Crowd-sourcing aids Japan crisis
People living close to the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan are collaborating to plot local radiation levels.
The RDTN.org website allows people to submit their own radiation readings and maps them alongside official data.
Users wishing to contribute to the site will need to buy radiation detection equipment
It is one of several so-called crowd-sourcing initiatives set up in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Another website, JapanStatus.org, also offers similar information.
To contribute to the RDTN site people will have to purchase a radiation detection device and the site directs people to four sources of such equipment.
Readings submitted to the site suggest that radiation levels of between 0.178 – 0.678 microsieverts per hour can be detected in and around Onuma Hitachi City that lies south of Fukushima.
Progress appears to be being made to restore power to the Fukushima Daiichi plant although, according to official sources, the situation remains very serious.
Villagers living nearby have been told not to drink tap water due to higher levels of radioactive iodine.
Other efforts to pool advice on how to cope with the disaster include new pages on The Global Innovations Commons, a site which compiles out-of-date patents.
It includes dozens of patents related to cooling down reactors from companies such as Hitachi and Siemens.
There is also information which could help with the rebuilding efforts, including water filtration technologies, shelter and building techniques and tsunami warning systems.
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12803643
Courtesy : BBC News
Early bowel cancer detected by dogs in Japan
By James Gallagher
Health reporter, BBC news .
A Labrador retriever has sniffed out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples during a study in Japan.
The research, in the journal Gut, showed the dog was able to identify early stages of the disease.
Dogs sniffed out bowel cancer in more than nine out of 10 cases. It has already been suggested that dogs can use their noses to detect skin, bladder, lung, ovarian and breast cancers.
Cancer Research UK said it would be extremely difficult to use dogs for routine cancer testing.
The biology of a tumour is thought to include a distinct smell and a series of studies have used dogs to try to detect it.
Notoriously difficult
The researchers at Kyushu University used Marine, an eight-year-old black Labrador.
She was asked to pick from five samples, one of which was from a cancer patient and four from healthy people.
In the breath tests she picked out the cancer sample 33 out of 36 times.
She was even more successful with the stool samples, finding 37 out of 38 cancers.
Even early bowel cancers were detected, which is notoriously difficult.
The NHS screening programme tests for small amounts of blood in faeces, but the researchers believe it picks up only one in 10 early cases.
One in 20 people in the UK develop bowel cancer during their lifetime and more than 16,000 die each year.
Dr Hideto Sonoda, from Kyushu University, said: “It may be difficult to introduce canine scent judgement into clinical practice owing to the expense and time required for the dog trainer and dog education.
“Scent ability and concentration vary between dogs and also within the same dog on different days.
Electronic nose
Some early research on developing an “electronic dog’s nose” has taken place, which shows the potential for a cancer breath test.
Dr Sonoda told the BBC: “The specific cancer scent indeed exists, but the chemical compounds are not clear. Only the dog knows the true answer.”
“It is therefore necessary to identify the cancer specific volatile organic compounds [smells] detected by dogs and to develop an early cancer detection sensor that can be substituted for canine scent judgement.
“To complete the sensor useful in clinical practice as a new diagnostic method is still expected to take some time.”
Nell Barrie, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “Although some dogs seem to be able to smell cancer in certain situations, we’re still a long way from understanding exactly what they are detecting and this small study in one dog doesn’t give us any new clues.
“It would be extremely difficult to use dogs as part of routine testing for cancer, and that’s why further research in this area is concentrating on finding out more about the molecules given out by tumours, to see if they could be detected in other ways.”
Mark Flannagan, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: “This study looks interesting but it is for the scientists to verify whether these findings could lead to future developments for screening.
“The clear message is that screening saves lives and we encourage everyone eligible to take part in the existing NHS bowel cancer screening programme.”
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12322790
Courtesy : BBC News
Japanese printer syncs pictures with smells
An ambitious idea from the Keio University in Tokyo could see your ink-jet printer not only print out a photo of a freshly mown lawn, but also provide an appropriate waft of summer grass scent.
Presenting their work at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Multimedia conference in Florence next week, Kenichi Okada and other researchers at the university have modified a Canon printer and replaced the typical ink cartridges with vials of four different aromas.
An ink or bubble jet printer works by firing up tiny resistors to create heat. These high temperatures vapourise the ink stored in cartridges, making a bubble, which then expands and creates a droplet. That drip of ink is fired out the print head’s nozzle, and lands on the paper.
Okada’s hacked aroma-printer works in much the same way, but sends out a droplet of scent instead of colour. The tiny, picolitre of smell can make perceivable and recognisable aromas of lemon, vanilla, lavender, apple, cinnamon, grapefruit and mint, which dissipate in seconds. After a couple of sniffs, it’s gone, ready for a new smell.
But while the printer’s success marks a large step towards completing the technology, other hurdles remain. Synthesising smell isn’t quite as easy as creating colours. You can’t mix strawberry and banana to make Brighton Beach sea salt. So whereas a normal printer holds just cyan, magenta and yellow to mix the colours on the fly, this device would be a gigantic monstrosity filled with hundreds of vials for different smells.
Plus, on the software side, the researchers are having to work out how to make the printer automatically recognise elements of an image and release the appropriate aroma.
Previously, “Smell-O-Vision” was an interesting gimmick to fill cinema seats. Unfortunately, the technique was a colossal failure, and rendered the only movie it was used in, 1960’s Scent of Mystery, a laughing stock.
The film pumped containers filled with smells into pipes under the audience’s seats. But it cost theaters upwards of $1 million to install the system, the fans were noisy, and audience members had to smell so hard to pick up the faints scents that their loud sniffing distracted other viewers. Almost makes 3D seem like a good idea.
Reference Link
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-10/26/japan-smelly-printer
Courtesy
CondéNetUK Limited
Sanyo to sell chip unit to focus on green technology
(Reuters) – Japan‘s Sanyo Electric (6764.T) is to sell its loss-making chip unit to ON Semiconductor(ONNN.O) for about 33 billion yen ($373 million), turning its focus to environmentally friendly technology, it said on Thursday.
The companies plan to complete the combined cash and stock transaction by the end of the year, executives told a news conference in Tokyo.
Sanyo, majority owned by Panasonic Corp (6752.T), plans to refocus by pouring $1.8 billion into its rechargeable battery and solar cell businesses over the next three years.
With its ninth acquisition in a decade, Arizona-based ON Semiconductor, spun off from Motorola Inc (MOT.N) in 1999, expects to become a top 20 global player, CEO Keith Jackson told reporters.
The U.S. firm will try to turn Sanyo Semiconductor profitable by investing in new equipment and pushing sales in Europe and the United States to make use of spare capacity at Sanyo, CEO Keith Jackson said in an interview.
“We’ve already said that we expect this to be not just profitable, but accretive for ON Semiconductor within the first year,” Jackson said in the interview.
No layoffs are planned for the time being and Sanyo Semiconductor’s management will stay in place.
REFOCUS
The world’s No.1 rechargeable battery maker, Sanyo is a small player in the global chip market, but its semiconductor unit is strong in analog chips, especially for visual and audio products.
Analog chips, a majority of which are power management chips, are used in products that involve data such as electrical input, sound waves and pressure, which cannot be broken into ones and zeros — the stuff of digital signals.
Sanyo Semiconductor, which employs about 8,260 workers, including those at fully-owned subsidiaries, made a 7.1 billion yen loss in the year to March 2010, helping to push Sanyo into a loss for the year.
“Quite apart from the price, it is a good thing for Sanyo to get rid of businesses it is not planning to focus on,” said Mitsushige Akino Chief Fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co Ltd, noting that the deal was part of a trend toward greater focus in Japanese industry
Last month Fujitsu Ltd (6702.T) and Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said they would merge their mobile phone businesses in October to create Japan‘s second largest cellphone maker.
In October last year, Toshiba Corp took over Fujitsu’s hard drive business.
ON Semiconductor, which has about 13,000 employees globally, competes with Texas Instruments Inc (TXN.N), Intersil Corp (ISIL.O) and Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc (FCS.N) and acquired California Micro Devices for $113 million in cash in January.
The pace of its acquisitions is likely to slow as it digests the current deal, Jackson said.
“In the near term, this is a very significant transaction and of course it’s cross-cultural as well. So the difficulties are quite a few. I would expect us to slow down in our progress in acquisitions and take a long pause, because it will take us a while to optimize the situation,” he said.
Reference Link
Reference Link
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66E2I120100715?feedType=RSS&feedName=innovationNews
Courtesy
Thomson Reuters
Sanyo’s HIT Solar Cells are a Hit in Italy
Japan’s Sanyo Electric Company is creating a record by powering the largest solar pant in Italy with its HIT solar cells. The Project funded by a consortium led by Deutsche Bank is expected to be completed by September 2010. Sanyo is successfully on its way to make the dream of a clean-energy society a reality.
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HIT solar cells’ onward march:
Sanyo’s HIT solar cells, famous for their high-conversion efficiency are now marching on to Italy. Thanks to the use of HIT solar cells, soon there will be feasibility of excellent-quality power production in the biggest power station in Italy. An increase in the amount of quality-power generation per installation area of HIT solar cells makes the HIT solar cells a very favorable choice.
Advantages of HIT solar cells:
The hybrid Sanyo HIT cells, made from thin mono-crystal silicon surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon are now more cost efficient both production-wise as well as raw-materials-wise. Reduction in the optical absorption loss and reduction in resistance loss make the Sanyo HIT Photovoltaic Modules the ideal choice for powering the plant. Utilizing 32,202 HIT solar cells, the plant will generate approximately 7.6 MW of renewable and clean energy.
HIT solar cells in large-scale production:
HIT solar cells have already been successful in small-sized systems for homesteads and medium-sized solar systems for larger buildings/complexes. Now the time has come for Sanyo’s HIT Photovoltaic Modules to show the world that large-scale clean renewable power production is possible, reiterating HIT’s high-conversion efficiency and cost efficiency.
Reference Link
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/sanyo-hit-solar-cells/
Courtesy
AE News Network
Japanese team create next-gen DVD material
A Japanese research team has found a material that could be used to make a low-price disc with data storage capacity thousands of times greater than a DVD.
The material transforms from a black-colour metal state that conducts electricity into a brown semiconductor when hit by light, according to Professor Shin-ichi Ohkoshi, of the University of Tokyo.
The material, a new crystal form of titanium oxide, can switch back and forth between the metal and semiconductor states at room temperature when exposed to light, creating an effective on-off function for data storage.
It is “promising as a material for a next-generation optical storage device,” says Ohkoshi, who is lead author of the study appearing in the journal Nature Chemistry.
A material that changes colour with light can be used in storage devices as colours reflect light differently to contain different information.
His team has succeeded in creating the material in particles measuring between 5 and 20 nanometres in diameter.
If the smallest particle is used, the new disc could hold more than 1000 times as much information as a Blu-ray disc, provided that matching data-writing and reading equipment are developed.
A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold five times as much data as a conventional DVD.
The disc would also be cheaper. Titanium oxide’s market price is about one-hundredth of the rare alloy germanium-antimony-tellurium, which is currently used in rewritable Blu-ray discs and DVDs, says Ohkoshi.
“You don’t have to worry about procuring rare metals. Titanium oxide is cheap and safe, already being used in many products ranging from face powder to white paint,” he says.
Ohkoshi says it is not known when a disc with this material would be manufactured and put to practical use, adding that he would start talks with private-sector companies for commercialisation.
Reference Link
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/05/25/2908718.htm?site=science&topic=latest
Courtesy
ABC
Artificial swallowtail butterfly reveals flight secrets
In a bid to find out how a butterfly takes to the air, researchers have built their own artificial version.
They have created a model swallowtail butterfly that can fly just like the real thing.
Swallowtails have large, slow-beating wings that means they fly unlike other butterflies.
Despite these limitations, the model insect proves that swallowtails still achieve forward flight with simple flapping motions, say the researchers.
Details of the artificial butterfly are presented in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, published by the Institute of Physics.
Undulating movements
Swallowtail butterflies have particularly large wings for their body size, and flap them relatively infrequently.
They are also unique among flying insects because their fore wings partly overlap their hind wings.
The lines show an undulating body motion
Because their two sets of wings effectively flap as one, that in theory gives them little control over the aerodynamic forces on their body.
That means their wings are limited to a basic flapping flight, and their bodies are forced to undulate up and down as they fly, say researchers Dr Hiroto Tanaka from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US and Dr Isao Shimoyama from the University of Tokyo, Japan.
But this has been impossible to check in real butterflies, because of the complexity of measuring the various forces acting on their wings and body.
Ornithopter arrives
So Drs Tanaka and Shimoyama decided to build an artificial swallowtail, dubbed an “ornithopter”.
The body is built from balsa wood, and the wings powered by a wire crank driven by a rubber band.
The artificial butterfly up close
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The researchers made artificial wings from a thin film of polymer, fabricating them with plastic veins mimicking those of an actual swallowtail butterfly.
That emulated the stiffness distribution of an actual wing.
Overall, the model is the same size and weight as a real swallowtail.
What is more, it can fly forwards just as a real butterfly.
Filming the robot butterfly in high speed helped the researchers calculate the forces acting on its wings and body.
Just as a real swallowtail would, the robot’s body undulated up and down in flight.
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SOURCES
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This confirmed that the up-down motion of the butterfly’s body is caused by the vertical aerodynamic force of its flapping wings.
However, it also confirms that swallowtails need veins on their wings to achieve stable flight, and do not need to continually adjust them as many others insects do.
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8694000/8694666.stm
Courtesy
BBC News
Japan aims its home fuel cells at Europe
Following the success of a half-price subsidy for CO2-busting fuel-cell heat and energy generators for homes, Japan is now poised to ship its attention to supplying the UK and Germany with this hi-tech next-generation energy source.
With over 5,000 fuel cells providing heat and energy for conventional homes up and down Japan, the BBC has learnt that companies such as electronics giant Panasonic are in talks with EU governments about the possibility of bringing these proven energy and carbon-saving devices to market in Europe and elsewhere.
Panasonic has described the interest in its commercial fuel-cell project from the German, Korean and UK governments as “intense”, and is confident that Japan, as the first to start commercial sales for homes last year, will be the forerunner in bringing the technology into common use.
Fuel cells – a technology that has been around for more than 100 years – convert fuels such as hydrogen and natural gas into electricity through an electrochemical reaction. The resultant heat generated also warms buildings in gas-boiler-sized boxes known as cogeneration fuel cells.
The idea is to generate all of the heating and hot water and the majority of the electricity needed by a typical UK home, without the need to be connected to the energy wasteful national grid.
Such efficient use of gas supplies can save the consumer around 25% of total energy costs, and reduce each home’s CO2 emissions by up to 2.5 tonnes per annum, according to their makers.
They also claim customers can earn back the system’s relatively high cost, running at present into thousands of pounds, within a few years through utility bill savings.
Cost issue
Panasonic and Toshiba, another manufacturer of home-use fuel cells in Japan, sell their cogeneration fuel cells through energy companies such as Tokyo Gas for around 3.1 to 2.2 million yen. Panasonic claims around 3,000 customers so far, including the Japanese PM’s office.
Half that price is met by the government on each purchase, while other incentives bring the real price down for consumers to about 1 million yen (£7,300).
“If the price falls again still, its popularity will gain momentum,” general manager of Panasonic’s fuel cell project, Mr Yasumasa Kurosaki, told the BBC. He added that the company aimed at fixing the per-unit price at around 500,000 yen, and get it even lower in the near future.
With economies of scale, Panasonic says, such devices could be competitively priced at around a couple of thousand of pounds by 2013.
“With over 40,000 hours running time already logged, we have proven the safety, reliability and CO2 savings of our devices in the real world while sales are improving gradually. We expect next year’s sales to be up 20-30% on the last fiscal year,” he said.
The UK government has estimated that microgeneration products, such as fuel-cell combined-heat-and-power (CHP) units, have the potential to supply over one-third of the country’s total electricity needs and help meet its environmental obligations.
However, high capital costs are still a major barrier to widespread adoption of fuel-cell technology.
Fuel-cell makers have yet to turn a profit despite the massive investments in Japan and elsewhere around the world.
But some are optimistic the gas-burning-without-combustion systems could be the answer to soaring fuel costs and lowering carbon emissions.
Pay-back time
“Once fuel cells hit the US$5,000 (£3,300) mark, which we imagine will happen in the next 2 years, these units will become as compelling to home owners as energy-saving water-heaters and double-glazing,” Tokyo- based entrepreneur and business analyst Terrie Lloyd told the BBC.
“It will be hard to ignore a product that might save US$2,500 or more a year on energy bills.”
The UK government meanwhile recently announced further support for the adoption of the technology with a money-back feed-in-tariff (FIT) for all fuel-cell owners that starts this April.
Under the FIT, any household installing a fuel cell will receive a generation payment of 10p/kWh for all electricity generated over a 10-year period, plus an additional export payment of 3p/kWh for any electricity that is not consumed in the home and is fed back into the grid.
Importantly, households will still retain the efficiency savings on their energy bills, providing an incentive to consume any electricity generated on-site, in preference to exporting to the grid.
“On average, a home fuel user can expect about £360-a-year cash-back in addition to the energy bill savings from consuming the electricity generated on-site,” according to the UK’s leading fuel-cell maker, Ceres Power.
The company plans to go into mass production after completing field studies this year. Initial prices for its generators are not yet available but they are unlikely to match Japanese competiveness, says Mr Lloyd, as Japan has achieved a big start with widespread commercialization last year.
Export possibilities
Despite high prices, some think the market is ready to explode. Tokyo-based research firm Fuji-Keizai Group has estimated Japan’s market for fuel cells will expand nearly 100-fold from fiscal 2009 to 1.61 trillion yen in fiscal 2025 owing to uptake of the technology for housing and vehicles.
Fuel-cell systems for housing, says its report, will serve as a driving force for the market until 2018 when fuel-celled cars are expected to take over demand.
Panasonic is bullish about possible exports of Japanese know-how to the UK and Germany where gas is generally cheaper than electricity per kW and solar cells offer a poor return on investment.
Mr Kurosaki said he was confident Panasonic could reduce costs, increase efficiency and extend the life of its units which now have a lifespan of 10 years to make an attractive package to overseas buyers and governments looking to cut CO2 emissions quickly.
With gas fuel for Japan’s fuel cells more costly per kW than electricity in Japan, some analysts see Japan’s nascent fuel-cell industry reaping benefits abroad.
And with such high prices for gas in energy-poor Japan, take up of the new technology may well fizzle out along with the government subsidies that support the current market. Cutting capital costs and boosting sales to compete abroad seems the only likelihood of success for the Japanese makers if they are to scale up and be competitive without subsidies.
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8563928.stm
Courtesy
BBC News
Australia tells Japan: Stop whaling or face court
Australia has set a deadline for Japan to stop whaling in the Southern Ocean by November this year, or face international legal action.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he was still hopeful that talks with Japan would lead to a voluntary halt.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada is to visit Australia this weekend.
Despite a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling, Japan kills hundreds of whales each year, ostensibly for scientific research.
Blunt talk
Mr Rudd told the Channel 7 TV station that Australia would “work with the Japanese to reduce, through negotiation, their current catch to zero”.
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 If we don’t get that as a diplomatic agreement, let me tell you, we’ll be going to the International Court of Justice  Australian PM Kevin Rudd
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“If that fails – and I’m saying this very bluntly… – if that fails, then we will initiate that court action before the commencement of the whaling season in November 2010.”
Australia has made such threats before but correspondents say the timing and assertive tone of this statement – coming just one day before Mr Okada is due to visit – gives the words added weight.
The BBC’s Nick Bryant in Sydney says Mr Rudd has been criticised for backing away from an election promise to take international legal action against Japan for its annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean.
Mr Rudd is currently slipping in popularity polls and faces an election this year.
“Now, that is a direct honouring of the commitment I gave to the Australian people. And that is the right [way] to handle it with a friend and partner, Japan, which is also a very significant, long-standing economic partner as well,” he said.
“That’s the bottom line and we’re very clear to the Japanese that’s what we intend to do.”
High risk
“Specifically, what we’re putting to the Japanese is to take where they are now, which is the slaughter of some hundreds of whales each year and reduce that to zero,” Mr Rudd said.
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THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING
 Objection – A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: Norway
Scientific – A nation issues unilateral ‘scientific permits’; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan
Aboriginal – IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat
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“If we don’t get that as a diplomatic agreement, let me tell you, we’ll be going to the International Court of Justice.”
Our correspondent notes that international legal action also carries risks. If the prosecution fails, legal experts say it might embolden the Japanese to expand its activities.
Australia and New Zealand have consistently opposed Japan’s killing of hundreds of whales each year via a loophole in an international moratorium which allows “lethal research”.
Japan’s new government has maintained its support for whaling, which has deep cultural significance for the Japanese people, since coming to power in September.
Mr Okada will meet Mr Rudd and Defence Minister John Faulkner after arriving on Saturday before holding talks with Australian foreign minister Stephen Smith on Sunday.
Japan is Australia’s top export market with sales worth A$55 bn ($49 bn, £31.7 bn) in the year to last June.
Anti-whaling groups have made a habit of joining the Japanese ships and trying to prevent them from catching whales.
This has led to several violent confrontations, including the ramming of the Sea Shepherd activist group’s boat.
The group’s leader, Peter Bethune, has been taken to Japan for questioning after he boarded a Japanese whaling ship earlier this week.
Reference Link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8523328.stm
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