I hadn't gone to Wembley to take photographs, but to go to the opening of a show by an old friend in a community arts centre. It was getting dark as I ran across the road from Wembley Park station and jumped on a bus.
I'd come from photographing a couple of protests, one by Sunni Muslims opposite the Iranian Embassy with Anjem Choudary – Iran 'Release Sunnis, Don't Hang Them' -and a larger event in front of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square against cuts in funding for the Arts – Human Chain over Arts Cuts, so I was carrying my camera bag, and quickly pulled out the D800 to take a picture looking down Olympic Way from the top deck.
It's a view that certainly benefits from the extra height, and I'm always disappointed when going by bus if the service isn't on a double-decker, as the views are generally so much better. I don't much like the new Wembley Stadium and haven't ever photographed it properly, though it is certainly a landmark that can be seen from many places in West London.
The only other picture I can recall taking was from the roof of a nearby building that was being occupied against the building of an unwanted academy school in 2008. Perhaps one day I'll go and photograph it properly.
By the time I left the exhibition opening, fortified by a couple of glasses of red wine, it really was dark. Again I got on the top deck of a bus, and again saw a view with arches, though one that seemed rather more interesting. Its rather a pity that Wembley Stadium station doesn't get more trains.
There were after all three arches, not just one (you can see just a little of the stadium arch at the left too.) But really it was the colour that caught my attention.
Of course many photographers have worked taking pictures from buses, including an interesting series of panoramic images of London High Streets by another of my friends, Mike Seaborne. And I – like others – have taken pictures of people on buses too.
But there are problems in taking pictures through bus windows. Bus companies don't generally clean them very often, and while one can wipe the inside, the outside windows on the top deck are too high even if you could get the driver to stop while you gave them a polish. All you can do is to choose your seat carefully and then put the camera lens close to the cleanest patch you can find.
Vibration is a problem if you actually let the camera lens rest on the glass. Some bus windows shake so much it must be a design feature. Keeping a gap between the solid parts of the camera and lens and the glass is essential unless you like a bit of blur.
But if the camera lens isn't on the glass you will get unwanted reflections. You can see a little at top right of the top image on this page. I generally remove the lens hood to get the lens closer and hold around the lens with a hand which can rest on the window but absorbs the vibration while cutting down reflections. A better solution which I used to use was a rubber lenshood.
It's hard to avoid reflections unless you work more or less perpendicular to the glass, and working at a close distance cuts down the effect of spots on the window.
I spend quite a lot of time travelling in London on buses, not least because I now can travel free, while on the tube or overground I have to pay. But it's generally a more interesting way to get around, though often rather slow. I've often thought that when my legs get too tired to walk much (and I think they are wearing out fast) I might spend some time photographing London from the bus.
This entry was posted on Friday, November 1st, 2013 at 08:20 am and is filed under My Own Work, Photo Issues.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


text:
In a Blast From a Financial Crisis Past, Synthetic CDOs Are Back
Market for collateralized debt obligations is on the rise again after years on the decline
A decade ago, investors' bad bets on collateralized debt obligations helped fuel the crisis, but now more investors are returning to CDOs.
Photo: Richard Drew/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Christopher Whittall and
Mike Bird
Aug. 28, 2017 5:30 am ET
LONDON—The synthetic CDO, a villain of the global financial crisis, is back.
A decade ago, investors' bad bets on collateralized debt obligations helped fuel the crisis. Billed as safe, they turned out to be anything but. Now, more investors are returning to CDOs—and so are concerns that excess is seeping into the aging bull market.
In the...
Advertisement - Scroll to Continue
In the U.S., the CDO market sank steadily in the years after the financial crisis but has been fairly flat since 2014. In Europe, the total size of the market is rising again—up 5.6% annually in the first quarter of the year and 14% in the last quarter of 2016, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
Collateralized debt obligations package a bunch of assets, such as mortgage or corporate loans, into a security that is chopped up into pieces and sold to investors.
The assets inside a synthetic CDO aren't physical debt securities but rather derivatives, which in turn reference other investments such as loans or corporate debt.
During the financial crisis, synthetic CDOs became a symbol of the financial excesses of the era. Labeled an "atomic bomb" in the movie "The Big Short," they ultimately were the vehicle that spread the risks from the mortgage market throughout the financial system.
Synthetic CDOs crammed with exposure to subprime mortgages—or even other CDOs—are long gone. The ones that remain contain credit-default swaps referencing a range of European and U.S. companies, effectively allowing investors to bet whether corporate defaults will pick up.
Desperate for something that pays better than basic government bonds, insurance companies, asset managers and affluent investors are scooping up investments like synthetic CDOs, bankers say, which had largely become the preserve of hedge funds after 2008.
Investment banks, which create and sell CDOs, are happy to oblige. Placid markets have made trading revenue weak this year, and such structured products are an increasingly important business line.
Synthetic CDOs got "bad press," said Renaud Champion, head of credit strategies at Paris-based hedge fund La Française Investment Solutions. But "that market has never ceased to fully function," he added.
These days, Mr. Champion still trades synthetic CDOs, receiving a stream of income for effectively insuring against a sharp rise in European corporate defaults.
Many investors, though, still view the products as unnecessarily complex and are concerned they may be hard to offload when markets get choppy—as they did in the last crisis.
"We don't see that demand from our clients and we wouldn't recommend it," said
Markus Stadlmann, chief investment officer at Lloyds Private Banking, citing concerns over the products' lack of transparency and lack of liquidity, meaning it could be hard to exit from a position when needed.
The return of synthetic CDOs could present other risks. Even if banks are currently less willing to lend money to help clients juice returns, credit-default swaps can be very leveraged, potentially allowing investors to make outsize bets.
Structured products accounted for nearly all the $2.6 billion year-over-year growth in trading-division revenue at the top 12 global investment banks in the first quarter, according to Amrit Shahani, research director at financial consultancy Coalition.
"There has been an uptick in interest in any kind of yield-enhancement structure," said
Kokou Agbo-Bloua, a managing director in Société Générale SA's investment bank.
The fastest growth this year has come in credit—the epicenter of the 2007-08 crisis. The top 12 global investment banks had around $1.5 billion in revenue in structured credit in the first quarter, according to Coalition, more than doubling since the first quarter of 2016. Structured equities are largest overall, a business dominated by sales of derivatives linked to moves in stock prices, with revenue of $5 billion in the first quarter.
"The low-yield environment hurts," said Lionel Pernias, a credit-fund manager at AXA Investment Managers. "So there are a lot of asset owners looking at structured credit."
These days, the typical synthetic CDO involves a portfolio of credit-default swaps on a range of companies. The portfolio is sliced into tranches, and investors receive payouts based on the performance of the swaps. Those investors owning lower tranches tend to get paid more but are subject to higher losses if the swaps sour.
For instance, an investor can sell insurance against a pickup in defaults in the lowest—or "equity"—tranche of the iTraxx Europe index, a widely traded CDS benchmark that tracks European investment-grade companies. In return, the investor will receive regular payments, but those will shrink with every company default and stop altogether once 3% of the portfolio has been wiped out through defaults.
During the financial crisis, synthetic CDOs based on standardized indexes like iTraxx Europe suffered losses as traders expected defaults to pick up. Investors who held on, though, have since done great, said Mr. Champion.
Investors who agreed to insure against a rise in defaults for 10 years on the equity tranche of the iTraxx Europe index in March 2008 have made roughly 10% a year, according to an analysis of data from IHS Markit. That's despite defaults from two companies in the index: Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena and Portugal Telecom International Finance BV.
In contrast, investors who sold insurance on tailored CDOs packed with riskier credits—such as Icelandic banks or monoline insurers—would have been on the hook for losses.
Synthetic CDOs have evolved since the crisis, bankers say. For instance, most are shorter-dated, running up to around two to three years rather than seven to 10 years. Some banks will only slice and dice standardized CDS indexes that trade frequently in the market rather than craft tailored baskets of credits.
There are also fewer banks involved in arranging these trades. Those active include BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Société Générale SA.
Postcrisis regulations have forced banks to set aside more capital against these transactions and use less leverage. That has encouraged banks to parcel out the risk to clients rather than keeping it on their own books.
"There is a lot more regulation and scrutiny and a lot less leverage," said Mr. Agbo-Bloua.
Mr. Champion says he only trades tranches based on standardized CDS indexes, which he says are easier to buy and sell than more tailored products. Currently, he sees value in selling default protection on super-senior tranches.
Mr. Champion said he has to lay down only around $1 million in upfront margin costs on a $100 million trade of this kind.
"The cost of leverage in the derivatives space is very low," he said.
Any expectations of default rates picking up could inflict losses on synthetic CDOs, though at the moment analysts forecast they should decline. Still, the memory of how the market behaved in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis is likely to keep many investors on the sidelines.
"If you're the person responsible for buying the synthetic CDO that suddenly goes wrong, your career risk is bigger than if you'd bought a plain vanilla bond that goes wrong. It has a bad name," said Ulf Erlandsson, a portfolio manager at start-up hedge fund Glacier Impact, who until recently oversaw credit for one of Sweden's public pension funds.
Write to Christopher Whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com and Mike Bird at Mike.Bird@wsj.com
Popular on WSJ.com
{{#isOpinion}}Opinion: {{/isOpinion}}{{summary.headline}}
Podcasts Logo
WSJ Membership Benefits
©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Continue Reading Your Article With a WSJ Membership

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Presentation for Back in Circulation Conference Again held at University of Wisconsin-Madison. This updated session on trends in materials handling technology began with an historical look at how current technologies have evolved. The Speaker's Notes and Slides handout below provides speaker's notes and lots of images of state-of-the art products plus links to useful resources for getting more info.


text:
Tissue-specific transcriptome assemblies of the marine medaka Oryzias melastigma and comparative analysis with the freshwater medaka Oryzias latipes
Keng Po LAI, Jing-Woei LI, Simon Yuan WANG, Jill Man-Ying CHIU, Anna TSE, Karen LAU, Si LOK, Doris Wai-Ting AU, William Ka-Fai TSE, Chris Kong-Chu WONG, Ting-Fung CHAN, Richard Yuen-Chong KONG, Shiu Sun Rudolf WU
Department of Science and Environmental Studies (SES)
Background: The marine medaka Oryzias melastigma has been demonstrated as a novel model for marine ecotoxicological studies. However, the lack of genome and transcriptome reference has largely restricted the use of O. melastigma in the assessment of in vivo molecular responses to environmental stresses and the analysis of biological toxicity in the marine environment. Although O. melastigma is believed to be phylogenetically closely related to Oryzias latipes, the divergence between these two species is still largely unknown. Using Illumina high-throughput RNA sequencing followed by de novo assembly and comprehensive gene annotation, we provided transcriptomic resources for the brain, liver, ovary and testis of O. melastigma. We also investigated the possible extent of divergence between O. melastigma and O. latipes at the transcriptome level. Results: More than 14,000 transcripts across brain, liver, ovary and testis in marine medaka were annotated, of which 5880 transcripts were orthologous between O. melastigma and O. latipes. Tissue-enriched genes were identified in O. melastigma, and Gene Ontology analysis demonstrated the functional specificity of the annotated genes in respective tissue. Lastly, the identification of marine medaka-enriched transcripts suggested the necessity of generating transcriptome dataset of O. melastigma. Conclusions: Orthologous transcripts between O. melastigma and O. latipes, tissue-enriched genes and O. melastigma-enriched transcripts were identified. Genome-wide expression studies of marine medaka require an assembled transcriptome, and this sequencing effort has generated a valuable resource of coding DNA for a non-model species. This transcriptome resource will aid future studies assessing in vivo molecular responses to environmental stresses and those analyzing biological toxicity in the marine environment. Copyright © 2015 Lai et al.; licensee BioMed Central.
Lai, K. P., Li, J.-W., Wang, S. Y., Chiu, J. M.-Y., Tse, A., Lau, K., . . . Wu, R. S.-S. (2015). Tissue-specific transcriptome assemblies of the marine medaka Oryzias melastigma and comparative analysis with the freshwater medaka Oryzias latipes. BMC Genomics, 16(1). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-015-1325-7
Medaka
Marine and freshwater
Transcriptome assembly
De novo assembly
High-throughput RNA sequencing
10.1186/s12864-015-1325-7Licence: CC BY
published version (EdUHK Users only)
Dive into the research topics of 'Tissue-specific transcriptome assemblies of the marine medaka Oryzias melastigma and comparative analysis with the freshwater medaka Oryzias latipes'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Oryzias Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Fresh Water Medicine & Life Sciences 83%
Ovary Medicine & Life Sciences 13%
Molecular Sequence Annotation Medicine & Life Sciences 10%
Genes Medicine & Life Sciences 9%


text:
20/20 Visions
Print Issue 28
20 not-so-20/20 predictions for the year 2020.
by Dan Bernardi December 29, 2019
A LEAP FORWARD
The '20s kick off with a leap year, and 2020 will be a historical first year to include a Feb. 30 and 31 so future generations stop asking why those days don't exist.
According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2020 is the Year of the Metal Rat, promising a "strong, lucky, prosperous" year for anyone who believes in the Chinese Zodiac.
SUFFRAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
The 100-year anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women voting rights, will remind everyone that the constitution is amenable.
FOUR/TWENTIES
In April, the popular marijuana holiday 4/20 will be celebrated for the entire month resulting in an economic boom and inadvertently bringing about world peace.
NASA and the ESA launch dueling Mars rovers toward the red planet, and both will be intercepted halfway by alien lifeforms who look nothing like Baby Yoda.
OUTER-MONOLOGUE
Texting by thinking becomes mainstream tech, bringing an end to the usage of the initialism "LOL" when the programming requires actual laughter to text it.
GOLDZILLA
The Summer Olympics are held in Tokyo, Japan where in an effort to increase viewership, athletes must compete in rubber kaiju monster costumes for the entirety of the games.
BLOCKBUSTED
Ghostbusters 2020 hits the big screen uproaring fans of the 2016 reboot, and a new cinematic revolution follows, allowing online voting for what films should be made and how.
AUTO-RAMA
An influx of automation leads Tesla to unveil a new breed of self-driving car that holds no passengers, equipped with robotically conceived destinations, and life goals.
ELTON & THE JETS
Legendary musician Elton John finishes his goodbye tour, after which he will board his bedazzled rocket and space travel to retire in the Messier 51 Whirlpool Galaxy.
PROS & CONNECTIONS
The internet's existence is threatened when advanced capabilities of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 give rise to a digital black hole comprised of email spam and robocalls.
"YOUR"-TUBE
Due to content demand on the multitude of video streaming services, the government will mandate all citizens to produce and star in year-round television programming.
The Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia finishes construction to become the world's tallest man-made structure at 3,280 feet and will be visible from your backyard.
CONSOLE SURVIVOR
With the holiday release of Sony's PS5 and Microsoft's Scarlett, the console war will unintentionally alienate gamers, causing an increase in nationwide book sales.
In response to ongoing privacy concerns, Facebook dawns a new age of corporate transparency when they begin to sell user data in their online marketplace.
In the pursuit of renewable resources, researchers discover a method of converting billions of forgotten pennies into payment for their thankless efforts.
On Nov. 3, the U.S. Presidential Election will see a record turnout as millions of young voters elect former joke candidate "Deez Nutz" as the 46th POTUS.
Global warming is proven true, and in an attempt to reverse it, scientists incite global cooling which leads to a worldwide outbreak of sunglasses and leather jackets.
A ROARING HUSH
Social sensitivity laws are put into effect which prevents speech from upsetting or offending, earning the new decade the nickname "The Silent Twenties."
After several failed predictions, the apocalypse finally hits Earth after Disney gains license to the entire planet, vaults it, and releases a subpar CGI remake.
Where CLE Eats: Voodoo Tuna's Joe Koskovics


Today many are looking for home design ideas, patio design, room design and house furniture. Hopefully the image gallery we gift to be the best hint for you who are or are planning to construct a home when a lovely and innovative concept.
Related Post "Attractive 20 Pool and Patio Furniture"


text:
Share this Story: Police charge youth with extortion, mischief
Police charge youth with extortion, mischief
Kingston Whig-Standard
Jan 27, 2017 • January 27, 2017 • 1 minute read
A 14-year-old Amherstview youth has been charged criminally after Kingston Police were called by a mother whose car had been damaged on Thursday afternoon.
Police were called to a Montreal Street parking lot at around 2:40 p.m. on Thursday, where the accused had thrown a rock at a vehicle causing minor damage to the body, says a news release. The accused had left the immediate area but was located nearby and arrested.
A subsequent investigation showed that about 90 minutes prior to police being called, the accused and the mother's son had been texting back and forth. Police say the accused was angry with his friend because he had thrown out some cocaine the accused had left at his friend's residence.
In the messages, the accused told his friend that if he wanted his skateboard back, he would have to pay for its safe return. They arranged to meet at the parking lot.
The friend's mother drove him to the meeting spot. When they arrived, the mother got out of the vehicle, grabbed the skateboard from the accused and returned to her car. This is when the accused became angry and threw a rock at the vehicle, causing the minor damage.
The accused has been charged by police with extortion, mischief and breach undertaking. He spent the night in police custody to attend bail court on Friday.
Police charge youth with extortion, mischief Back to video


text:
Дженезис I () е експериментален космически модул разработен и построен от американската частна компания Bigelow Aerospace. Изстрелян е през 2006 година. Това е първият модул изстрелян от компанията в орбита и с него се тестват много системи, материали и технологии, с които се изпробва надеждността на надуваемите космически съоръжения при продължително пребиваване в космоса. Такива съоръжения и други подобни са базирани на проекта Трансхаб на НАСА, с който се осигурява по-голям обитаем обем с намалена маса и диаметър при изстрелването, в сравнение с общоприетите съоръжения., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

История
Модулът е изстрелян на 12 юли 2006 г. в 14:53:30 UTC с ракета-носител Днепър от база Домбаровски в Русия. Контролът върху модула е предаден на Bigelow Aerospace в 15:08 UTC след успешно навлизане в орбита.

Конструиран е с мащаб 1/3 от този на модул BA 330. Размерите му са: дължина 4,4 m, 2,54 m в диаметър, 11,5 кубични метра обитаем обем. Изстрелян е с диаметър само 1,6 m, но след навлизане в орбита се раздува до пълните си размери. Процесът на разширяване е с времетраене около 10 минути.

Дженезис I претърпява радиационно облъчване през декември 2006 г., в резултат на слънчева буря. Екипът, отговарящ за мисията, успява да рестартира системите му навреме, макар ситуацията да се описва като: "корабът беше на крачка от гибел". Въпреки този инцидент, няма други пречки пред модула и той е в "чудесна форма" към март 2007 г.

Товар
Освен системите и оборудването за наблюдение, Дженезис I носи разнообразен товар. Служители на компанията, конструирала модула, са го натоварили със снимки, играчки, карти и други предмети, които могат да бъдат видяни от снимките, изпратени от самия Дженезис. Освен това, на борда му има са осигурени биологични експерименти — живи мадагаскарски хлебарки (Gromphadorhina portentosa), както и семена, съдържащи живи ларви от пеперудата Cydia deshaisiana.
Bigelow позволява на НАСА да постави и GeneSat — серия от наносателити, които да бъдат тествани за събиране на информация за бъдещите мисии на GeneBox. Въпреки че тези наносателити не носят живи организми, вбъдеще се предвижда те да носят сензори за отчитане на влиянието на безтегловността върху гените, генната активност на клетките и живота на микрооранизмите.

Вижте също
 Галакси (модул)
 Дженезис II (модул)

Източници

Орбитални станции

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Those seeking to better understand the latest medical offerings for physician anesthesiologists and their care teams will find an expansive Exhibit Hall with a variety of companies represented.
Airway Management, Critical Care Monitoring, Education/Publishing/Research, Imaging Systems, Instruments and Equipment, Pain Management, Pharmaceuticals, Point of Care, Practice Management, Software and Technology, Staffing/Career/Recruitment, and more!
View the current exhibitor list and floor plan.
Smart Stage– Stop by the Smart Stage and take part in a MED Talk. Scheduled throughout the day, MED Talks offer attendees short presentations about the latest industry research and innovations.
Simul8 Challenge, powered by Airway Ex – Attendees are invited to challenge themselves by competing in six games to increase anesthesiology skills and knowledge. Games encompass various areas of focus such as airway management and drug mechanism of action, and are played on smartphones and tablets in an app environment.
The exhibit hall gives me the opportunity to learn the latest available technologies in the field of anesthesia.
Hangzhou Tappa Medical Technology Co. Ltd.
Tianjin MedAn Medical Electronic Tech. Co., Ltd.
Tianjin Medis Medical Device Co. Ltd.


text:
package org.apache.ignite.internal.processors.cache;

import org.apache.ignite.configuration.NearCacheConfiguration;

/**
 * Topology validator test
 */
public class IgniteTopologyValidatorNearPartitionedTxCacheTest extends IgniteTopologyValidatorPartitionedTxCacheTest {
    /** {@inheritDoc} */
    @Override protected NearCacheConfiguration nearConfiguration() {
        return new NearCacheConfiguration();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Garithes (prawn) souvlaki is made using fresh prawns.
The prawns are lightly seasoned with seasoning salt and pepper and grilled over a hot flame.
The perfectly cooked gairthes are drizzled with olive oil and served with rice, potatoes and vegetables.


text:
How to mass create mobile-sized robots — ScienceDaily
Small robots no more substantial than a cell could be mass-produced working with a new technique made by scientists at MIT. The microscopic devices, which the staff phone calls "syncells" (quick for synthetic cells), may eventually be applied to observe circumstances inside an oil or gas pipeline, or to lookup out disease when floating by means of the bloodstream.
The key to building these kinds of small units in large quantities lies in a system the team created for managing the pure fracturing approach of atomically-skinny, brittle products, directing the fracture traces so that they develop miniscule pockets of a predictable size and shape. Embedded within these pockets are digital circuits and products that can collect, document, and output info.
The novel process, referred to as "autoperforation," is described in a paper printed currently in the journal Character Supplies, by MIT Professor Michael Strano, postdoc Pingwei Liu, graduate pupil Albert Liu, and 8 other people at MIT.
The method makes use of a two-dimensional variety of carbon known as graphene, which forms the outer framework of the little syncells. A person layer of the substance is laid down on a surface, then small dots of a polymer material, made up of the electronics for the products, are deposited by a refined laboratory edition of an inkjet printer. Then, a second layer of graphene is laid on prime.
Controlled fracturing
Individuals believe of graphene, an ultrathin but extremely solid substance, as getting "floppy," but it is in fact brittle, Strano clarifies. But rather than looking at that brittleness a issue, the workforce figured out that it could be employed to their gain.
"We found that you can use the brittleness," suggests Strano, who is the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. "It is counterintuitive. Just before this get the job done, if you advised me you could fracture a material to handle its form at the nanoscale, I would have been incredulous."
But the new program does just that. It controls the fracturing system so that instead than making random shards of materials, like the continues to be of a damaged window, it produces items of uniform form and measurement. "What we identified is that you can impose a pressure field to trigger the fracture to be guided, and you can use that for controlled fabrication," Strano suggests.
When the prime layer of graphene is placed more than the array of polymer dots, which sort round pillar styles, the sites exactly where the graphene drapes in excess of the spherical edges of the pillars type lines of superior pressure in the product. As Albert Liu describes it, "picture a tablecloth slipping little by little down on to the surface of a circular desk. One can very very easily visualize the establishing round strain toward the desk edges, and that's very much analogous to what transpires when a flat sheet of graphene folds around these printed polymer pillars."
As a end result, the fractures are concentrated correct together those boundaries, Strano states. "And then anything quite wonderful takes place: The graphene will absolutely fracture, but the fracture will be guided all-around the periphery of the pillar." The final result is a neat, spherical piece of graphene that seems to be as if it experienced been cleanly minimize out by a microscopic gap punch.
Simply because there are two layers of graphene, earlier mentioned and beneath the polymer pillars, the two ensuing disks adhere at their edges to kind one thing like a tiny pita bread pocket, with the polymer sealed inside. "And the edge in this article is that this is in essence a one step," in distinction to a lot of elaborate clean up-room actions desired by other procedures to try to make microscopic robotic units, Strano claims.
The researchers have also revealed that other two-dimensional materials in addition to graphene, such as molybdenum disulfide and hexagonal boronitride, operate just as effectively.
Mobile-like robots
Ranging in dimension from that of a human pink blood mobile, about 10 micrometers throughout, up to about 10 situations that measurement, these very small objects "start off to look and behave like a residing biological mobile. In truth, underneath a microscope, you could almost certainly persuade most men and women that it is a cell," Strano says.
This work follows up on earlier analysis by Strano and his college students on producing syncells that could obtain facts about the chemistry or other properties of their environment working with sensors on their surface area, and keep the info for later on retrieval, for illustration injecting a swarm of these kinds of particles in just one conclude of a pipeline and retrieving them at the other to achieve details about conditions within it. When the new syncells do not still have as quite a few abilities as the earlier kinds, those were being assembled separately, while this operate demonstrates a way of conveniently mass-creating these kinds of products.
Aside from the syncells' prospective makes use of for industrial or biomedical checking, the way the little devices are manufactured is itself an innovation with fantastic prospective, in accordance to Albert Liu. "This standard technique of making use of managed fracture as a manufacturing approach can be prolonged across several length scales," he states. "[It could potentially be used with] effectively any 2-D resources of choice, in principle enabling upcoming researchers to tailor these atomically slim surfaces into any wanted condition or sort for programs in other disciplines."
This is, Albert Liu says, "1 of the only ways available suitable now to deliver stand-by yourself built-in microelectronics on a massive scale" that can purpose as impartial, no cost-floating devices. Dependent on the mother nature of the electronics inside, the equipment could be presented with capabilities for movement, detection of various chemical substances or other parameters, and memory storage.
There are a large variety of likely new applications for these cell-sized robotic units, says Strano, who specifics a lot of this sort of feasible works by using in a book he co-authored with Shawn Walsh, an specialist at Army Research Laboratories, on the subject matter, named "Robotic Methods and Autonomous Platforms," which is staying revealed this month by Elsevier Press.
As a demonstration, the workforce "wrote" the letters M, I, and T into a memory array within just a syncell, which shops the data as various concentrations of electrical conductivity. This information and facts can then be "browse" using an electrical probe, displaying that the product can functionality as a variety of digital memory into which data can be published, study, and erased at will. It can also keep the facts devoid of the will need for electric power, letting data to be gathered at a later time. The researchers have demonstrated that the particles are steady above a period of months even when floating around in drinking water, which is a severe solvent for electronics, according to Strano.
"I assume it opens up a entire new toolkit for micro- and nanofabrication," he says.
How to mass generate mobile-sized robots — ScienceDaily
Office DC escort services Associate – Law Firm


2016 BMW 7 Series will get Leather Engine Cover and Panorama Glass Roof "Sky Lounge"
The upcoming 2016 BMW 7 Series has just leaked on the interwebs and new information continue to arrive in our inbox. When it comes to market, the new 7 Series will have plenty of gadgets, new tech and luxury features to satisfy even the most demanding owners.
Two of those options are the Leather Engine Cover and a Panorama Glass Roof "Sky Lounge". While the leather engine cover is meant to increase the level of luxury in the new 7 Series, the panorama glass roof brings a generous amount of light, fascinating views and fresh air into the high-end sedan.
The technology in and outside the cabin is said to be exponentially more impressive than anything we have seen in a BMW so far. From the innovative keyfob to the redesigned iDrive and plethora of driving assistance features, the new 7 Series flagship will cater to an ever changing demographic that not only value the luxury and craftsmanship in the 7 Series but also the technology of the 21st century.
Some of the cool stuff that gets us excited are the wireless charging of smartphones inside the car, the gestures-based navigation, the synergy between the information displayed to the passenger and the driver, the self-parking via keyfob, laser lights and B&W Audio System.


text:
School of History, Religious Studies, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology
Study History with Us
Why study History with us?
We are flexible: You can study with us on a part-time or full-time basis by distance learning.
We will support you every step of the way: You will have access to online and face-to-face tutoring support.
We provide excellent teaching materials: You will have access to high-quality printed, digital, and audio-visual teaching materials prepared by our staff of experienced historians.
We are experts: 76% of our research was ranked as world-leading or internationally excellent (4* or 3*) and 100% of our research was ranked as world-leading or internationally excellent for impact in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF).
We are skills focused: You will learn to assimilate and evaluate information, to think independently, and to communicate your ideas effectively. You will also develop your ICT skills.
We are career focused: Our History modules are relevant to a wide range of careers in the public and private sectors, including: education; museum work; public administration, art institutions, and social services; advertising, journalism, publishing, creative industries, public relations; legal work; business, banking, and retail.
Qualifications in History
If you are interested in focussing your studies on History, we offer a BA (Honours) in History. This qualification received a 92% satisfaction rating in the 2014 National Student Survey. Follow this link to find out about all our History qualifications
Modules in History
Our modules are designed to be engaging and challenging. If you study with us, you will learn about British, Irish, European and global history from medieval to modern times. Our modules will give you the opportunity to tackle such issues as imperialism; politics; social relations; medicine; warfare and religion.
All of our modules are designed to help you to develop your ability to analyse historical evidence and to communicate effectively. These skills can be applied in many fields and are highly valued by employers. See some undergraduate module sample materials.
Scottish History modules
OU students can also study one of two modules in Scottish History, offered in collaboration to Dundee University. They are CDDR320 Medieval and Early Modern Scottish History, 1100-1707 and CDDR301 Modern Scottish History, 1707-1997 (Launch now postponed until October 2019). Both are 60-point Level 3 modules which explore Scotland's political, economic, social and cultural history through the centuries. Either can count towards a History degree. Find more information on how the collaborative scheme works and on the two modules.
MA in History
Taster Materials
News (OU History Blog)
@history_ou