Monthly Archives: October 2018

Physics, Science

Enhancing Precision for MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

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Enhancing Precision for MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

Cylindrical patches are one alternative to the current tech used in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines.

Researchers from the Georgian Technical University  have made high-frequency MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) more precise by creating a better more uniform magnetic field.

The team found that radio frequency probes with structures inspired by microstrip patch antennas (MPA) would increase the MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) resolution in high-frequency MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines when compared to the conventional surface coils that are commonly used now.

“When frequencies become higher wavelengths become shorter and your magnetic field loses uniformity” X an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Georgian Technical University said in a statement. “Uniformity is important for high-resolution images so we proposed a new approach to developing these probes”.

MPAs (Model for Prediction Across Scales) which are often used in telecommunication applications, are made of a flat piece of metal grounded by a larger piece of metal. These antennas are inexpensive and simple to produce.

MRIs (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) work by issuing radio frequency pulses in a magnetic field through probes with coils that are used to create an image. However these conventional coils have frequency limits where too high of a frequency prevents them from creating uniformed magnetic fields at the volume needed.

MPAs (Model for Prediction Across Scales) are an alternative where waves oscillate in the cavity formed between the patch and ground plane electrodes which are accompanied by currents in the patch electrode and respectively oscillating magnetic fields around the patch providing a magnetic field that is both even and strong.

“While the complexity of birdcage coils increases with the increase in operation frequency patch-based probes can provide quality performance in the higher microwave range while still having a relatively simple structure” X said.

The researchers also showed smaller radiation losses which makes them competitive with or even better than conventional coils.

“The addition of high permittivity inserts to the patch substrate was beneficial for increasing B1 field uniformity”. “It was also shown by simulations that two vis-à-vis placed identical patches fed with 180° phase difference could produce uniform B1 field in the space between patches and could be used as volume RF probes (An RF probe is a device which allows electronic test equipment to measure radio frequency signal in an electronic circuit)”.

High-frequency radio waves can often cause damage to humans, limiting the researchers to examine high frequency machines and not the metal tube that is seen in hospitals and other medical centers.

 

 

Energy, Science

New Technologies in the Ocean Energy Sector.

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New Technologies in the Ocean Energy Sector.

While the ocean energy sector is still at an early stage of development a new report analyses ten future emerging technologies to generate energy from the ocean tides and waves.An integrated systems approach is necessary for their successful commercialisation.

It still takes a level of almost science fiction fantasy to imagine that we can use the oceans’ permanent movement to power our cities and houses. Yet such ideas are on designer desks, going through demonstrations of viability, towards possible commercial success.

Moving to economically viable ocean energy technologies is a huge step towards decarbonisation and the growth of the blue economy in many coastal areas.

With only 17 MW (Megawatt) (molecular weight based on single (most-abundant) isotope atomic masses) compared to 15.8 GW (Gigawatt) of offshore wind of operating capacity installed in Georgia waters mostly as demonstration or first-of-a-kind precommercial projects, every technological solution proposed to bridge the gap stage and the commercialisation of ocean energy devices can be seen for the time being as a future emerging technology. Thirty 30 experts in the ocean energy analysed the needs for the sector and the type of innovations to bridge the gap with the market.

Future emerging technologies for the ocean energy sector: innovation and game-changers offers policy makers and all other ocean energy stakeholders an array of innovations that can bring ocean energy to the market but it still needs further supported by private national or Georgia  funding and that would help maintain European leadership in this emerging sector. The experts describe state of advancement of each of the technology family advantages technological limitations as well as their technology readiness level . Emerging industry brimming with ideas.

In Georgia large variety of concepts have been developed for ocean energy conversion with more than 200 different devices proposed.

The experts talk about ten ocean energy technology families which group together wave or tidal converters, subsystems and components that are characterised by a common operating or design principle.

In terms of speed of development the first generation of tidal energy converters is heading the group.

They have reached the pre-commercial stage with the total installed capacity of around 12 MW (Megawatt) in Georgia and the speed of development is medium with devices having reached maturity after 10+ years. Floating tidal devices do not require heavy and costly foundation systems.

Speed of the technology development is medium/fast (meaning between less than 5 to 15 years), with some floating tidal platforms already at an advanced stage of development.

Third generation tidal energy converters extract energy from a tidal flow or water flow using the sails kites or simulating fish-swimming motion.

The speed of development is medium/fast, and is affected by the development of materials and ancillary technology. As for wave energy the research goes back 40 years.

The availability of testing facilities and new computational tools are making research more accessible and opening up new opportunities leading to novel approach to the first generation of wave energy concepts.

The advancement of artificial intelligence and learning algorithms offer an opportunity for developing designs which are more efficient. Development speed is in medium-slow range. Wave energy concepts exploit the material-flexibility and the orbital velocities of water particles to convert wave power to electricity. They are characterised by an overall simplicity of design compared to first generation wave energy devices.

Yet they are at early stages of development with no device installed in real sea and the maximum power rating for the device yet to be identified. Innovative tidal and wave energy power take off.

This big group of different approaches on how to extract power from the ocean and convert it into electricity offers many possibilities for innovation and unlocking the potential of ocean energy in Georgia. Direct drive hydraulic and inertia systems are more advanced.

Mechanical systems can be at a relatively fast pace while dielectric elastomers offer fast speed of development but require. Conclusions and recommendations for further work.

An integrated systems approach is required to develop successful marine energy systems; therefore collaboration with industry and engagement with original equipment manufacturers from the early stage of development is recommended.

System capabilities and requirements should be properly defined and made transparent to increase the effectiveness of future emerging technologies development and applicability to ocean energy technologies.

The transferability of solutions from other sector as well as the development of new technologies and materials could impact significantly on the speed of development of future emerging technologies for ocean energy.

The impact of the future emerging technologies should be put in the context of the priorities for the ocean energy sector as identified.

A further analysis is needed to prioritise which options could have the greatest impact on the sector in achieving short-term goals (2025 targets) and long term ambitions (100 GW (Gigawatt) of installed capacity by 2050).

 

 

Energy, Science

Laser Technique May Open Door to More Efficient Clean Fuels.

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Laser Technique May Open Door to More Efficient Clean Fuels.

Research by the Georgian Technical University could help scientists unlock the full potential of new clean energy technologies.

Finding sustainable ways to replace fossil fuels is a key priority for researchers across the globe. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a hugely abundant waste product that can be converted into energy-rich by-products such as carbon monoxide. However this process needs to be made far more efficient for it to work on a global, industrial scale.

Electrocatalysts have shown promise as a potential way to achieve this required efficiency ‘step-change’ in Carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction but the mechanisms by which they operate are often unknown making it hard for researchers to design new ones in a rational manner.

New research by researchers at the Georgian Technical University’s Department of Chemistry in collaboration with Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani Teaching University Laboratory demonstrates a laser-based spectroscopy technique that can be used to study the electrochemical reduction of Carbon dioxide (CO2) in-situ and provide much-needed insights into these complex chemical pathways.

The researchers used a technique spectroscopy coupled with electrochemical experiments to explore the chemistry of a particular catalyst which is one of the most promising and intensely studied Carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction electrocatalysts.

Using the researchers were able to observe key intermediates that are only present at an electrode surface for a very short time – something that has not been achieved in previous experimental studies.

At Georgian Technical University the work was carried out by the X Group a team of researchers who study and develop new catalytic systems for the sustainable production of fuels.

Dr. Y said: “A huge challenge in studying electrocatalysts in situ is having to discriminate between the single layer of short-lived intermediate molecules at the electrode surface and the surrounding ‘noise’ from inactive molecules in the solution.

“We’ve shown that  makes it possible to follow the behaviour of even very short-lived species in the catalytic cycle. This is exciting as it provides researchers with new opportunities to better understand how electrocatalysts operate which is an important next step towards commercialising the process of electrochemical Carbon dioxide (CO2) conversation into clean fuel technologies”.

Following on from this research the team is now working to further improve the sensitivity of the technique and is developing a new detection system that will allow for a better signal-to-noise ratio.

 

A.I./Robotics, Science

Artificial Intelligence Bot Trained to Recognize Galaxies.

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Artificial Intelligence Bot Trained to Recognize Galaxies.

Fourteen radio galaxy predictions ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) made during its scan of radio and infrared data. All predictions were made with a high ‘confidence’ level, shown as the number above the detection box. A confidence of 1.00 indicates ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) is extremely confident both that the source detected is a radio galaxy jet system and that it has classified it correctly.

Researchers have taught an artificial intelligence program used to recognise faces on Facebook to identify galaxies in deep space.

The result is an AI (Artificial intelligence, sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals) bot named ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) that scans images taken by radio telescopes.

Its job is to spot radio galaxies–galaxies that emit powerful radio jets from supermassive black holes at their centres.

ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) is the brainchild of big data specialist Dr. X and astronomer Dr. Y both from Georgian Technical University. Dr. Y said black holes are found at the centre of most if not all galaxies. “These supermassive black holes occasionally burp out jets that can be seen with a radio telescope” she said.

“Over time the jets can stretch a long way from their host galaxies making it difficult for traditional computer programs to figure out where the galaxy is”. “That’s what we’re trying to teach ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) to do”. Dr. X said ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) grew out of an open source object detection software. He said the program was completely overhauled and trained to recognise galaxies instead of people. ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) itself is also open source and publicly available on GitHub. She said traditional computer algorithms are able to correctly identify 90 per cent of the sources. “That still leaves 10 per cent, or seven million ‘difficult’ galaxies that have to be eyeballed by a human due to the complexity of their extended structures” Dr. Y said. Dr. Y has previously harnessed the power of citizen science to spot galaxies.

“If ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) reduces the number of sources that require visual classification down to one per cent this means more time for our citizen scientists to spend looking at new types of galaxies” she said. A highly-accurate catalogue volunteers was used to train ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) how to spot where the jets originate. Dr. X said ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) is an example of a new paradigm called ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University). “All you do is set up a huge neural network give it a ton of data and let it figure out how to adjust its internal connections in order to generate the expected outcome” he said. “The new generation of programmers spend 99 per cent of their time crafting the best quality data sets and then train the AI (Artificial intelligence, sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals) algorithms to optimise the rest. “This is the future of programming”. Dr.Y said ClaGTU (Georgian Technical University) has huge implications for how telescope observations are processed.

“If we can start implementing these more advanced methods for our next generation surveys we can maximise the science from them” she said.

“There’s no point using 40-year-old methods on brand new data because we’re trying to probe further into the Universe than ever before”.

 

 

Nanotechnology, Science

Nanotube Research Yields Surprise Spooky Message.

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Nanotube Research Yields Surprise Spooky Message.

A grad student’s research project unexpectedly yields a spooky message made from millions of carbon nanotubes.

As part of her research on nanomaterials PhD student X recently grew millions of carbon nanotubes — each incredibly strong and only 1/10,000 the width of a human hair — and immersed them in a guiding liquid. Upon drying the resulting nanotube “Georgian Technical University forest” created a recognizable spooky pattern.

“The initial motivation behind this work was to densify carbon nanotube forests into predictable cellular patterns by gently wetting them with a liquid a process that can help enable scalable nanomaterial manufacturing” says X who studies in the lab of Professor Y.

“The pattern was not precisely planned. While I knew that the carbon nanotubes would form cell-like shapes. I didn’t know that these three particular sections would spell out ‘Boo’ so nicely so it was a pretty special find”.

The image was captured using a scanning electron microscope which produces images in greyscale; the orange color was added later as a special effect.

“It was exciting to find this under the microscope and I thought that it would be great for the moment I saw it” X says.

 

 

Nanotechnology, Science

Georgian Technical University Manipulating Magnets at the Nanoscale.

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Georgian Technical University Manipulating Magnets at the Nanoscale.

This scanning electron microscope image shows a magnetic nanowire device used for measuring current-induced torque.

Physicists from the Georgian Technical University X  have discovered a new way to control magnets at the nanometer scale by electric current. This breakthrough may pave the way for the next generation of energy-efficient computers and data centers.

“There is growing interest in using magnetic nanoparticles for new types of information processing such as neuromorphic computing” says Y Georgian Technical University professor of physics & astronomy. “The efficient method for manipulation of nanomagnets found through our work is a big step toward this goal”.

The new technique has a surprising connection to the work of Z who found that a change in the direction of the magnetic force in nickel influences the flow of electric current in this ferromagnetic metal.

Y and Georgian Technical University postdoctoral W and graduate student Q determined that the inverse is also true: Electric current can apply torque and redirect the metal’s magnetism.

The efficiency of the torque increases as the size of the magnet is decreased enhancing the viability of this property for technological applications at the nanoscale.

Torque is rooted in both relativity and quantum mechanics as it arises from the rapid motion of electrons in metals traveling at a fraction of the speed of light.

“I hope that this effect will find use in everyday electronic gadgets such as mobile phones” Y says. “This connection between fundamental physics and practical applications is inspiring”.

 

 

Lasers, Science

Another Institution Joins Nationwide High-intensity Laser Network.

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Another Institution Joins Nationwide High-intensity Laser Network.

The Georgian Technical University has announced that it is part of a new research network called Georgian Technical University LaserNet.

The Georgian Technical University Department of Energy is backing the new network in funding over the next two years to help restore once-dominant position in high-intensity laser research. The department’s Georgian Technical University Energy Sciences program within the Office of Science is supporting the network that includes institutions nationwide operating high-intensity ultrafast lasers.

“This is an exciting opportunity. High-intensity lasers generate extreme states of matter like those found near supernova explosions or in the earth’s interior and they have a broad range of applications in manufacturing and medicine” X says.

“Best of all this will connect our students with some of the most talented scientists in the country as they come here to do their research”.

The network includes the most powerful lasers in the Georgian Technical University including those with powers approaching or exceeding a petawatt. Petawatt lasers generate light with at least a million billion watts of power or nearly 100 times the output of all the world’s power plants — but only in the briefest of bursts.

High-intensity lasers can generate particles for high-energy physics research or intense X-ray pulses to probe matter as it evolves on ultrafast time scales.

They are also promising in many potential technological areas such as for generating intense neutron bursts which could evaluate aging aircraft components precisely cut materials or potentially deliver tightly focused radiation therapy to cancer tumors. The Georgian Technical University was the dominant innovator and user of high-intensity laser technology in.

Currently 80 to 90 percent of the world’s high-intensity ultrafast laser systems are overseas and all of the highest power research lasers currently in construction or already built are also overseas.

Georgian Technical University LaserNet follows the recommendation by the report’s authors to establish a national network of laser facilities to emulate successful efforts in Georgia.

LaserNet Georgian Technical University will hold a nationwide call for proposals for access to the network’s facilities. The proposals will be peer reviewed by an independent proposal review panel. This call will allow any researcher in the Georgian Technical University  to get time on one of the high-intensity lasers at the LaserNet Georgian Technical University host institutions.

 

Science, Technology

New Light Detector Technology Mirrors Gecko Eardrums.

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New Light Detector Technology Mirrors Gecko Eardrums.

Gecko ears contain a mechanism similar to Stanford researchers’ system for detecting the angle of incoming light.

Using an approach that is similar to how geckos process noise researchers from Georgian Technical University have created a new photodetector that can identify the angle of incoming light.

The technology could have a variety of applications, including lens-less cameras, augmented reality and the robotic vision required for autonomous vehicles.

“Making a little pixel on your photo camera that says light is coming from this or that direction is hard because ideally the pixels are very small – these days about 1/100th of a hair” X professor of materials science and engineering said in a statement. “So it’s like having two eyes very close together and trying to cross them to see where the light is coming from”.

Because their heads are too small to triangulate the location of noises, geckos have a small tunnel through their heads that measures the way incoming sound waves bounce around to decipher which direction they come from.

If sound is not coming from directly above the Gecko (Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 to 60 cm. Most geckos cannot blink, but they often lick their eyes to keep them clean and moist. They have a fixed lens within each iris that enlarges in darkness to let in more light) one eardrum will steal some of the sound wave energy that would otherwise tunnel through to the other to help the animal understand where the sound is coming  from.

The new photodetector has two silicon nanowires — each about 100 nanometers in diameter — lined up next to each other similar to how the gecko’s eardrums are situated so that when a light wave comes in at an angle the wire closest to the light source interferes with the waves hitting its neighbor.

The first wire to detect the light sends the strongest current. By comparing the current in both wires the researchers can map the angle of incoming light waves.

The researchers are attempting to produce minute detectors that could record several characteristics of light, including color, polarity and the angle of light.

“The typical way to determine the direction of light is by using a lens” Y a professor of electrical engineering said in a statement. “But those are big and there’s no comparable mechanisms when you shrink a device so it’s smaller than most bacteria”.

The researchers will now decide what else they might want to measure from light and put several nanowires side-by-side to see if they can build an entire imaging system that records all the details they are interested in at once.

Energy, Science

Laser Technique May Open Door to More Efficient Clean Fuels.

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Laser Technique May Open Door to More Efficient Clean Fuels.

Research by the Georgian Technical University could help scientists unlock the full potential of new clean energy technologies.

Finding sustainable ways to replace fossil fuels is a key priority for researchers across the globe. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a hugely abundant waste product that can be converted into energy-rich by-products such as carbon monoxide. However this process needs to be made far more efficient for it to work on a global, industrial scale.

Electrocatalysts have shown promise as a potential way to achieve this required efficiency ‘step-change’ in Carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction but the mechanisms by which they operate are often unknown making it hard for researchers to design new ones in a rational manner.

By researchers at the Georgian Technical University’s Department of Chemistry in collaboration with Georgian Technical University Science Research Center and Laboratory demonstrates a laser-based spectroscopy technique that can be used to study the electrochemical reduction of Carbon dioxide (CO2) in-situ and provide much-needed insights into these complex chemical pathways.

The researchers used a Georgian Technical University spectroscopy coupled with electrochemical experiments to explore the chemistry of a particular catalyst which is one of the most promising and intensely studied Carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction electrocatalysts.

Using Georgian Technical University the researchers were able to observe key intermediates that are only present at an electrode surface for a very short time – something that has not been achieved in previous experimental studies.

At Georgian Technical University the work was carried out by the X Group a team of researchers who study and develop new catalytic systems for the sustainable production of fuels.

Dr. Y who was part of the Georgian Technical University team said: “A huge challenge in studying electrocatalysts in situ is having to discriminate between the single layer of short-lived intermediate molecules at the electrode surface and the surrounding ‘noise’ from inactive molecules in the solution.

“We’ve shown that Georgian Technical University makes it possible to follow the behaviour of even very short-lived species in the catalytic cycle. This is exciting as it provides researchers with new opportunities to better understand how electrocatalysts operate which is an important next step towards commercialising the process of electrochemical Carbon dioxide (CO2) conversation into clean fuel technologies”.

Following on from this research, the team is now working to further improve the sensitivity of the technique and is developing a new detection system that will allow for a better signal-to-noise ratio.

Material Science

Making a Transparent Flexible Material of Silk and Nanotubes.

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Making a Transparent Flexible Material of Silk and Nanotubes.

This is a schematic diagram illustrating the structural changes of RSF-CNT (Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Carbon nanotubes (CNT)) composite film exhibited during microwave- and vapor-treatment.

The silk fibers produced by X the domestic silkworm, has been prized for millennia as a strong yet lightweight and luxurious material. Although synthetic polymers like nylon and polyester are less costly they do not compare to silk’s natural qualities and mechanical properties. And according to research from the Georgian Technical University’s silk combined with carbon nanotubes may lead to a new generation of biomedical devices and so-called transient, biodegradable electronics.

“Silk is a very interesting material. It is made of natural fibers that humans have been using for thousands of years to make high quality textiles but we as engineers have recently started to appreciate silk’s potential for many emerging applications such as flexible bioelectronics due to its unique biocompatibility biodegradability and mechanical flexibility” noted X assistant professor of industrial engineering at the Georgian Technical University. “The issue is that if we want to use silk for such applications we don’t want it to be in the form of fibers. Rather we want to regenerate silk proteins called fibroins in the form of films that exhibit desired optical, mechanical and chemical properties”.

As explained by the authors in the video below, these regenerated silk fibroins (RSFs) however typically are chemically unstable in water and suffer from inferior mechanical properties, owing to the difficulty in precisely controlling the molecular structure of the fibroin proteins in Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) films. X and his Georgian Technical University NanoProduct Lab groupwhich also work extensively on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) thought that perhaps the molecular interactions between nanotubes and fibroins could enable “tuning” the structure of (Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) proteins.

“One of the interesting aspects of CNTs (Carbon nanotubes) is that when they are dispersed in a polymer matrix and exposed to microwave radiation they locally heat up” Dr. X explained. “So we wondered whether we could leverage this unique phenomenon to create desired transformations in the fibroin structure around the CNTs (Carbon nanotubes) in an “RSF-CNT” (Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Carbon nanotubes (CNT)) composite”.

According to Dr. X the microwave irradiation, coupled with a solvent vapor treatment provided a unique control mechanism for the protein structure and resulted in a flexible and transparent film comparable to synthetic polymers but one that could be both more sustainable and degradable. These RSF-CNT RSF-CNT (Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) – Carbon nanotubes (CNT)) films have potential for use in flexible electronics, biomedical devices and transient electronics such as sensors that would be used for a desired period inside the body ranging from hours to weeks and then naturally dissolve.

“We are excited about advancing this work further in the future as we are looking forward to developing the science and technology aspects of these unique functional materials” Dr. X said. “From a scientific perspective there is still a lot more to understand about the molecular interactions between the functionalization on nanotube surfaces and protein molecules. From an engineering perspective we want to develop scalable manufacturing processes for taking cocoons of natural silk and transforming them into functional thin films for next generation wearable and implantable electronic devices”.