One of the key challenges to managing distributed projects is to keep track of the overall project execution ensuring that all parties are kept informed when, say, one partner makes a breakthrough. This communications and coordination challenge led to GENESIS’ open source solution.
“The idea was to develop a flexible and low intrusive environment for managing the distributed teams of people working on the same project,” says Pierluigi Ritrovato, Manager of the Centre for Research in Pure a
A species of fish that lives in Antarctic waters may hold clues to climate change and lead to advances in heart medicine. Researchers from the University of Birmingham and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) are investigating the behaviour and physiology of the ’Antarctic Cod’ (Notothenia coriiceps) which became isolated from its warmer water cousins around 30 million years ago when the Antarctic circumpolar current was formed.
The olive-coloured fish has broad head and a narrow bo
Australian researchers who have worked quietly over several years in a long ignored area of metallurgy have been rewarded with a startling discovery, which is set to reshape the way metals are manufactured around the world.
CSIRO’s (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation) Advanced Thixotropic Metallurgy (ATM) casting technology is now in the final proving-out stage and the results herald a new age of quality high-pressure die-casting (HPDC).
ATM is particul
CSIRO has measured above average growth in carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere, despite global attempts to reduce these emissions. The source of the increase is most likely from the burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas.
“The results are concerning because carbon dioxide is the main driver of climate change,” says CSIRO Atmospheric Division chief research scientist Dr Paul Fraser. “I am a little bit surprised that the level is so high without input from forest wildfires.”
Developing electronic paper that can be written on and then erased with the touch of a button is a challenge. Sometimes the ink must adhere to the paper and other times bead up.
Getting it just right requires knowing how, on a molecular level, the liquid ink interacts with the solid paper.
Now Jeanne E. Pemberton has clarified why changing the electrical charge on electronic paper affects how well ink will stick.
The finding will further efforts to make a reusable tablet
Soil particles lock up contaminants hundreds to thousands of times faster under the caustic conditions found beneath leaking toxic waste tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation than under normal soil conditions, researchers report.
Understanding more about how contaminants such as radioactive cesium and strontium move through the soil under real-world conditions will help cleanup efforts at Hanford and other sites contaminated with nuclear waste. Previous research on the movement of soil c
Under the right conditions, nanoparticles can form spontaneously in the air. Atmospheric nanoparticles are an important missing factor in understanding global climate change, because they could influence cloud formation and change how the Earth reflects or retains heat, said Anthony Wexler, professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering at UC Davis.
They may also have health effects. Wexler’s laboratory uses and develops equipment to detect these extremely small particles. On the
A multi-university research team led by Virginia Tech University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry David G.I. Kingston has succeeded in enhancing the structure of paclitaxel (Taxol™) to make it more effective in killing cancer cells.
Having determined how paclitaxel fits into a cancer cell’s reproductive machinery, the team is optimistic that simpler molecules can be designed as future medicines.
Kingston will present the research that brought the team to this point a
Hyperbranched polymers – tree-like molecules – are not particularly useful for the creation of plastic films and molded parts because they don’t entangle. So Virginia Tech researchers have created segmented hyperbranched plastics, which do entangle and result in high-performance polymers.
Virginia Tech chemistry professor Timothy E. Long of Blacksburg will describe the configuration and functionality of the new family of polymers at the 227th Annual Meeting of the American Chemical Soc
The parasitic weed, broomrape, attaches to the root of such vegetable crops as tomato, potato, beans, and sunflowers. With no need for leaves of its own, it produces only a floral shoot above ground. Meanwhile, its host is barely able to survive, much less be productive.
Now, the defense mechanism of another pest – the fly – may provide a weapon against parasitic weeds.
Researchers from Virginia Tech in the United States and the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) of Israel w
Virginia Tech students and faculty members are creating releasable coatings and thin films using the same chemistry that nature uses to bind the double helix of DNA.
They will present their research at the 227th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim, Calif., March 28-April 1, 2004.
“We are coating a patterned surface with accepting molecules then applying donating molecules – that is, using molecular recognition — to create a molecular zipper,” explains Tim
Purveyors of snake oil and its mythical powers may not have had it all wrong, if preliminary findings with the Florida cottonmouth, bloodstains and a washing machine stay on target.
An enzyme extracted from the viper’s venom appears to help launder out notoriously stubborn blood spots on clothing, according to a report presented here today at the 227th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.
“We have partially isolated a
Stem cells that act as seek-and-destroy missiles appear to be able to find cancer wherever it hides out – at least, so far, in animals.
This novel approach at gene therapy, reported by researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, may have use in a wide variety of both solid and blood cancers.
“This addresses our great need for cancer gene therapies aimed at curbing the metastatic spread of cancer cells,” says Michael Andreeff, M.D., Ph.D., professor in th
Researchers tap modified plant viruses to ward off cervical cancer-causing infections; and a Pied Piper progesterone receptor antagonist leads breast cancer cells toward death
New vaccinations to prevent infections that lead to cervical cancer and targeted therapeutics aimed at breast cancer were examples of research highlights presented by scientists today at the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Scientists described advances that feed into the drug
A device invented at Ohio State University has dramatically boosted the production of a chemical that performs tasks as diverse as scenting perfume and flavoring Swiss cheese.
Engineers here have used their patented fibrous-bed bioreactor to genetically alter a bacterium so that it produces 50 percent more of the chemical propionic acid than the organism produces normally. And it did so without the aid of chemical additives employed in industry.
The device also reduced the amount of
Tiny machines built as part of silicon chips are all around us, and their need for lubrication is the same as large machines such as automobile engines, but conventional lubricants, like oils, are too heavy for these micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), so Penn State researchers are looking to gases to provide thin films of slippery coating.
MEMS today are mostly found in automobile air bags as the sensor that marks sudden deceleration and triggers airbag use. They can also take the for
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