seagate can be used by other companies joining the research effort. ANSIN hopes this will bring in new ideas and produce great new inventions.

Read the news release at SiliconRepublic.

Biotech Research for Increased Sugar from Sugarcane Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Bayer CropScience and the CTC, the Center for Sugarcane Technology, São Paulo, Brazil, are planning to cooperate in research to develop biotech sugarcane varieties. Early research indicates the possibility of obtaining 30 to 40 percent higher amounts of sugar from the new varieties. The products are expected to be submitted for regulatory approval by 2015.

CTC hopes to tap the biotech expertise of Bayer for extending the traits of sugarcane while Bayer will be expanding its plant technology activities to cover sugarcane. Brazil produces about 40 percent of world’s sugar output. Sugarcane yields not only sugar, but also ethanol and energy.

Bayer is already familiar with sugarcane, having been providing products and solutions to this segment for 30 years. The company is now targeting significant productivity increases for the ethanol industry. CTC’s research extends from sugarcane-breeding to industrial processing.

According to Joachim Schneider, Head of the Business Operations Unit BioScience at Bayer CropScience, sugarcane is the most productive crop for economically viable renewable energy with the best CO2 balance. CTC hopes to leverage this advantage and add more value to the sugarcane production and processing chain, and enhance its competitiveness in this segment.

Read more at Bayer CropScience press release.