6,601 research outputs found
Nanostructured Conductive Polymers for Advanced Energy Storage
Conductive polymers combine the attractive properties associated with conventional polymers and unique electronic properties of metals or semiconductors. Recently, nanostructured conductive polymers have aroused considerable research interest owing to their unique properties over their bulk counterparts, such as large surface areas and shortened pathways for charge/mass transport, which make them promising candidates for broad applications in energy conversion and storage, sensors, actuators, and biomedical devices. Numerous synthetic strategies have been developed to obtain various conductive polymer nanostructures, and high-performance devices based on these nanostructured conductive polymers have been realized. This Tutorial review describes the synthesis and characteristics of different conductive polymer nanostructures; presents the representative applications of nanostructured conductive polymers as active electrode materials for electrochemical capacitors and lithium-ion batteries and new perspectives of functional materials for next-generation high-energy batteries, meanwhile discusses the general design rules, advantages, and limitations of nanostructured conductive polymers in the energy storage field; and provides new insights into future directions.University of Texas at Austin3M Non-tenured Faculty awardWelch Foundation F-1861Materials Science and Engineerin
Developing e-assessment using the quiz activity within Moodle: empowering student learning
Using formative assessment within Moodle has been shown to encourage self-directed learning (Bromham & Oprandi, 2006). Our experience of using formative assessment quizzes as stand alone entities, as well as within Moodle lessons, has been used to introduce Moodle assessment quizzes over the past year in Level 1 and Level 2 Life Sciences courses. This
experience has been distilled to inform the content of this workshop.
Some advantages of incorporating assessments in the form of Moodle quizzes are that they allow for quick, reproducible and flexible assessment with a relatively small initial set-up cost, and substantial long-term staff and administration savings. One significant advantage is that staff and room pressures can be reduced as students can attempt the assessment at a time and location of their choice within a specified time period.
This flexibility can help to reduce student stress associated with completion of a continuous assessment for their course. It is also a relatively simple process
to account for students entitled to extra time during assessments. Providing clear instructions beforehand and at the start of the quiz ensures that students understand their responsibilities for completion of this assessment and
ultimately the course.
There are some disadvantages and limitations to the system as it currently exists, for example there is the perceived ability for students to âcheatâ by completing the assessment as a group, accessing books and the internet.
Strategies to account for these can be put in place and will be discussed in detail during the workshop.
This workshop aims to take the participants through the initial set up of a quiz, highlighting the various question types and how these can be used to create a challenging assessment that can be quickly graded and prove informative
for staff and course development.
Reference
Bromham L. & Oprandi P. (2006) Evolution online: developing active and blended learning by using a virtual learning environment in an introductory biology course. Journal of Biological Education 41 (1): 21-25
The Digital Anatomist Information System and Its Use in the Generation and Delivery of Web-Based Anatomy Atlases
Advances in network and imaging technology, coupled with the availability of 3-D datasets
such as the Visible Human, provide a unique opportunity for developing information systems
in anatomy that can deliver relevant knowledge directly to the clinician, researcher or educator. A software framework is described for developing such a system within a distributed architecture that includes spatial and symbolic anatomy information resources, Web and custom servers, and authoring and end-user client programs. The authoring tools have been used to create 3-D atlases of the brain, knee and thorax that are used both locally and throughout the world. For the one and a half year period from June 1995âJanuary 1997, the on-line atlases were accessed by over 33,000 sites from 94 countries, with an average of over 4000 ââhitsââ per day, and 25,000 hits per day during peak exam periods. The atlases have been linked to by over 500 sites, and have received at least six unsolicited awards by outside rating institutions. The flexibility of the software framework has allowed the information system to evolve with advances in technology and representation methods. Possible new features include knowledge-based image retrieval and tutoring, dynamic generation of 3-D scenes, and eventually, real-time virtual reality navigation through the body. Such features, when coupled with other on-line biomedical information resources, should lead to interesting new ways for
managing and accessing structural information in medicine
Peer-to-peer and community-based markets: A comprehensive review
The advent of more proactive consumers, the so-called "prosumers", with
production and storage capabilities, is empowering the consumers and bringing
new opportunities and challenges to the operation of power systems in a market
environment. Recently, a novel proposal for the design and operation of
electricity markets has emerged: these so-called peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity
markets conceptually allow the prosumers to directly share their electrical
energy and investment. Such P2P markets rely on a consumer-centric and
bottom-up perspective by giving the opportunity to consumers to freely choose
the way they are to source their electric energy. A community can also be
formed by prosumers who want to collaborate, or in terms of operational energy
management. This paper contributes with an overview of these new P2P markets
that starts with the motivation, challenges, market designs moving to the
potential future developments in this field, providing recommendations while
considering a test-case
Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design process and fabrication
This module describes main characteristics of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). A brief history of PCBs is introduced in the first chapter. Then, the design processes and the fabrication of PCBs are addressed and finally a study case is presented in the last chapter of the module.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Emerging Approaches for THz Array Imaging: A Tutorial Review and Software Tool
Accelerated by the increasing attention drawn by 5G, 6G, and Internet of
Things applications, communication and sensing technologies have rapidly
evolved from millimeter-wave (mmWave) to terahertz (THz) in recent years.
Enabled by significant advancements in electromagnetic (EM) hardware, mmWave
and THz frequency regimes spanning 30 GHz to 300 GHz and 300 GHz to 3000 GHz,
respectively, can be employed for a host of applications. The main feature of
THz systems is high-bandwidth transmission, enabling ultra-high-resolution
imaging and high-throughput communications; however, challenges in both the
hardware and algorithmic arenas remain for the ubiquitous adoption of THz
technology. Spectra comprising mmWave and THz frequencies are well-suited for
synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging at sub-millimeter resolutions for a wide
spectrum of tasks like material characterization and nondestructive testing
(NDT). This article provides a tutorial review of systems and algorithms for
THz SAR in the near-field with an emphasis on emerging algorithms that combine
signal processing and machine learning techniques. As part of this study, an
overview of classical and data-driven THz SAR algorithms is provided, focusing
on object detection for security applications and SAR image super-resolution.
We also discuss relevant issues, challenges, and future research directions for
emerging algorithms and THz SAR, including standardization of system and
algorithm benchmarking, adoption of state-of-the-art deep learning techniques,
signal processing-optimized machine learning, and hybrid data-driven signal
processing algorithms...Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of IEE
- âŠ