It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Study suggests sea squirts could be used to track microplastics By Ben Coxworth May 21, 2021 The tunicate Clavelina robusta – also known as the sea squirt Bernard DUPONT/C.C. 2.0
The problem of marine microplastics pollution is steadily getting worse, so it's vitally important to monitor the amount of such plastic waste that's currently present in the world's oceans. According to a new study, a simple sea creature may better allow scientists to do so.
Microplastics are created when larger pieces of discarded plastic degrade and fall apart. The resulting particles are very small – even microscopic – and make their way into the flesh of fish that eat them. When people eat those fish, they in turn consume those microplastic particles, potentially leading to health problems.
Because the particles are so tiny, it's difficult to efficiently gather them from the ocean. However, scientists recently discovered that microplastics readily accumulate in marine invertebrates known as tunicates. Found in plentiful numbers throughout the world, these creatures continuously draw in and expel large amounts of water, since they're filter feeders. A diagram depicting the water circulation within a C. Robusta – red dots signify larger particles while green dots are smaller ones A. Valsesia et al. via Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), adapted by N. Hanacek/NIST
In lab tests, tunicates by the scientific name of Clavelina robusta (aka sea squirts) were kept in tanks containing polystyrene nanoparticles, then "harvested" and put through a chemical digestion process. That process broke down the tunicates' tissue, leaving the microplastics and other residual organic compounds behind. A technique known as asymmetrical-flow field flow fractionation was then used to separate the microplastics from those compounds.
Next, the plastic nanoparticles were placed on a custom-designed chip that caused them to cluster together, making them easier to detect and quantify. Finally, Raman spectroscopy was utilized to determine their chemical structure.
Although the scientists knew that these particles were polystyrene, samples gathered in the wild could consist of numerous types of plastic. Knowing which ones were most common, and in what amounts, could help identify their source.
The research was carried out by a team from the US-based National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. It is described in a paper that was recently published in the journal Microplastics and Nanoplastics.
In ride-sharing, trips of two or more customers with similar origins and destinations are combined into a single cab ride. The concept can make a significant contribution to sustainable urban mobility. However, its acceptance depends on human needs and behavior. For example, while shared rides typically offer a financial advantage, passengers might suffer drawbacks in terms of comfort and trip duration. These factors give rise to different adoption behaviors that explain usage patterns observed in 360 million real-world ride requests from New York City and Chicago in 2019. The study has now been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Ride-sharing (or ride-pooling) is most efficient in places with high demand and a large number similar ride requests. Still, it has been difficult to answer if and under what conditions people are actually willing to adopt ride-sharing. In their study, the researchers decipher the complex incentive structure underlying the decision of whether or not to adopt ride-sharing. In a game-theoretic model, they describe the sharing adoption of all users who book rides from the same location.
The researchers demonstrate how interactions between those individuals lead to two qualitatively different patterns of acceptance. In one, willingness to share rides is consistently high. In the other case, however, the willingness to share rides decreases as the overall demand for rides increases. If there are only few users in the system, the number of ride-sharing bookings increases with the number of ride requests, yet if there are many users, the usage levels out. The relative amount of shared ride requests therefore decreases - despite optimized routing with shorter detours for the passengers when demand is high.
"Passengers speculate on being able to take advantage of the cheaper fare when sharing a ride, but they actually hope to be transported alone and thus directly from A to B due to low demand for rides," explains David Storch, a doctoral student at the Chair of Network Dynamics and lead author of the study. When demand is high, for example during typical rush hours, the prospect of being transported as a single passenger is lower - "Passengers almost certainly lose comfort as they share a ride. They tend to book the more expensive fare more often to travel alone."
In an analysis of more than 360 million real trip requests in New York City and Chicago, the researchers were able to identify the demand patterns they had previously found in their model, supporting the validity of their findings. The analysis shows that, depending on the starting point of the trip, both adoption patterns exist in parallel in the two cities. Malte Schröder, research associate at the Chair, interprets the results as follows: "Since both adoption patterns coexist in cities, a moderate increase of the financial incentives is probably already sufficient to strongly increase the acceptance of ride-sharing in other places and for other user groups."
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Publication: Title: Incentive-driven transition to high ride-sharing adoption. Authors: David-Maximilian Storch, Marc Timme, Malte Schröder Nature Communications DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23287-6 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23287-6
About the Chair of Network Dynamics The Chair of Network Dynamics headed by Prof. Marc Timme was created in 2017. The aim of this TU Dresden Strategic Professorship affiliated with both the former Cluster of Excellence "Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden" (cfaed) and the Institute for Theoretical Physics is to connect insights from Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics with applications in Biology and Engineering. It is the first chair of network dynamics of this cross-disciplinary kind in Central Europe. Since networks are almost everywhere around us the research team aims for a unifying understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying the collective dynamics of large, nonlinear interconnected systems by combining first principles theory with data-driven analysis and modelling. A substantial part of their work focuses on investigating emergent phenomena and developing conceptually new perspectives on complex systems as well as the theoretical computational tools necessary to understand these systems. This fundamental understanding forms the basis to predict, and eventually control, the dynamics of complex networked systems across disciplines. http://www.cfaed.tu-dresden.de/cfnd-about
About cfaed cfaed is a research cluster at TU Dresden (TUD). As an interdisciplinary research center for perspectives of electronics it is located at the TUD as a central scientific unit, but also integrates nine non-university research institutions in Saxony as well as TU Chemnitz as cooperating institutes. With its vision, the cluster aims to shape the future of electronics and initiate revolutionary new applications, such as electronics that do not require boot time, are capable of THz imaging, or support complex biosensor technology. These innovations make conceivable performance improvements and applications that would not be possible with the continuation of today's silicon chip-based technology. In order to achieve its goals, cfaed combines the thirst for knowledge of the natural sciences with the innovative power of engineering. http://www.cfaed.tu-dresden.de
Even the Earth wanted 2020 to be over in a hurry: Our planet spun faster than normal last year, scientists say.
As noted on LiveScience, the Earth's 28 fastest days on record (since 1960) all occurred in 2020, with Earth completing its revolutions around its axis milliseconds quicker than average.
Usually, the Earth is an excellent timekeeper, according to TimeandDate.com. On average, with respect to the sun, it rotates once every 86,400 seconds, which equals 24 hours. This is known as a mean solar day.
"But it is not perfect," write Graham Jones and Konstantin Bikos on TimeandDate.com. "When highly accurate atomic clocks were developed in the 1960s, they showed that the length of a mean solar day can vary by milliseconds (1 millisecond equals 0.001 seconds)."
The Earth's rotation can change slightly because of the movement of its core and also, surprisingly, because of weather and ocean patterns.
"Changes in the atmosphere, specifically atmospheric pressure around the world, and the motions of the winds that may be related to such climate signals as El Niño are strong enough that their effect is observed in the Earth’s rotation signal," David A. Salstein, an atmospheric scientist from Atmospheric and Environmental Research, said in 2003.
El Niño is a periodic natural warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean, while La Niña, which was observed toward the end of 2020, is a natural cooling of the same part of the Pacific. According to NOAA, while El Niño results in a decrease in the earth's rotation rate, La Niña tends to have the opposite effect.
The recent acceleration in Earth's spin has scientists talking for the first time about a negative leap second, LiveScience said. Instead of adding a leap second, which has been done several times before to make up for a slowing of the Earth's rotation, they might need to subtract one.
"It's quite possible that a negative leap second will be needed if the Earth's rotation rate increases further, but it's too early to say if this is likely to happen," physicist Peter Whibberley of the National Physics Laboratory in the U.K., told The Telegraph.
"There are also international discussions taking place about the future of leap seconds, and it's also possible that the need for a negative leap second might push the decision towards ending leap seconds for good," he said.
Because of the earth's inconsistent speed, scientists in the 1950s created an atomic clock to keep precise track of time. However, as the Earth's rotation can vary, the atomic clock continued steadily ahead and the two time indicators grew farther apart.
To fix that inconsistency, scientists then created UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) to help bridge the gap between Earth time and the atomic clock. However, the atomic clock continued to race ahead, so at least once every 10 years scientists added an extra leap second to the UTC to keep them closer together. It's particularly important for things like GPS navigation.
"In everyday life, this extra second has practically no importance," Wolfgang Dick, a spokesman for the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, the organization that maintains global time, told USA TODAY in 2016. "However, in every field where exact time is needed (astronomy, navigation, spaceflight, but also computer networks for stock markets or energy supply, and much more) this second is of great importance," Dick said.
The most recent leap second was added in 2016.
Discovery of new listeria species prompts call for food safety test changes
Listeria cossartiae, one of the newly discovered species shown above, is named for Pascale Cossart, a bacteriologist at the Pasteur Institute of Paris Catharine Carlin/Cornell University
Scientists from Cornell University have discovered five previously unknown species of listeria, a pathogenic bacteria known to cause food poisoning and in some cases lead to death. One species was found to present novel behaviors, unlike any other type of listeria, resulting in the researchers calling for changes to food safety regulations.
As part of separate research assessing listeria in soil and agricultural water sources food scientists at Cornell encountered a number of samples that could not be classified as listeria to a species level. From these samples the researchers have catalogued five novel species of the pathogen, and characterized some unique practical attributes.
Listeria is known to be a highly motile pathogen. Under a microscope the bacterial cells can easily be seen moving about with a characteristic tumbling motion. In fact, one listeria detection method looks for exactly this kind of motility.
A crucial finding in the study is one of the new species discovered lacks this characteristic motility. The researchers specifically named the new species L. immobilis. They warn against using motility as a sole characteristic to identify listeria in food safety tests.
“This paper describes some unique characteristics of listeria species that are closely related to listeria monocytogenes, which will be important from an evolutionary perspective and from a practical standpoint for the food industry,” explains study co-author Martin Wiedmann. “Likely, some tests will need to be re-evaluated.”
There are now 26 species in the Listeria genus. Wiedmann’s research group has discovered half of those species just in the last 10 years.
Catharine Carlin, a doctoral student working in the research group and lead author on the new study, says it is crucial these pathogens are accurately catalogued so food production environments can better monitor their products.
“This research increases the set of listeria species monitored in food production environments,” says Carlin. “Expanding the knowledge base to understand the diversity of listeria will save the commercial food world confusion and errors, as well as prevent contamination, explain false positives and thwart foodborne outbreaks.”
AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS SYSTEMS Milrem combat robots support live-fire exercise in Estonia By David Szondy May 20, 2021
The THeMIS Combat robot Milrem Robotics VIEW 4 IMAGES
In a glimpse into the battlefield of the future, the Estonian Defence Force has carried out a live-fire exercise where two Milrem Robotics THeMIS combat robots provided troops with situational awareness, support fire, and casualty evacuation.
The April 2021 exercise involved ground troops carrying out a maneuver to counter a simulated incoming armor attack – represented by a white delivery van that has seen better days. With the main force remaining in defensive positions 1 km from the hostile force, a THeMIS Combat UGV integrated with FN Herstal’s deFNder Light Remote Weapon System moved to a forward point 430 m ahead.
The task of the THeMIS Combat Support robot was to transport anti-tank team ammunition and provide support fire using a 7.62 mm machine gun for the anti-tank and observer teams as they advanced. Meanwhile, a THeMIS Observe UGV deployed an Acecore tethered drone behind the main force for situational awareness and gathering targeting information for artillery. In addition to combat performance, the drone also acted as a live-fire safety monitor.
The THeMIS Observe deploying a tethered drone Milrem Robotics
Later, after the primary target was destroyed, the THeMIS Combat acted as a field ambulance to evacuate simulated casualties to the rear. Through these maneuvers, the robots were controlled by the troops through a hand-held interface and an augmented reality headset.
"We found several benefits in including UGVs into our battle scenario," says Lieutenant Mari-Li Kapp, Commander of operations and training section (S3) in the Artillery Battalion. "Having UGVs as a part of the reconnaissance force that prepares the arrival of the main unit, the UGVs could secure the indirect fire and anti-tank teams by providing direct fire support during an engagement and whilst some units are withdrawing. UGVs could also act as front guards all by themselves since they can provide situational awareness and act as forward observers for indirect fire."
The video below shows the Milrem robots in action.
UPDATE
Virgin Galactic reaches space from Spaceport America for the first time By Nick Lavars May 23, 2021 The view from space for Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceplane Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic has put a recent setback behind it to reach space for only the third time in its history, and the first time since relocating to its new Spaceport America base in New Mexico last year. The company's successful test flight over the weekend marked another step forward in its plans to launch tourists into space, while also carrying some important research payloads along for NASA.
Virgin Galactic had originally set its sights on reaching space for a third time last December, following successful attempts in 2018 and 2019. The company's dual-fuselage VMS Eve mothership carried the VSS Unity spaceplane to orbit and released it as planned, though its rocket failed to fire, which brought a swift but safe end to the mission.
After carrying out its investigations into the cause for the failure, the company had originally planned to make another attempt in February, though this was then pushed back to May as it completed a maintenance review of the VMS Eve mothership. The company also introduced a third-generation spaceship in March, called VSS Imagine, with its first glide tests expected to take place this US summer.
The successful spaceflight flight took place on Saturday, marking the first ever spaceflight from the state of New Mexico. VMS Eve carried the spaceplane into the air and released it at altitude, with the VSS Unity then igniting its rocket engines and blasting its way to an altitude of 55.45 miles (90 km), with both vehicles making it back to Earth for a safe landing.
The VSS Unity ignites its rockets after separating from the VMS Eve mothership Virgin Galactic
“Fifteen years ago, New Mexico embarked on a journey to create the world’s first commercial spaceport," said Sir Richard Branson. "Today, we launched the first human spaceflight from that very same place, marking an important milestone for both Virgin Galactic and New Mexico. I am proud of the team for their hard work and grateful to the people of New Mexico who have been unwavering in their commitment for commercial spaceflight from day one. Their belief and support have made today’s historic achievement possible.”
The flight offered Virgin Galactic a chance to test out upgraded stabilization systems, flight controls and technology to reduce electromagnetic noise. But the spaceplane also carried with it research experiments for NASA's Flight Opportunities program, which aims to rapidly test and develop new technologies for space exploration. The company is now reviewing the flight data and will inspect the spaceplane and mothership ahead of their next outing.
“Today’s flight showcased the inherent elegance and safety of our spaceflight system, while marking a major step forward for both Virgin Galactic and human spaceflight in New Mexico," says Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic. "Space travel is a bold and adventurous endeavor, and I am incredibly proud of our talented team for making the dream of private space travel a reality. We will immediately begin processing the data gained from this successful test flight, and we look forward to sharing news on our next planned milestone.”
World's first battery-electric locomotive cuts freight train fuel use by 11% By Nick Lavars May 19, 2021 Wabtec's FLXDrive locomotive is described as the world’s first 100-percent battery locomotive Wabtec
Rail technology company Wabtec has demonstrated an electric locomotive that could help lessen the environmental footprint of heavy-haul freight services. The company's battery-powered FLXdrive locomotive was used as part of a hybrid system over a three-month trial, where it reduced the fuel consumption of the entire vehicle by 11 percent. Wabtec's FLXdrive is described as the world's first 100-percent battery-powered locomotive, drawing on 18,000 lithium-ion battery cells to power all four axles and using an intelligent energy flow management to optimize efficiency. The 2.4-megawatt hour system can be recharged at the depot much like an electric vehicle, but also uses a regenerative braking system to top itself up when on the move. The top spec Tesla Model 3, by way of comparison, has a capacity of 75 kWh – that's 32 times smaller than the FLXdrive. Needless to say, this system will require a serious charging station.
The FLXdrive was put to the test as part of a hybrid system with conventional diesel powertrains across a three-month trial in San Joaquin Valley, California, where it covered more than 13,320 miles (21,400 km) of hilly terrain. According to Wabtec, the 11-percent average reduction in fuel consumption for the entire train is equivalent to 6,200 gallons of diesel saved, or around 69 tons of CO2.
“The FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive is a defining moment for freight rail and will accelerate the industry toward low- to zero-emission locomotives,” says Eric Gebhardt, Wabtec Chief Technology Officer. “It builds upon the rail industry’s position as the most efficient and sustainable mode of transportation. Building on our long history of pioneering train energy management technologies, this demonstration of coupling 2.4 megawatt hours of battery storage into the mix fully validated our assumptions for the potential for this next generation technology to further drive efficiencies and greenhouse gas reductions."
Wabtec is looking to build on these promising results with an even bigger and better version, upping the capacity to more than 6 MWh which its expects could cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions by as much as 30 percent. It says it plans to commercialize this second generation FLXdrive locomotive, with hopes of rolling it out into freight routes in the coming years.
IT'S ON CRUISE CONTROL TuSimple's autonomous truck cuts 10 hours off 900-mile trek across the US
By Nick Lavars May 20, 2021 One of TuSimple's self-driving trucks in action TuSimple VIEW 2 IMAGES
With ambitions to establish a network of autonomous trucking routes across the US, transport startup TuSimple is taking some steady and significant steps forward as it proves its technology through trials and expands into Europe. The latest test run for its self-driving trucks involved hauling a load of fresh produce over hundreds of miles across the US, where it demonstrated that it can complete such tasks in a fast and highly efficient fashion.
Previously, we've seen TuSimple's Level 4 autonomous trucks use its variety of cameras and sensors to move goods as part of trials for the US Postal Service and shipping giant UPS. This time around, the startup has partnered with fresh produce provider The Giumarra Companies and Associated Wholesale Grocers to explore autonomous trucking's potential in the fresh food industry.
The trial started in Nogales, Arizona, where TuSimple's truck was loaded up with fresh watermelons from Giumarra's facility. The load was then carried across four states to Associated Wholesale Grocers's distribution center in Oklahoma City, where it was inspected and then distributed to stores around the state. TuSimple's self-driving truck is capable of Level 4 autonomy TuSimple
TuSimple's autonomous systems handled a 900-mile (1,450-km) leg of this journey, between Tucson, Arizona and Dallas, Texas, with human drivers managing the first and last sections at either end. It is required by law to have a human safety driver onboard for such operations in the US, but because the truck could operate nearly nonstop, it was able to complete this "middle-mile" journey in 14 hours and 6 minutes, compared to the 24 hours and 6 minutes it usually takes a human driver, which is 42 percent faster.
"We believe the food industry is one of many that will greatly benefit from the use of TuSimple's autonomous trucking technology," said Jim Mullen, Chief Administrative Officer at TuSimple. "Given the fact that autonomous trucks can operate nearly continuously without taking a break means fresh produce can be moved from origin to destination faster, resulting in fresher food and less waste."
Burly new Ristretto ebike delivers a 40-mph electric boost
By Ben Coxworth May 20, 2021 The Ristretto 303 FS is presently on Indiegogo
While some ebikes are pretty much conventional bicycles with electric-assist motors, others are more like electric motorcycles with pedals. Offering a top speed of 40 mph, the Ristretto 303 FS definitely falls into the latter category.
Designed by Colorado-based startup Ristretto, the ebike is officially named the Ristretto 303 FS Founders Edition, and it's being manufactured in a limited-edition run of 500 units.
Without a doubt, one of its most prominent features is its custom-designed, 3,500-watt, CYC mid-drive motor. It can be set either to Street Legal Mode – in which it boosts the rider's pedalling power up to a not-necessarily-street-legal speed of 28 mph (45 km/h) – or Race Mode, wherein it maxes out at 40 mph (64 km/h).
Motor power is provided by a down-tube-mounted 52-volt/17.5-Ah Panasonic lithium-ion battery, which should reportedly be good for a range of 35 to 55 miles (56 to 89 km) per five- to six-hour charge – needless to say, that depends on factors such as the mode, and the level of electrical assistance selected.
The Italian word "ristretto" refers to a highly concentrated shot of espresso coffee Ristretto
Some of the 303 FS' other features include an aluminum frame, Shimano 11-speed drivetrain, 26 by 4-inch Teravail Coronado fatbike tires, a Bluetooth-connected waterproof LCD display, dual TRP hydraulic disk brakes, dual LED head- and tail lights, plus Wotefusi front and rear suspension with adjustable preload, compression and rebound.
The whole ebike tips the scales at a claimed 84 lb (38 kg), and can accommodate riders weighing up to 325 lb (147 kg).
Should you be interested, the Ristretto 303 FS is currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign. Assuming it reaches production, a pledge of US$3,099 will get you one, in your choice of 10 color schemes. The planned retail price is $3,920.
Juiced rolls out step-through version of RipCurrent S fat-tire ebike By Paul Ridden May 19, 2021 The RipCurrent S Step-Through fat-tire ebike has both cadence and torque pedal-assist sensing, and a thumb throttle too Juiced Bikes
Back in 2018, California's Juiced Bikes launched "the ultimate fat-tire commuter ebike" in the shape of the RipCurrent S. Now the company has launched a sibling rocking a step-through frame to appeal to a wider pool of riders.
"With the RipCurrent S Step-Through, we really wanted to appeal to an even broader audience," said Juiced CEO, Tora Harris. "The original RipCurrent S is one of our best-selling bikes, but I thought it was important to offer this model to a much wider group of riders. By making a step-through frame and adding a range of colors, both new ebike riders and experienced ones get an insane riding experience that we're incredibly proud of.
Pretty much the only difference between the existing step-over RipCurrent S and the new model is that step-through custom aluminum frame. So what you get is a fat-tired ebike that comes set up as a Class 2 ebike, but can be configured as a Class 3 if desired and offers a comfortable upright riding stance.
The Bafang 750-W Geared Hub motor (1,300-W peak) produces 80 Nm (59 lb.ft) of torque and offers a top pedal-assist speed of 28 mph (45 km/h), while the 995-Wh lockable and removable battery pack that's mounted to the downtube boasts a per-charge range of over 70 miles (110+ km) in Eco assist mode.
The RipCurrent S Step-Through ebike has been launched to appeal to a broader range of riders Juiced Bikes
There are both torque and cadence sensors for the pedal-assist system, with five power modes available – plus a Race Track mode that unlocks more performance for up to 30 mph (48 km/h) of motor assist. And a thumb throttle is included too, for those times you just want to zip along at up to 20 mph (32 km/h) without putting any effort in. A LCD Matrix display lets the riders see what's going on.
Elsewhere, the new ride has a 9-speed Shimano derailleur for ride flexibility, an air-suspension fork with 80 mm of travel for helping to smooth out some of the bumps along the way, aluminum rims wrapped in 26-inch Kenda Krusade all-terrain fat tires that are resistant to punctures for more time riding and less time in the flat zone, and Tektro hydraulic disc braking with 180-mm rotors.
LED lighting front (1,050 lumens) and rear, a rack out back for hauling up to 50 lb (22.6 kg) of cargo, and included fenders to help reduce splashes when riding through the wet, complete the notable specs list.
The new step-through model goes up for pre-order today in four color options for US$2,699, with the first shipments expected to start from mid-June.
