houck2040/tees huggingface dataset:
first to cut the dependence on centralized sources of power and water xie chellam and their team conceptualized an energy-water nanogrid which is a standalone truck-mountable filtration system whose pumps could run on solar-generated electricity next they developed a cost-minimization mathematical scheme called scenario-based optimization framework that minimized the total expenditure for the standalone setup by selecting the type of filter the number and size of solar panels and the size of the solar battery this model revealed that if nanofiltration a type of purification technique was used harvesting solar energy just during peak availability was sufficient to run pumps and purify water in other words the water nanofiltration system was largely unaffected by the day-to-day vagaries in solar energy and could purify enough water to meet the weekly water needs of the community in this way any excess solar power that was not used for filtration could be stashed away either for storage in the battery pack or for other minor basic household needs like charging cell phone batteries overall the researchers noted that although the nanofiltration system is more sophisticated and expensive than other filtration methods its overall merit is that it can successfully desalinate and remove chemicals like arsenic present in local groundwater thus they said nanofiltration is a preferable method for desalination and water purification for other remote regions where the contaminants within the water are not already known we have for the first time used a very rigorous mathematical approach to interlink water purification and energy provision said chellam this lays out a quantitative framework that can be used in not just the colonias but in any scenario based on local conditions other contributors to the research include m sadegh modarresi from burns & mcdonnell in houston who obtained phd from texas a&m; bilal abada from the civil and environmental engineering department at texas a&m and s sivaranjani from the electrical and computer engineering department at texas a&m this work was supported in part by the texas a&m engineering experiment station the texas a&m energy institute and the national science foundation
the simple act of blowing through a straw could soon come to symbolize a breathtaking leap forward in the covid-19 fight – and in combating other public health threats including pathogens that could cause future pandemics that simple exhaled breath is key to a new device that uses artificial intelligence (ai) to detect whether individuals should be tested for covid-19 the sophisticated breathalyzer is being developed and tested through a collaboration among a dallas-based company worlds inc the us air force and the texas a&m university system called worlds protect the device takes the form of a kiosk where a person uses a disposable straw to blow into a copper inlet in less than a minute test results can be sent to the persons smartphone worlds inc co-founders dave copps and chris rohde envision worlds protect kiosks being placed outside of factories schools military bases anywhere large groups of people need to be screened for covid-19 or other infectious diseases people can walk up and literally just breathe into the device said rohde president of worlds inc it's completely noninvasive there's no amount of touching and you quickly get a result you get a yay or nay the texas a&m system has invested $1 million in the projects development it is assisting worlds inc with engineering and design prototype building and the mapping of a commercial manufacturing process five prototypes will be tried out this fall on the texas a&m campus getting tech innovations to market is one of our sweet spots said john sharp chancellor of the texas a&m system this breakthrough could have lasting impact on global public health one of the prototypes was set up thursday on the texas a&m campus to test students and others aggies will be tested using both worlds protect and polymerase chain reaction (pcr) tests results will be compared to test the accuracy of worlds protect and refine its system more than 800 individuals have been tested with worlds protect already at wright-patterson air force base in ohio and brigham young university (byu) results so far suggest that the accuracy of worlds protect is comparable to pcr tests which are considered the best type of test available for diagnosing covid-19 by applying ai we are able to achieve a high level of accuracy and improve every day as more results are analyzed " said copps ceo of worlds inc we are using pcr tests as our yardstick to see and understand our progress copps and rohde are working with the food and drug administration to obtain emergency use authorization that eventually could allow worlds protect to become an alternative to pcr tests texas a&m system experts are involved from the texas a&m college of engineering the texas a&m engineering experiment station and the secureamerica institute an organization headquartered on the rellis campus that assists with high-tech manufacturing
rob gorham executive director of secureamerica said the texas a&m system specializes in helping businesses like worlds inc get through the so-called valley of death between an invention and commercial viability there's a lot of work that has to happen gorham said you have to think about standards you have to actually be able to rapidly and with agility circulate your design as well as think through all of the different supply-chain requirements inside the worlds protect kiosk a persons breath is examined for the specific volatile organic compounds that are generated by the body when someone is fighting the virus the test is done with advanced mass spectrometry technology a chemical analysis made smarter by ai worlds inc uses ai software to map the chemical code of a body reacting to the infection the copper inlet and other key interior elements are heated between each breath to clean and sanitize the device so one individual test does not contaminate another individual test dr guido verbeck a doctoral graduate of texas a&m has developed the devices key technology verbeck a university of north texas chemistry professor has worked with worlds inc software engineers since march he is a widely known expert on innovative uses of mass spectrometry his peer-reviewed research on using mass spectrometry to detect covid-19 was accepted and published recently by the royal society of chemistry dr david staack associate professor of mechanical engineering at texas a&m has partnered with worlds inc on the development of the breath-capture system for the device the system controls the variables in how people breathe so that the chemical compounds related to covid-19 are more easily identified by the mass spectrometry technology secureamerica is building additional worlds protect prototypes for demonstration at us air force bases and other department of defense locations including lackland air force base in san antonio where the devices could help screen up to 900 airmen weekly who arrive for basic training col charles bris-bois leader of the air force disruptive technology team at the pentagon will coordinate the screening of the airmen in texas he also helped arrange the devices initial testing in ohio and screening now underway at byu copps said additional device testing locations within texas are also being discussed worlds protect software also could be engineered to detect other health problems including future pandemics and bioterrorism threats it is exciting for texas a&m experts to be part of a project with so much potential gorham said we could be saving people's lives and allow the economy to come back because there's a way to detect covid-19 rapidly it means the world literally
the researchers are collaborating with the sansum diabetes research institute in california the collaboration will involve data collection efforts and translation of findings toward the end of the project mortazavi said a broader impact of the work is enabling patients and physicians to become better educated on how a body responds and develop a more personalized diet intervention strategy this project would be helpful to clinicians to provide new information to support positive behavior change to reduce the risk of or progression from prediabetes to type 2 diabetes and would make it easier for patients to passively and accurately track nutritional components of their diet potentially leading to healthier diets and improved health mortazavi said
nuclear power plants have supplied about 20% of the annual united states electricity generation since 1990 according to the us energy information administration but that energy creates high-level radioactive waste that has to be stored dr yong-rak kim professor in the zachry department of civil and environmental engineering at texas a&m university has been awarded a us department of energy nuclear energy university program grant to develop a novel system in engineered barriers to permanently isolate and contain nuclear fuel waste kim is collaborating with researchers from the sandia national laboratories and the university of nebraska lincoln we need to find a way to store nuclear fuel waste for a long time in a very safe manner this is a huge challenge for many countries where nuclear power plants have been operated kim said we need to find a better material that is less permeable and more resistant to cracking and chemical degradation than conventional materials in challenging geological environments all of the nuclear waste that a power plant generates in its entire lifetime is currently stored on-site in dry casks which is a temporary solution for nuclear waste disposal the fundamental understanding and resulting novel material will vastly improve nuclear waste management and support the enhanced safety and security of nuclear-generated electricity in the united states kim said the new engineered barrier material reinforced by inorganic microfibers will significantly reduce the threat from the long-term disposal of spent nuclear fuel this will enable sustainable nuclear energy cycles in the united states we are very excited to be working on this project kim said the impact is huge as we can better engineer the nations nuclear waste management more safely for the next several centuries it is also a great opportunity to work with the department of energy national laboratories and technology centers
the texas a&m university system board of regents created a new center thursday through which the texas a&m university system and los alamos national laboratory (lanl) collaboratively will address pressing national security issues the joint center for resilient national security will develop capabilities that can be applied to challenges such as maintaining national security in the face of rapidly evolving threats it will leverage the latest academic research – including on topics such as high-performance computing and the behavior of systems under extreme conditions – to bolster capabilities of the national security laboratories researchers from laboratories and universities also will address complex national security problems including how to maintain nuclear deterrence without nuclear-explosive testing the a&m system is here to serve the nation through the new center said john sharp chancellor of the texas a&m system applying our expertise to solving national security challenges is part of our dna and this joint center is a natural extension of our work los alamos national laboratory director thom mason noted that national security relies on timely responses to changes in the world the resilience and responsiveness of the us national security enterprise is dependent on scientists in the national security national laboratories working with key faculty from us universities like those at texas a&m system campuses the texas a&m system the university of california and battelle memorial institute began the management of los alamos national laboratory in november 2018 as members of triad national security llc
on thursday the texas a&m system board of regents approved a plan to build the ballistic aero-optics and materials (bam) test range part of the george hw bush combat development complex on the rellis campus in two phases phase one is planned to be 500 meters long construction is scheduled to start in april and be substantially completed by the end of 2022 it will cost $386 million phase one will be able to operate continuously while phase two is being built phase two which will complete the kilometer length is expected to cost about $22 million it will be operational in late 2023 or early 2024 bam will be a world-class engineering feat said john sharp chancellor of the texas a&m system its one of the big reasons the nations military and defense industry are turning to us for innovation completion of phase one alone will make bam the largest enclosed hypersonics testing range in the us it will give aerospace engineers and other experts in the field enormous new capacity for applied research and testing this two-phase approach is the responsible way ahead said dr m katherine banks vice chancellor for engineering and national laboratories of the texas a&m system no one has ever constructed a kilometer-long facility like this before its in the national interest that we proceed both quickly and carefully for more information see the full press release about the hypersonic tunnel
the texas a&m university system is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation with a budget of $63 billion the texas a&m system is a statewide network of 11 universities; a comprehensive health science center; eight state agencies including the texas division of emergency management; and the rellis campus the texas a&m system educates more than 151 000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts each year systemwide research and development expenditures exceeded $1 billion in fy 2019 and helped drive the states economy
ocean waves represent an abundant source of renewable energy but to best use this natural resource wave-energy converters need to be capable of physically handling ocean waves of different strengths without capsizing texas a&m university researchers have developed analytical tools that can help characterize the movements of floating but anchored wave-energy devices unlike complicated simulations that are expensive and time-consuming they said their technique is fast yet accurate enough to estimate if wave-energy devices will turn over in an ever-changing ocean environment wave-energy converters need to take advantage of large wave motions to make electricity but when a big storm comes you don't want big wave wind and current motions to destroy these devices said dr jeffrey falzarano professor in the department of ocean engineering we have developed much simpler analytical tools to judge the performance of these devices in a dynamic ocean environment without necessitating massive amounts of simulations or physical model tests that take a lot of time to run and are cost-prohibitive the mathematical tools are described online in the journal ships and offshore structures in july wave-energy devices function in two modes in normal" mode they convert the energy from tidal waves into electricity thus this mode largely determines whether the design of the wave-energy device is economically efficient however in survival mode or when incident waves cause large motions in the wave-energy devices the performance of the wave-energy devices is largely determined by a system of moorings that anchor the devices to a location at the bottom of the body of water moorings can be of several types including wharfs and anchor buoys and can be arranged in different configurations in addition there are considerable variations in the shape of wave-energy devices making the prediction of whether the device will capsize nontrivial ships come in a variety of shapes and sizes; tankers for example are very different from fishing vessels or other military ships these different geometries affect the ships motion in the water said falzarano similarly the shape of wave-energy devices can be quite diverse
for the analysis hao wang falzarano s graduate student used a cylindrical wave-energy device this generic shape allowed the researchers to simplify the problem of prediction and extended their analysis to other wave-energy converters of similar shape he also considered three mooring configurations hao used two analytical methods the markov and melnikov approaches to predict the risks of turning over under random excitation more specifically using information from the wave-energy devices geometry the configuration of the mooring system and tidal wave properties the methods yield a graph containing an envelope-like region intuitively if the waves are really big like during a storm and the floating vessel escapes this envelope it will likely turnover the researchers noted that although the analytical models were completely different they yielded almost the same results validating their merit and accuracy they also said that their mathematical approach can be applied to assess the performance of other floating devices such as floating wind turbines the platform for a floating wind turbine is the same as the one for wave-energy devices and so floating turbines can also pitchpole or turnover if the waves are very high said falzarano my group has been leaders in developing methods for predicting ship stability we're now looking at applying those approaches to renewable floating energy devices
in 1989 a geomagnetic disturbance (gmd) event in quebec left six million people without power for nine hours the disturbance caused seven of the electrical devices used to regulate voltage in the grid the static var compensators to be tripped within 59 seconds causing a voltage collapse 25 seconds later gmd events continue to occur and when they do can wreak havoc on the power grid texas a&m university researchers have created a network to help solve this problemwith funding from the governors university research initiative (guri) grant dr thomas overbye professor and o'donnell foundation chair iii in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m led the installation of the first closely spaced magnetometer network in the country – the texas magnetometer networka magnetometer is a device installed in the ground that is used to measure the earths magnetic field at a particular location the magnetometer outputs can be used by the electric power industry to better manage gmd events which are caused by solar flares ejected from the surface of the sun these gmds can cause geomagnetically induced currents (gics) in the grid that could result in voltage collapses and transformer damage leaving many without powerother magnetometers being used in the us are scattered throughout the country often thousands of miles apart the texas magnetometer network contains six magnetometers all in the state of texas overbye who is also the director of the smart grid center at texas a&m is working closely with associate research engineer komal shetye to analyze the data and use that to better understand these types of events the ultimate goal is to lessen the impact of these dangerous occurrences
data is captured every second allowing for the potential to better understand changes in the grid affected by gmds and gics analyzing the data received from the magnetometers is the first step to understanding the events themselves and can help overbyes team recreate past events and do post-event analyses in addition the real data captured by the magnetometers allows the team to validate their grid simulations and subsequent researchbeing in closer proximity to one another than most magnetometers allows the team to gather information that is simply not available with others that are dispersed farther aparthaving such closely spaced arrays is kind of rare especially in the us shetye said the benefit of having closely spaced arrays is that there is information we are getting which is currently missing from these that are currently distributed around the country for example we can study any low-grade differences or any field intensifications which has also been a concern of the research communitythe installation of all six magnetometers was completed in december 2019 overbye and shetyes next steps will be to partner with power grid operators and utility companies to analyze the data and ultimately improve the state of texas power gridthis new magnetometer network is a wonderful resource for texas and the rest of our country overbye said were very much looking forward to getting this data out to industry to help them improve the resiliency of the electric grid
the smart grid center (sgc) brings together several smart grid electric energy efforts already under way in the texas a&m university system and positions the system as a leader in education research and public service in the modernization of the electricity system the center brings together interdisciplinary research teams to develop more innovative and effective smart grid solutions the sgc aims to transform the electrical grid infrastructure in the united states to meet the demands of the 21st century
both a machine-learning algorithm and an engineer can predict if a bridge is going to collapse when they are given data that shows a failure might happen engineers can interpret the data based on their knowledge of physics stresses and other factors and state why they think the bridge is going to collapse machine-learning algorithms generally can't give an explanation of why a system would fail because they are limited in terms of interpretability based on scientific knowledge since machine-learning algorithms are tremendously useful in many engineering areas such as complex oil and gas processes dr akhil datta-gupta is leading texas a&m university's participation in a multi-university and national laboratory project started sept 2 and initially funded by the us department of energy (doe) with $182 537 to reduce this limitation he and the other participants will inject science-informed decision-making into machine-learning systems creating an advanced evaluation system that can assist with the interpretation of reservoir production processes and conditions while they happen hydraulic fracturing operations are complex and data is continually recorded during production processes so it can be evaluated and modeled to simulate what happens in a reservoir during the injection and recovery processes however these simulations are time-consuming to make meaning they are not available during production and are more of a reference or learning tool for the next operation the doe project will create an advanced system that will quickly sift data produced during hydraulic fracturing operations through physics-enhanced machine-learning algorithms which will filter the outcomes using past observed experiences and then render near real-time changes to reservoir conditions during oil recovery operations these rapid visual evaluations will allow oil and gas operators to see understand and effectively respond to real-time situations the time advantage permits maximum production in areas that positively respond to fracturing and stops unnecessary well drilling in areas that show limited response to fracturing "it takes considerable effort to determine what changes occur in the reservoir " said datta-gupta a university distinguished professor and texas a&m engineering experiment station researcher "this is why speed becomes critical we are trying to do a near real-time analysis of the data so engineering operations can make decisions almost on the fly
the texas a&m teams first step will focus on evaluating shale oil and gas field tests sponsored with doe funding and identifying the machine-learning systems to use as the platform for the project next they will upgrade these systems to merge multiple types of reservoir data both actual and synthetic and evaluate each system on how well it visualizes underground conditions compared to known outcomes at this point datta-guptas research related to the fast marching method (fmm) for fluid front tracking will be added to speed up the system's visual calculations fmm can rapidly sift through track and compress massive amounts of data in order to transform the 3d aspect of reservoir fluid movements into a one-dimensional form this reduction in complexity allows for the simpler and faster imaging using known results from recovery processes in actual reservoirs the researchers will train the system to understand changes the data inputs represent the system will simulate everyday information like fluid flow direction and fracture growth and interactions and show how fast reservoir conditions change during actual production processes we are not the first to use machine-learning in petroleum engineering said datta-gupta but we are pioneering this enhancement which is not like the usual input-output relationship we want complex answers ones we can interpret to get insights and predictions without compromising speed or production time i find this very exciting
hydraulic fracturing an oil-recovery process in shale reservoirs uses tremendous amounts of fresh water to crack shale rock and free trapped oil and gas some of this water eventually flows back to the surface where it can be reclaimed and treated for reuse however this flowback water flushes out another kind of fluid from the reservoir called produced water since produced water is severely contaminated and considered a waste product it is commonly injected underground where it poses a threat to clean water supplies and ground stability dr berna hascakir associate professor in the harold vance department of petroleum engineering at texas a&m university is investigating simple and cost-effective methods that can significantly clean produced water so it can further be treated and used in hydraulic fracturing processes saving millions of gallons of fresh water for better use elsewhere hascakir's research is part of a water management project headed by the berg-hughes center for petroleum and sedimentary systems and funded by university lands with a $771 500 grant injecting pressurized fresh water underground is necessary for oil recovery in shale while much of this water remains in the underground reservoir what flows back up to the surface contains dissolved salts minerals and other solids that must be removed before reuse however the fluid flushed out the reservoir known in the industry as produced water has a far greater level of total dissolved solids (tds) because it has been in the reservoir for centuries since produced water is unfit to recycle for human consumption it has been considered for reuse in hydraulic fracturing activities to save available fresh water sources for other needs however hascakir noted that this use of produced water is hardly advantageous unless its tds levels are significantly reduced opening fractures underground by injecting produced water into the tiny shale fractures means the fractures can get blocked immediately by any solids suspended or dissolved in the water said hascakir this becomes an obstacle for oil production pathways the salts in produced water are dissolved as free ions currently these ions can only be removed using advanced water treatment methods such as reverse osmosis ultrafiltration and nanofiltration however the salt levels of produced water are too high for these methods to handle so hascakir must reduce the salinity before they can be used this catch-22 situation makes removing the salts difficult but not impossible
many of the other solids in produced water naturally attract salt and are suspended in the form of colloids which are larger in size than the salt ions hascakir and her student researcher damir kaishentayev are exploring three basic water treatment methods alone and in combinations to remove these larger solids while also reducing salt levels enough for the advanced treatment methods to work hascakirs work is the initial cycle of the berg-hughes study each of her treated water samples goes on for further testing a chemical researcher will determine how well the samples respond to reverse-osmosis and other treatments agricultural researchers will test plant reactions to the treated water economic researchers will calculate water treatment costs based on hascakirs methods to see if it is cost-effective for companies to fund finally geologists will analyze how the treated water could affect groundwater should the two intermingle the project aims to find methods that can treat tremendous quantities of produced water cheaply and effectively so it can be used instead of stored away as waste that might contaminate the environment that goal is crucial said hascakir the majority of new wells drilled in the us are hydraulically fractured with an average of 3-7 million gallons of water used for every hydraulic fracturing treatment the amount of produced water flushed out of reservoirs is increasing rapidly produced water is a huge problem said hascakir if we find a solution a reuse for the university lands produced water it can be applied to every other area using hydraulic fracturing this is really exciting for me because the project connects my environmental engineering background with my petroleum engineering work and is producing a unique solution for hydraulic fracturing water needs
hospital-acquired infections are a global health problem that threatens patients treatment in intensive care units patients who require intubation are at a higher risk of contracting life-threatening cases of ventilator-associated pneumonia dr vanderlei bagnato a hagler faculty fellow with the department of biomedical engineering at texas a&m university is testing a new cleaning method that may stop these bacteria from spreading bagnatos work based out of his lab in brazil is focused on using the power of light to destroy bacteria living on the endotracheal tube (ett) a medical device placed in the patients trachea to assist breathing and deliver oxygen into the lungs bagnato said that while the trachea tends to be filled with different bacteria that an individual breathes in these microorganisms can be attacked by the bodys immune system when people are intubated very often they do develop pneumonia because that strange surface has no contact with the bodys circulation so your body cannot fight it bagnato said the immune system cannot get to it thats why its dangerous the doctor has to come with very strong antibiotics which fight an infection theres also concern that aggressive use of antibiotics will lead to more antibiotic-resistant bacteria also referred to as superbugs
as a physicist bagnato professor in the department of physics and materials science at the university of são paulo in brazil works with light as a physical element one common technique he uses is photodynamic inactivation where certain molecules are exposed to light and produce a free radical oxygen molecule which is destructive placing these molecules in the body can help with a variety of treatments including cancerous tumors the same thing happens to the microorganism bagnato said if i put a molecule and the microorganism close together that molecule in the presence of light will produce the reactive oxygen and then destroy the bacteria the aim of bagnatos work is to prevent the progression of an infection as soon as possible after a patient is intubated i consider this a very nice addition to the present technology of artificial breathing because infection developed in the mechanical ventilators is a problem bagnato said bagnatos team has identified the molecule that works best against the microorganisms on the tubes a challenge that involved making sure the identified molecule would harm the bacteria without negatively impacting the patient the molecule sticks to the tube and then a one-millimeter fiber optic is fed into the tube to light and activate the molecule its a low intensity bagnato said this means that if we prevent infection we give a better chance to the patient who is already on the mechanical ventilator his research was recently published in the journal proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america bagnatos team is now using an artificial trachea to evaluate how long the antimicrobial effect lasts since these tubes typically remained placed in a patients trachea for days i hope that in six seven months were going to do the first clinical trial bagnato said
with the growing global concerns over climate change scientists are looking for cleaner energy sources and other ways to minimize the carbon footprint in the world researchers at texas a&m engineering and the ecole nationale superieure d'arts et métiers (ensam) are collaborating to look at the materials and products we use daily a carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions that come from the production use and end-of-life of a product or service it is expected that in the next few decades there will be a major transformation in the materials used in civilian and military applications or in the aeronautics automobile and other industries and there will be a need to use materials and products that are more environmentally friendly dr satish bukkapatnam director of the texas a&m engineering experiment stations (tees) institute for manufacturing systems and dr mohamed el mansori professor in the department of mechanical materials science and manufacturing engineering at ensam combined their complementary strengths to advance the science and technology for biocomposite manufacturing to form the am² transatlantic partnership this partnership aims to effect change to a global manufacturing industry through extensive research collaborations education programs and mutual faculty and student exchange initiatives a biocomposite is a composite material formed by a matrix (resin) and a reinforcement of natural fibers the matrix phase is formed by polymers derived from renewable and nonrenewable resources hemp cotton jute and flax are some common natural fiber reinforcements in biocomposites that have good mechanical properties the work with professor el mansori was initiated to adapt methods for studying the machining process to create precisely shaped slabs of natural fiber composite materials for the emerging industrial applications said bukkapatnam the interest in biocomposites is rapidly growing due to their great benefits they can be used alone or as a complement to standard materials such as carbon fiber a significant market driver for high-volume applications is the potential to disassociate material costs from the fluctuating price of oil and energy el mansori said in many cases biobased materials offer weight reduction added functionality eg damping (restraining of vibratory motion) or impact absorption and occupational health benefits prior to their collaboration both bukkapatnam el mansori and their respective teams had been studying components related to smart manufacturing with various materials systems and manufacturing processes for many years in 2017 they combined their collaborative strengths: texas a&m in smart manufacturing focusing on advanced in situ sensing and ensams strengths in multi-scale modeling and analysis which led to several outcomes
how has energy consumption changed during the covid-19 pandemic this is a question that researchers in the department of electrical and computer engineering at texas a&m university are hoping to answer dr le xie professor in the department and his team and collaborators have created a first-of-its-kind cross-domain open-access data hub to track the impact of the pandemic and subsequent social distancing and work-from-home policies on us electricity markets published in the september issue of joule the coronavirus disease – electricity market data aggregation+ (covid-emda+) hub combines data across disciplines that showcase how human and environmental habits have impacted electricity usage theres a lot to take into account when it comes to electricity consumption related to a pandemic and data hubs similar to this one have already been attempted so what makes this one different the covid-emda+ incorporates seemingly extraneous information that turns out to be quite important to our understanding of the impact of the pandemic on the electricity sector the data hub contains five major components: electricity market data public health data weather data mobile device data and nighttime light satellite data weather definitely affects electricity usage said xie for instance texas had quite a hot summer so although everyone was quarantining inside the month of august saw a surge in energy consumption from air conditioners the gps location of mobile devices a dataset that has never before been used in the analysis of the electricity sector helps illustrate patterns in mobility how many people are social distancing versus how many people are still visiting shopping centers
the phenomenon of human mobility became an even greater factor to understanding electricity consumption once nasa published nighttime satellite images of large cities when looking at images of houston and new york city lit up at night from before and during the covid-19 pandemic the stark contrast is clearly visible in manhattan alone the city light at night was dimmed by about 40% between february and april this meant that as quarantine progressed fewer people were venturing outside in the evenings less human mobility meant less electricity needed to keep the busy cities lit this research uncovered a key finding: mobility is a strong indicator of electricity consumption changes in new york the strongest indicator of electricity consumption is the visits to the retail sector – the shopping malls and grocery stores said xie we didnt realize how much that impacts electricity consumption when visits to the retail sector decrease electricity consumption plummets moving forward xie hopes to incorporate data regarding socioeconomic status to shed more light on how the pandemic has impacted economically disadvantaged communities someone who works minimum wage on an hourly basis will be affected much differently than someone who does not have to worry about their next paycheck said xie the hub can serve as a unique lens to examine questions related to socioeconomic disparities and hopefully uncover areas of energy poverty where families may have trouble accessing reliable and affordable energy the data hub is updated daily after careful quality control to provide the most up-to-date information to the public xie and his team hope this data hub can serve as an open-access tool for system operators as well as for state and federal policy makers not only will it help policymakers make more informed decisions when it comes to allocating resources but it will also help society become more aware of how much energy we consume and how we consume it it helps everyone to be more energy conscious and cognizant especially during this once-in-a-lifetime societal crisis said xie
two faculty members from the texas a&m university college of engineering are among 175 scientists elected to the 2020 class of fellows by the national academy of inventors (nai) the new fellows are dr duncan j maitland director of research and stewart & stevenson professor i in the department of biomedical engineering and dr richard miles tees eminent professor in the department of aerospace engineering maitland and miles were named to the inaugural class of nai senior members earlier this year dr bill mccutchen associate professor and center director for the texas a&m agrilife research and extension center in stephenville was also named a 2020 nai fellow i applaud the nai for selecting these three outstanding researchers as 2020 fellows said dr mark a barteau vice president for research at texas a&m university and an nai fellow this honor recognizes their scholarship talent and innovation as well as their ongoing commitment to texas a&ms mission to produce innovations and solutions that address our worlds greatest challenges maitlands research focuses on novel treatments of cardiovascular disease with an emphasis on stroke his research projects include endovascular interventional devices microactuators optical therapeutic devices and basic device-body interactions and physics including computational and experimental techniques he founded shape memory medical inc to commercialize vascular embolic devices the company has fda-approved products intended to obstruct blood flow to treat vascular abnormalities such as aneurysms that occur in the brain as well as peripheral vessels miles research includes the use of microwaves nanosecond high voltage pulses surface dielectric barrier discharges electron beams magnetohydrodynamic devices and lasers in driving and controlling aerodynamic phenomena; stand-off detection of explosives hazardous gases and greenhouse gases by laser or microwave techniques; flow velocity measurement by laser ionization and molecular tagging; microwave and laser control of flame propagation ignition and lean combustion operation; and development of advanced laser diagnostics for surfaces and for equilibrium and non-equilibrium gases and plasmas miles is a member of the national academy of engineering fourteen current or past texas a&m faculty members have been selected as nai fellows since the organization named its charter fellows in 2012 the nai fellows program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life economic development and the welfare of society election to nai fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors to date nai fellows hold more than 42 700 issued us patents which have generated over 13 000 licensed technologies and companies and created more than 36 million jobs in addition over $22 trillion in revenue has been generated based on nai fellow discoveries the class of fellows will be inducted at the 2021 fellows induction ceremony at the tenth annual meeting of the national academy of inventors in june in tampa florida
texas a&m university is offering researchers a new flagship high-performance computing platformnamed in memory of programming pioneer vice admiral grace hopper the grace supercomputer powered by dell technologies will serve as a platform for ground-breaking discoveries and innovations in science and engineering at texas a&m the new grace supercomputer is 20 times more powerful than the ada supercomputer it will replace which has served as the lead supercomputer at texas a&ms high performance research computing since 2014"the grace system represents the next generation of supercomputing reshaping how science and engineering are transforming massive data into solutions that address the worlds greatest challenges " said texas a&m vice president for research mark a barteau "in the groundbreaking research performed today access to superior high-performance computing is vital to our mission of advancing knowledge and inspiring innovation grace will enable researchers in the texas a&m institute of data science and across the university to tackle problems once thought impractical or impossible" funding for the grace system comes from texas a&m university and the texas a&m research development fund with contributions from the texas a&m engineering experiment station the texas a&m health science center the texas a&m transportation institute and several individual faculty members in the college of engineering and the college of science for more information see the full story about the grace supercomputer
the texas a&m institute of data science (tamids) serves and fosters collaborations across the university and its affiliated agencies tamids is a joint undertaking of texas a&m university with the texas a&m engineering experiment station and texas a&m agrilife research it is an inclusive umbrella organization for data science and facilitates interactions between researchers in diverse application areas and those with expertise in core methodologies promotes education in data science across the university and pursues outreach to commercial and governmental organizations in the wider data science ecosystem
in a new study published online in the journal american chemical society (acs) applied polymer materials scientists at texas a&m university reported they have designed a hydrogel membrane that may be used to house optical glucose sensing materials toward building a biosensor for monitoring sugar levels in diabetics by incorporating dangling comb-type molecular chains within a type of hydrogel called poly(n-isopropylacrylamide) or poly nipaam for short they showed that the membrane could prevent leakage of small-sized molecules like the ones for glucose-sensing while still allowing glucose to freely diffuse in and out when ready for clinical use the researchers said these membranes could be used to form biosensors that could be easily implanted under the skin of the wrist and might offer a more comfortable alternative to transdermal implants which sit partially outside the skin moreover unlike transdermal implants that need to be changed every few weeks this type of subcutaneous implant may only need to be replaced every few months we've done a lot of work on hydrogel materials looking at mechanical properties and foreign body reactions but our grand goal has always been to use poly nipaam membranes to build a subcutaneous glucose biosensor said dr melissa grunlan professor and holder of the charles h and bettye barclay professorship in the department of biomedical engineering in this study we have been able to fine-tune the diffusion properties of these hydrogels that we have previously identified as a promising candidate for building long-term functioning glucose biosensors poly nipaams are a class of organic hydrogels that have a soft texture like contact lenses one of their attractive properties is that they can undergo cyclical swelling and deswelling with small temperature fluctuations in the body since their surface is dynamically changing with temperature they deter the attachment of cells and biomolecules this active self-cleaning mechanism makes poly nipaam hydrogels appealing for implants since they minimize the attack from the immune system to use the poly nipaam membrane for monitoring blood sugar it must house enough glucose-sensing molecules or assays furthermore the longevity of the hydrogel also depends on the membranes ability to retain these assay molecules without their leaking out think about the nipaam hydrogel like a knitted sweater where the spaces between the meshes are formed by the crossing stitches right now these spaces or windows in the hydrogels are too big letting the assay molecules go right through said grunlan if the assays keep leaching out this way we're not going to have a long functioning sensor