First Paperless Public Library of World BiblioTech opened in USA

First Paperless public Library of the World BiblioTech was opened in the USA State of Texas on 4 February 2014. The traditional libraries have been replaced with high-tech gadgets that cater to both adults and children.

Registered residents of the Texas will be able to access over tens of thousands of titles from e-readers for free.

According to its website, the 1.5 million dollar BiblioTech currently has 600 e-readers, 200 pre-loaded enhanced e-readers for children, and 48 computer stations, 10 laptops and 40 tablets to use on-site.

Paperless technology will also help to manage funds. The team members aren’t tied up re-shelving, filing and categorising.

They spend most of their time providing one-on-one instruction with visitors, teaching people how to use devices and how to source materials. It’s a more interactive library experience.

Replacement costs have also been factored in to the project. Thefts can be easily prevented as devices cannot access the internet once they leave the library.

 Traditional libraries require much larger load-tolerances in construction due to the weight of materials, so are more costly to build. Book collections also require environmental controls that are costly to maintain.

Talking Cars Unveiled: USA may soon made it mandatory by 2017

USA may soon allow the talking cars to be mandatory by 2017. The announcement was made on 4 February 2014 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the US.

Talking cars is the communication technology which enables cars to send out location, speed and direction data 10 times a second.

The new vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology cars will be able to communicate with each other. This will help towards preventing tens of thousands of crashes every year.

Approval follows a test project that begun in 2012 in which vehicles equipped with wireless devices were used to warn drivers about specific hazards such as an impending collision at a blind intersection, or a vehicle stopped ahead.

Cars will also be able to communicate with infrastructure like stop signs and traffic lights, and with motorcyclists, bicyclists and even pedestrians with specially equipped smart phones. That data will enable the cars to warn drivers to slow down, brake, turn on their windshield wipers or not to change lanes.

The technology can help avert rear-end, lane change, and intersection crashes. But the systems do not include automatic braking or steering.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and safety advocates have pushed to make cars safer so passengers would be more likely to survive crashes.

Automakers seem largely on board with the technology, which would add about $100 to $300 to the cost of a car.

The full transition from current vehicle fleet to a connected fleet will take at least 10 years.

Scientist discovered Method to curb greenhouse gases

Scientists discovered a new method to convert harmful greenhouse gases into chemicals which can produce synthetic fuels on 2 February 2014.

A team of researchers at the University of Delaware has developed a highly selective catalyst capable of electrochemically converting carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) to carbon monoxide with 92 percent efficiency. The carbon monoxide then can be used to develop useful chemicals.

It was found that when a nano-porous silver electrocatalyst was used, it was 3000 times more active than polycrystalline silver, a catalyst commonly used in converting carbon dioxide to useful chemicals.

Silver is considered a promising material for a carbon dioxide reduction catalyst because of it offers high selectivity approximately 81 percent and because it costs much less than other precious metal catalysts. Additionally, because it is inorganic, silver remains more stable under harsh catalytic environments.

The exceptionally high activity is likely due to the UD-developed electrocatalyst’s extremely large and highly curved internal surface, which is approximately 150 times larger and 20 times intrinsically more active than polycrystalline silver.

The active sites on the curved internal surface required a much smaller than expected voltage to overcome the activation energy barrier needed drive the reaction.

To validate whether their findings were unique, the researchers compared the UD-developed nano-porous silver catalyst with other potential carbon dioxide electrocatalysts including polycrystalline silver and other silver nanostructures such as nanoparticles and nanowires.

The research team’s work is supported through funding from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and University of Delaware Research Foundation.

Green House gases

A greenhouse gas (sometimes abbreviated GHG) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.

The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases greatly affect the temperature of the Earth; without them, Earth's surface would average about 33 °C colder, which is about 59 °F below the present average of 14 °C (57 °F).