university of california – Page 3 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

Using IBM’s Crowdsourced Supercomputer, Harvard Rates Solar Energy Potential of 2.3 Million New Compounds

By Guest PostJune 24, 2013Technologyaids, alan aspuru guzik, america, basic materials data, Berkeley, boinc, bright idea, cancer, carbon compounds, cepdb database, clean energy project, crowdsourced supercomputer, cyrus wadia, diseases, harvard, harvard rates, ibm, linux computer, mac, malaria, mgi, new york university, organic, organic semiconductors, plastic bags, rare earth elements, solar cells, solar energy materials, solar energy potential, sunlight into electricity, university of california, viktors berstis, White House, windows, world community grid

White House Applauds Citizen Science, Big Data Initiative

CAMBRIDGE, MA – 24 Jun 2013: The search for more versatile and less expensive materials for solar energy received a boost today as Harvard launched a free database that catalogues the suitability of 2.3 million organic, carbon compounds for converting sunlight into electricity.

Harvard’s Clean Energy project — which screened the molecules using World Community Grid, an IBM-managed virtual supercomputer that harnesses the surplus computer power donated by volunteers — is believed to be the most extensive investigation of quantum chemicals ever performed. (more…)

Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory

By Guest PostJune 22, 2013Scienceadvanced light source, als, als beamline, berkeley lab, billionths, brno university, czech republic, dynamics, electron spin, magnetic contrast, magnetic memory, magnetic states, magnetic vortices, meter, nanoscale, peter fischer, polarity, san diego, spin orientation, Technology, university of california, vojtech uhlir, whirlpools, xray optics

At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks

“We spent 15 percent of home energy on gadgets in 2009, and we’re buying more gadgets all the time,” says Peter Fischer of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Fischer lets you know right away that while it’s scientific curiosity that inspires his research at the Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), he intends it to help solve pressing problems.

“What we’re working on now could make these gadgets perform hundreds of times better and also be a hundred times more energy efficient,” says Fischer, a staff scientist in the Materials Sciences Division. As a principal investigator at the Center for X-Ray Optics, he leads ALS beamline 6.1.2, where he specializes in studies of magnetism. (more…)

Hidden Wildfires Taking Big Toll on Amazon Rainforest

By Guest PostJune 9, 2013Environmentairs, Amazon, amazon fire season, amazon forests, Amazon rainforest, atmospheric infrared sounder, austin, climate conditions, climate fire connection, climate mechanisms, data, deforestation activity, doug morton, dry conditions, evolution, fire season, frequent understory fire, german aerospace center, global climate, grace, grasses, hidden wildfires, imaging spectroradiometer, irvine, isabella velicogna, kathryn hansen, moderate resolution, modis, nasa scientists, noaa, regional scale, satellite technique, sea surface temperature, shrubs, southern amazon, terra satellite, type of wildfire, understory fires, university of california, university of texas, yang chen

Using an innovative satellite technique, NASA scientists have determined that a previously unmapped type of wildfire in the Amazon rainforest is responsible for destroying several times more forest than has been lost through deforestation in recent years.

In the southern Amazon rainforest, fires below the forest treetops, or “understory fires,” have been hidden from view from NASA satellites that detect actively burning fires. The new method has now led to the first regional estimate of understory fire damages across the southern Amazon. (more…)

Mathematics of Popping Bubbles in a Foam

By Guest PostJune 5, 2013Sciencealgorithms, beer, Berkeley, berkeley lab, bicycle helmets, bubble cluster, cappuccino, cell clusters, evolution, foam, industrial processes, james a sethian, liquids mix, mathematics, metal, mixing of foams, nersc, new materials, partial differential equations, plastic foams, popping bubbles, robert i saye, small scale, soapy dishwater, surface dynamics, university of california, wobbly foams

Bubble baths and soapy dishwater, the refreshing head on a beer and the luscious froth on a cappuccino. All are foams, beautiful yet ephemeral as the bubbles pop one by one. Now, two researchers from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley have described mathematically the successive stages in the complex evolution and disappearance of foamy bubbles, a feat that could help in modeling industrial processes in which liquids mix or in the formation of solid foams such as those used to cushion bicycle helmets. (more…)

Women donate less to charity than men in some contexts

By Guest PostMay 26, 2013CultureBerkeley, data, donation, economist, face to face, gautam rao, john list, philanthropy, specific altruism, stefano dellavigna, uchicago, ulrike malmendier, university of california, university of chicago

Given the chance, women are more likely than men to opt out of a request to give a charitable donation, a group of economists have found.

The issue of which gender is more generous has been debated for years. A new field experiment conducted by scholars at the University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley shows that when it’s easy to avoid making a donation, such as not responding to a door-to-door solicitor, women are less likely than men to give. (more…)

Sweet Success: Berkeley Lab Researchers Find Way to Catalyze More Sugars from Biomass

By Guest PostMay 4, 2013Scienceachilles heel, advanced biofuels, amorphous, berkeley lab, biofuel production, biomass of grasses, carbon into atmosphere, catalysis, catalytic activity, cellulase enzymes, cellulose classification system, cellulosic biomass, crystalline, douglas clark, enzyme cocktails, enzyme synergy, fermentable sugars, fossil fuels, harvey blanch, industrial manufacturing processes, jan liphardt, jerome fox, light microscopy technique, localization microscopy, palm, palm technology, photo activated, solid surfaces, substrate heterogeneity, sweet success, synergistic activity, ultrahigh precision, united states, university of california

Catalysis may initiate almost all modern industrial manufacturing processes, but catalytic activity on solid surfaces is poorly understood. This is especially true for the cellulase enzymes used to release fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass for the production of advanced biofuels. Now, researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) through support from the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI) have literally shed new light on cellulase catalysis.

Using an ultrahigh-precision visible light microscopy technique called PALM – for Photo-Activated Localization Microscopy – the researchers have found a way to improve the collective catalytic activity of enzyme cocktails that can boost the yields of sugars for making fuels. Increasing the sugar yields from cellulosic biomass to help bring down biofuel production costs is essential for the widespread commercial adoption of these fuels. (more…)

Diversity programs give illusion of corporate fairness, study shows

By Guest PostApril 12, 2013Economybrenda major, cheryl kaiser, civil rights law, discrimination complaints, diversity programs, diversity statement, diversity training programs, jenessa shapiro, laura brady, rational assumptions, santa barbara, tessa dover, university of california, university of washington, work environments, workplace diversity programs

Diversity training programs lead people to believe that work environments are fair even when given evidence of hiring, promotion or salary inequities, according to new findings by psychologists at the University of Washington and other universities.

The study also revealed that participants, all of whom were white, were less likely to take discrimination complaints seriously against companies who had diversity programs. (more…)

Misregulated genes may have big autism role

By Guest PostApril 1, 2013Healthautism, autism cerebral cortex, bank, biochemical exchanges, brain tissue, brains of children, brown university, christianson syndrome, daniel geschwind, endosomes of cells, epilepsy, eric morrow, genetic pathway, human behavior, irinia voineagu, karoly mirnics, key molecular player, krassimira garbett, los angeles, messenger rna, misregulated genes, mutations, nhe6, nhe9, proteins, raw data, statistical analysis, university of california, vanderbilt university

A genetic pathway involving proteins in the endosomes of cells appears to be misregulated in the brains of children with autism, according to a newly published statistical analysis in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. Previously the genes were shown to cause rare forms of the disease but the new study suggests they have a wider role.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study finds that two genes individually associated with rare autism-related disorders are also jointly linked to more general forms of autism. The finding suggests a new genetic pathway to investigate in general autism research. (more…)

Tag Archives: university of california