Science team at Berkeley Lab-based DOE science center unravels the mystery of a multiplier mechanism in an organic crystal
While there is a growing market for organic solar cells – they contain materials that are cheaper, more abundant, and more environmentally friendly than those used in typical solar panels – they also tend to be less efficient in converting sunlight to electricity than conventional solar cells. (more…)
Yale junior Gracie White starts to feel a little bit ungrounded when she’s not spent much time up in the air. (more…)
Results could help inform team managers and sports commentators, researchers say
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Professional athletes in the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball can reap very large financial rewards, especially if their performance peaks during their “contract year,” or the last season before an athlete signs a new contract or becomes a free agent. Often, when these athletes perform well during the contract year, they receive huge raises and added benefits. Thus, sports pundits have long discussed a possible “contract year effect,” where player performance artificially tops out during contract years. However, the effect has seldom been tested or studied scientifically. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have determined that the contract year performance boost is real, but they caution team managers and coaches that it might be followed by a post-contract performance crash—a two-year pattern they call the “contract year syndrome.” (more…)
Today’s modeling and simulation (M&S) software provides indispensible tools for systems engineering challenges. Such programs allow investigators to experiment with “what-ifs” by adjusting design parameters and examining potential outcomes.
A team from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) has produced an advanced web-based tool that lets physically separated participants collaborate on model-based systems engineering projects. Known as the Framework for Assessing Cost and Technology (FACT), the program utilizes open-source software components to allow users to visualize a system’s potential expense alongside its performance, reliability and other factors. (more…)
TORONTO, ON – Businesses will get more accurate assessments of potential and current employees if they do away with self-rated personality tests and ask those being assessed to find someone else to rate them, suggest results from a new study.
Previous job performance studies have shown that outsiders are best at rating an individual’s personality in terms of how they work on the job. But observers in these studies have always been co-workers. (more…)
*Research says test performance improves when students write about their worries*
Sian Beilock, lead author of a new study that appears on January 13 in the journal Science, says writing about test-related worries for ten minutes immediately before taking an exam is an effective way to improve test scores in classroom settings.
“By writing down one’s negative thoughts, students may come to realize that the situation is not as bad as they thought or that they are prepared to take it on,” said Beilock, an associate professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago. “As a result, they worry less during the test.” (more…)
ARMONK, N.Y. – 18 Nov 2010: IBM said today it scored the highest TPC-C benchmark performance result ever achieved by an 
x86-64 processor-based server. The IBM System x3850 X5 server handled 2,308,099 tpmC (transactions per minute C) at price/performance of $.64 USD / tpmC. (1)
Running on the latest Intel® Xeon® 7500 Series processor, and equipped with IBM’s MAX5 technology, the System x3850 X5 showed a 27% performance boost over HP’s result of 1,807,347 tpmC.(2)
The new result demonstrates the leadership performance that is possible with MAX5, an industry-first technology that decouples memory from the processor allowing memory to be expanded independently of the processor to increase the productivity of a single system. By increasing the memory capacity of the x3850 X5 by 50%, MAX5 allows the system to process more transactions per minute. (more…)
Research underway at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) could enable fixed-wing jet aircraft to take off and land at steep angles on short runways, while also reducing engine noise heard on the ground.
About the image: This computer-generated graphic shows a model of the cruise-efficient, short take-off and landing (CESTOL) aircraft design that GTRI researchers are investigating. Image credit: California Polytechnic State University (more…)
