Researchers from Lund University in Sweden and from Fudan University in China have successfully designed a new structural organization using the promising solar cell material perovskite. The study shows that solar cells increase in efficiency thanks to the material’s ability to self-organise by standing on edge.

The current research study deals with perovskite, a new and promising material in the context of solar cells. However, in its regular form, the material is very sensitive to moisture. It simply dissolves in contact with water, and even normal humidity deteriorates the material within hours or minutes. Now the researchers appear to have overcome that problem.

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For years, scientists have been warning of a so-called “hot spot” of accelerated sea-level rise along the northeastern U.S. coast. But accurately modeling this acceleration as well as variations in sea-level rise from one region to another has proven challenging.

Now an upcoming paper in Geophysical Research Letters offers the first comprehensive model for understanding differences in sea level rise along North America’s East Coast. That model incorporates data not just from atmospheric pressure and ocean dynamics—changing currents, rising ocean temperatures and salinity all influence sea level—but also, for the first time, ice mass change in Greenland and Antarctica. The researchers say their model supports a growing consensus that sea level rise began accelerating in 1990 and that what they found will improve estimates of future sea level rise at a local level.

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Gardeners know the frustration of a false spring. Coaxed outside by warm weather, some people plant their gardens in the spring only to see a sudden late frost strike at the plants with a killer freezer burn. Grumbling green thumbs, along with farmers and water supply managers, would benefit from more accurate predictions of the first and last frosts of the season.

Such timing is in flux, however. The frost-free season in North America is approximately 10 days longer now than it was a century ago. In a new study, published today in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Utah and the U.S. Geological Survey parse the factors contributing to the timing of frost in the United States. Atmospheric circulation patterns, they found, were the dominant influence on frost timing, although the trend of globally warming temperatures played a part as well.

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Es interesante observar la evolución de la sustentabilidad desde un punto de vista empresarial y holístico. A inicio de año diversas empresas transnacionales que vienen desde hace años trabajando en temas de sustentabilidad (Unilever, Nestle, DuPont, BASF, etc.) comparten sus prioridades y sus acciones para hacer su parte, pero ¿Cómo se aplica esto a los empleados, desarrollar el talento, mejorar la retención y sobre todo comprometer plenamente a toda la organización?

Una idea que ha sido desarrollada recientemente menciona que el éxito de la sustentabilidad en una organización se camina en 4 etapas que son:

En la etapa inicial o básica, un pequeño número de empleados voluntarios participan en actividades de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial con los objetivos de eficiencia y ahorro de costos.

En la etapa intermedia, un departamento de RSE gestiona actividades de sustentabilidad que promueven la eficiencia operativa interna, es en este momento que la sustentabilidad comienza a integrarse en las metas de la empresa.

La tercera etapa o de mejorar la cultura organizacional busca promover la salud, el bienestar y una actitud de compromiso y ser parte del cambio en los empleados, con una mayor integración de la sustentabilidad en el producto y en los procesos de la empresa.

Y en la última etapa, que es la etapa estratégica, la empresa mira hacia el exterior integrando las acciones de la organización con la comunidad, utilizando la sustentabilidad como la base de su modelo de negocio.

 

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NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer are preparing for an unscheduled spacewalk outside the International Space Station Tuesday, May 23. Live coverage will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Whitson, Expedition 51 commander, and Fischer, flight engineer, will replace a critical computer relay box that failed May 20. The relay box, known as a multiplexer-demultiplexer (MDM), is one of two units that regulate the operation of radiators, solar arrays and cooling loops. They also route commands to other vital station systems.

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Los altos niveles de contaminación atmosférica a lo largo del tiempo pueden obstaculizar el sueño de una buena noche, según una nueva investigación presentada en la Conferencia Internacional ATS 2017. "Estudios anteriores han demostrado que la contaminación del aire afecta la salud del corazón y afecta la respiración y la función pulmonar...

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