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2011: The Year We Created and Contained Anti-Matter

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Fri, 08/26/2011 - 17:40

With a little theory and a lot of imagination, fiction writers have entertained us with the possibility of anti-matter for at least half a century. To our knowledge, less than an atom or two of the stuff has ever existed on this earth until now.

High energy physics research has trapped 38 atoms of anti-matter hydrogen for 1000 seconds. This is a significant improvement over past experiments and sixteen minutes may quickly become sixteen hours or indefinitely.

Science begins with observation. Observation of anti-matter will confirm or deny the theoretical and reveal things theory has not anticipated.

Does anti-matter exhibit anti-gravity or other 'anti' properties of ordinary matter? In the next decade, researchers will have an opportunity to observe its characteristics firsthand.

Replacement Parts For Humans

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Fri, 08/26/2011 - 17:09

Do a Google search for stem cell and regenerative medicine. You will find several exciting research programs that are advancing the science of replacement parts for humans.

A key step in the creation of a suitable replacement part is the formation of scaffolding - a structure that trains stem cells to grow and form a particular human organ.

This Science Daily article describes the adaptation of 3D printing technology (used in rapid manufacturing prototyping) to the creation of stem cell scaffold creation.

These researchers hope to be able to rapidly create scaffolding for complex three dimensional structures (kidneys, liver, muscle tissues)

Don't We Love Popular Science?

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 15:55

Will electric cars of the future carry an engine/generator in the trunk?

We cannot yet place a two hundred mile charge on an electric car battery as fast as we can fill up an equivalent tank with liquid fuel. This is a metric that matters.

The Wave Disc Engine is intended to be a light, compact, constant speed, high efficiency engine capable of running on various liquid and gas fuels. Hitched to a generator, it could be more efficient at producing electricity than a piston engine.

http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2011-03/shockwave-generating-wave-dis...

Solar Energy

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 12:02

Solar has been a use it or lose it form of energy. Technology to capture sunlight as electricity or heat has stumbled over the problem of solar energy storage and portability. Joule unlimited may have solved this problem with a third approach.

Their solar panels are filled with a solution of water, CO2 and a genetically engineered bacteria that converts the nutrients in the solution directly into ethanol and diesel fuels.

This is radically different from crop and algae "biomass" approaches, producing liquid fuel by photosynthesis in a single step. Ethanol from sunshine could be very big over the next ten years - especially as this approach need not compete with farm land for the production of food crops. http://www.jouleunlimited.com/

Now Available: eBook and Print

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 11:46
Thirty Seven Ideas For Business Operation Improvement*
Amazon eBook & Print!

Thirty Seven Ideas For Business Operation Improvement*

By: Ron Parker

*What Are The Odds You Can Use At Least One?


Click Here For B&N Nook eReader Edition
(Also Available for KOBO, Sony, Android, iPad & More From Google eBooks)

Carless in New York City?

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Thu, 08/04/2011 - 11:39

Not careless - without a car! Been there. http://www.mapnificent.net/ offers a solution. Assuming you will use public transportation, a smartphone app highlights search results by travel time instead of distance.

Replace 75 Watt light bulb with 11 Watt LED

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 16:52

Cree makes a retrofit long-life LED for six inch "can" recessed lighting. Their ad claims this is 65 Watt equivalent, but I am quite satisfied with a side-by-side comparison to existing 75 Watt incandescent fixtures.

It can be dimmed and the light quality is excellent. An great choice for anyone who finds CF lighting harsh and short-lived. http://www.creeledlighting.com/products/Downlights/6inchdownlights/CR6.aspx. This particular model is available at Home Depot. Other Cree products are available through various resellers.

This technology has a long payback time for home-owners, but businesses use artificial lighting eight or more hours per day. Plus, the long life of LED technology means fewer calls to building maintenance.

External Hard Drives

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 16:46

Western Digital "Passport" drives (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/external/portable/) are not much larger than a smart-phone. They plug into the USB port of your computer and hold a Tera-byte (1000 Gigabytes, or a Million Megabytes) for around $100.

Buy the USB 3.0 version. It is backwards compatible with older computers and transfer speeds on the latest computers with USB 3.0 will be substantially faster.

If you are a Linux user, it is easy to format and encrypt with a nice long passphrase. You will worry less if you lose the drive, or when the time comes to dispose of it.

For cross-platform encryption in both Linux and Windows, take a look at truecrypt. (http://www.truecrypt.org/)

Open Source IP Phone System

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 16:36

Asterisk by Digium. (http://www.asterisk.org/). Open source simplifies customization and integration of telephony with core business processes, and can substantially lower costs.

In addition, telephony life-cycle can be substantially longer. The Asterisk system platform is not rendered obsolete by new versions of "Windows", or by new equipment. Most of the costs of telephony are in the customization, configuration and extension of the communications "logic" - the software!.

Server and handset hardware can be gradually and gracefully upgraded over time, and the investment in Asterisk open source telephony system software is largely preserved through hardware these changes.

Proprietary IP Phone System

Submitted by OperationImprovement on Wed, 03/16/2011 - 16:21

Shoretel: (http://www.shoretel.com/) a simple feature and option licensing structure, a predictable cost of ownership, and an VOIP architecture designed for reliability. .

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