Jobs from Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency

According to research by Roger Bezdek for the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) industries created a total of 8.5 million jobs (direct and indirect) in 2006; 450,000 jobs in RE and 8 million jobs in EE throughout the United States. As many as 1 out of 4 workers in the United States will be working in RE or EE industries by 2030. The 40 million jobs are not just engineering?related, but also include millions of new jobs in manufacturing, construction, accounting, and management.  

Design and application of polycarbonate capacitors in aerospace ac power systems

Design and testing of ac polycarbonate capacitors for aerospace power system

Transient x-ray absorption spectroscopy of hydrated halogen atom

Time-resolved x-ray absorption spectroscopy monitors the transient species generated by one-photon detachment of an electron from aqueous bromide. Hydrated bromine atoms with a lifetime of ca. 17 ns were observed, nearly half of which react with excess Br- to form Br2-. The K-edge spectra of the Br atom and Br2- anion exhibit distinctive resonant transitions that are absent for the Br- precursor. The absorption spectra indicate that the solvent shell around a Br0 atom is defined primarily by hydrophobic interactions, in agreement with a Monte Carlo simulation of the solvent structure.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures + supplement, will be submitted to PR

Time-resolved refractive index and absorption mapping of light-plasma filaments in water

By means of a quantitative shadowgraphic method, we performed a space-time characterization of the refractive index variation and transient absorption induced by a light-plasma filament generated by a 100 fs laser pulse in water. The formation and evolution of the plasma channel in the proximity of the nonlinear focus were observed with a 23 fs time resolution.Comment: 3 pages, 3 picture

The state of the art of the english language teaching in Belén de Umbría (Risaralda)

El presente estudio “El estado del arte de la enseñanza del inglés en Belén de Umbría” es un caso de estudio cualitativo el cual hizo uso de un procedimiento descriptivo. Este estudio fue realizado en dos instituciones públicas de Belén de Umbría, Colombia. El objetivo de este estudio fue representar y describir las realidades de la enseñanza del inglés en las instituciones públicas con el propósito de establecer una referencia que contribuirá al desarrollo de las siguientes fases del proyecto Risaralda Bilingüe. Otro propósito que guió este proyecto fue revelar, exponer y reportar los comportamientos, estrategias y procedimientos implementados en los escenarios de la enseñanza del inglés, el cual tomó lugar en los colegios públicos en Belén de Umbría Risaralda. Los datos fueron recogidos a través del uso de observaciones, cuestionarios y entrevistas. Los datos recolectados fueron analizados con el fin de obtener los hallazgos que dieron respuesta a las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cuáles son los enfoques, métodos y técnicas implementadas en los colegios públicos en Belén de Umbría? ¿Cuáles son las percepciones de los profesores y estudiantes hacia la enseñanza del inglés? El análisis de los datos muestra resultados relacionados con los siguientes temas: El desarrollo de las clases de inglés: tendencias de enfoques, métodos y técnicas utilizadas en un colegio público de Belén de Umbría. La percepción de los estudiantes hacia el aprendizaje y el profesor de inglés. La práctica del inglés por parte de los estudiantes a través de diferentes medios y en distintos contextos diferentes a la escuela.The present study “The state of the art of the English language teaching in Belén de Umbría” is a qualitative case study that made use of a descriptive procedure. The study was conducted in two public institutions of Belén de Umbría, Colombia. The objective of this study was to represent and describe the realities of the English teaching in public institutions, with the purpose of establishing a reference that will contribute to the development of the next phases of the project Risaralda Bilingüe. Another purpose that guided this study was to reveal, expose and report on behaviors, strategies and procedures implemented in English teaching scenarios that take place in Public High Schools in Belén de Umbría Risaralda The data were gathered through the use of observations, questionnaires and interviews. The collected data was analyzed in order to obtain the findings that gave answers to the following questions: Which are the approaches, methods, and techniques implemented in state Schools in Belén de Umbría? What are teachers’ and stakeholders’ perceptions towards English Language Teaching? Data analysis shows the following results: 1. English Language class development in public scenarios 2. Students’ perception towards the English language class and the language teacher 3. Learners’ practice of English outside of the classroom

Chasing charge localization and chemical reactivity following photoionization in liquid water

The ultrafast dynamics of the cationic hole formed in bulk liquid water following ionization is investigated by ab initio molecular dynamics simulations and an experimentally accessible signature is suggested that might be tracked by femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. This is one of the fastest fundamental processes occurring in radiation-induced chemistry in aqueous systems and biological tissue. However, unlike the excess electron formed in the same process, the nature and time evolution of the cationic hole has been hitherto little studied. Simulations show that an initially partially delocalized cationic hole localizes within similar to 30 fs after which proton transfer to a neighboring water molecule proceeds practically immediately, leading to the formation of the OH radical and the hydronium cation in a reaction which can be formally written as H(2)O(+) + H(2)O -> OH + H(3)O(+). The exact amount of initial spin delocalization is, however, somewhat method dependent, being realistically described by approximate density functional theory methods corrected for the self-interaction error. Localization, and then the evolving separation of spin and charge, changes the electronic structure of the radical center. This is manifested in the spectrum of electronic excitations which is calculated for the ensemble of ab initio molecular dynamics trajectories using a quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) formalism applying the equation of motion coupled-clusters method to the radical core. A clear spectroscopic signature is predicted by the theoretical model: as the hole transforms into a hydroxyl radical, a transient electronic absorption in the visible shifts to the blue, growing toward the near ultraviolet. Experimental evidence for this primary radiation-induced process is sought using femtosecond photoionization of liquid water excited with two photons at 11 eV. Transient absorption measurements carried out with similar to 40 fs time resolution and broadband spectral probing across the near-UV and visible are presented and direct comparisons with the theoretical simulations are made. Within the sensitivity and time resolution of the current measurement, a matching spectral signature is not detected. This result is used to place an upper limit on the absorption strength and/or lifetime of the localized H(2)O((aq))(+) species. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3664746