White Arkitekter wins competition to redevelop storm-ravaged Queens

 

'Growing' sandbars is part of the first layer of intervention, followed by a large area of shallow 'ecological zone' (Image copyright MIR)

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One year after Hurricane Sandy swept the New York coastal area of Queens, Swedish firm White Arkitekter was named as the winner of a two-phase international competition dubbed FAR ROC ("For a Resilient Rockaway") with a scheme that addresses severe weather, sustainability and social integration.

The competition was launched in April 2013 by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and attracted 117 entries from around the world. The White proposal, developed with engineers Arup and global architecture firm Gensler, is titled _Small Means and Great Ends_ and aims to transform an 80-acre shoreline site in the Rockaways, and the neighborhood known as Arverne East, into "a resilient and affordable urban development for the community."

Rather than one over-arching solution to storm events, they propose a strategy of interconnected, small-scale interventions. This, they feel, is the strength of the scheme which creates an environment that "interacts, rather than counteracts" with the sea and natural forces. As project architect Sander Schuur explains, "if you rely on one main strategy and it goes wrong, then everything fails. Here we have several steps, and if one doesn’t work as well as we’d like, then there are others." Starting with the off-shore environment, the architects devised a new, but organically developing "sandbar landscape" as an initial breakwater. This derives from a Dutch system and uses a "geo-tube," a large fabric tube filled with sand, which will be laid out on the sea floor and, it is hoped, will attract a further buildup producing a natural barrier. At landfall, they propose setting the inhabited development back from the shoreline and creating an ecological zone of calm, shallow water that will be open to leisure activities but in times of storm will help to dissipate force as it approaches land. The idea, says Schuur, "is to take the energy away from the waves," first by the sandbank, then by the beach landscape so that by the time it hits the built area you are dealing mainly with water rise.

A new boardwalk will add another layer of intervention while also providing pedestrian access that is more resilient to high waters as it is elevated where possible and "kinked" in sections to help disperse wind and waves. Though these measures are meant to survive extreme conditions, the plan still embraces the day-to-day seaside lifestyle. Work and leisure are expected to continue at the shore; the new town center located where the boardwalk meets the new pier will accommodate a hotel, theater and sporting activities.

Spreading from the boardwalk inland, two large, landscaped parks, which the architects describe as "boulevards," will cut through the residential and commercial neighborhood. These will be designed to function both as storm-water detainment and retention and as public recreation areas. They will also become a kind of social highway, interrupting the built-up grid and connecting to the boardwalk.

The housing and commercial buildings too are designed to interact rather than counteract with designs that put important services at a higher level and leave the lower levels "openable" so that when necessary, water can move in and out again more easily. This strategy, it is hoped, will mean that the recovery time is faster as the damaged caused by water forcing through barriers and trapped inside buildings will be reduced. The housing program, as Sander Schuur explains, follows the Scandinavian model of "focusing on the people and trying to engage the community." To this end, the architects envision a set of "social nodes," – a school, town square, pier, community center – which will be aligned along a route that travels through the residential and commercial elements.

Housing will be a mixture of mostly low-rise complexes, four-story buildings, and one-bedroom to four-bedroom units. These will be set around communal courtyards, as is more commonly seen in Europe, to encourage social interaction. There will also be single-family housing. Two 12-story towers near the seafront will help to establish the identity of the seaside community and attract visitors; one will be a hotel, the other housing aimed at younger professionals. A substantial percentage of the 1,050 new units will be allocated to affordable housing. While the architects hope to produce the apartments and houses to something like Passive House standards, Schuur says the final guidelines are still being worked out. However, the use of the sandbar system and the decision to pull development back away from the shoreline are significant environmentally. Compared to strategies such as dredging to build artificial islands or constructing elaborate jetty systems, this plan is both more nuanced and less intrusive. As New York awaits a new mayoral administration, it remains to be seen how much of the plan’s ideology and social conscience will remain intact.

Source: White Arkitekter

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Measuring laser power with a mirror and a scale

 

50 kW CO2 laser in action (Photo: Laser Effects Test Facility - US Government)

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A group of researchers at NIST working with engineers from Colorado-based Scientech has developed a new approach to measuring laser power using a mirror and a scale. This method, which measures the force on the mirror driven by the radiation pressure of the laser light, presents a more rugged and more portable solution than current meters.

Since the early days of laser development, calorimetry has been used to measure laser power. The laser beam is directed into a sensor head that is typically filled with razor edges, light absorbent paint, and graphite foam, the object of which is to absorb as much of the incident laser light as possible. The laser power is then determined by measuring the rise in temperature of the sensor head, and comparing to a thermal model.

Such calorimetric measuring devices work quite well for many applications. However, if the laser is very high powered (say greater than about 10 kW), they have a strong tendency to destroy the sensor head while heating it. Also, calorimetry in its pure form (i.e., when the entire beam is directed into the sensor head) prevents measuring the laser power while the beam is actually in use. In practice, measuring the laser power for purposes of process control usually requires that a small portion of the beam be split off with a beamsplitter to have its power measured, a procedure that is neither clean nor terribly accurate when used with industrial lasers.

As an alternative, the NIST researchers decided to try to measure laser power by measuring the force generated by laser photons on a reflective plate. The advantage here is that when the laser bounces from a reflector, 99+ percent of the incident light proceeds on to whatever process (cutting, welding, etc.) is being powered by the laser beam. The intensity of the laser light can be continuously monitored while processing is ongoing.

All very good in principle, but just how much force are we talking about? The momentum of the beam of light changes direction when it reflects from a surface. Reaction to this action tells us that the surface gains equal but opposite momentum to the change of momentum of the light. If a watt of laser light reflects from a highly reflective surface at an angle of 45 degrees, the force that is exerted on the surface is roughly equal to the weight of half a microgram on Earth. This is about the weight of a fine grain of sand.

Small, and yet not too small. Rugged laboratory scales having weight resolution as small as 0.1 microgram can be bought off the shelf. To test this laser power measuring method, the NIST group teamed with engineers from Scientech, a commercial company making rugged weighing scales and laser measurement devices. They provided an off-the-shelf top loading balance with a resolution of 100 nanoNewtons (10 ug.) The laser mirror is affixed where the platen of the scale is usually mounted. The design of this scale allowed it to be turned on its side so that the laser optics could be distributed on a horizontal plane.

The NIST team then attached a 25 mm diameter front surface dielectric mirror onto the vertical shaft of the scale. The optical absorption of the mirror was less than 0.3 percent at the operating wavelength of the NIST laser, so that cooling the mirror was not a concern for these experiments.

The NIST ytterbium-doped fiber laser used can provide up to 530 watts of laser output at a wavelength of 1.07 microns. At full power, they were able to deliver as much as 3.5 uN (0.35 mg) of force to the mirror. The experiments showed the expected linear relation between measured force and laser output.

Having confirmed that the radiation pressure approach to measuring laser power worked up to 530 watts, the NIST team tried the same rig out on a 100 kW CO2 laser. To put this into perspective, this is considered the entry level power for military missile, aircraft, ground, and naval targets.

A 100 kW laser beam is quite large, about 10 cm (4 in) in diameter, and would not fit on the original mirror. In addition, the reflective coating on the original mirror did not function well at ten times its design wavelength, so that mirror was replaced by a 20 cm (8 in) diameter gold coated silicon wafer, which absorbed only 0.2 percent of the incident light when illuminated at an angle of 45 degrees. The resulting force was about 0.7 milliNewton, or the weight of 70 mg of mass, which was successfully recorded by the experimental meter without significant signs of overheating.

In particular, there was no sign that radiometric air currents were affecting the power readings. The effect of such air currents are often mistaken for radiation pressure, for example in a Crookes radiometer.

The NIST group were able to measure laser power ranging from 50-100,000 watts using a single simple technique. Only the mirrors had to be adapted to the different laser wavelength used in the study. The measured results showed both measurement noise and the total measurement uncertainty to be several percent, a figure that could easily be improved in a meter actually designed for measuring laser power. Radiation pressure laser power meters should be more portable and more rugged than the existing calorimetric meters, and in time may well equal their currently superior accuracy.

Source: NIST

Share About the Author From an early age Brian wanted to become a scientist. He did, earning a Ph.D. in physics and embarking on an R&D career which has recently broken the 40th anniversary. What he didn't expect was that along the way he would become a patent agent, a rocket scientist, a gourmet cook, a biotech entrepreneur, an opera tenor and a science writer.   All articles by Brian Dodson
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TWI reveals handheld 5 kW laser torch

 

The TWI 5 kw laser torch in operation (Photo: TWI)

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To address the challenges encountered in decommissioning a nuclear facility, the UK-based firm TWI has since 2009 been developing laser tube-cutting methods for the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It has now demonstrated a 5 kW fiber laser projector, configured rather like a rifle, that can be wielded by a single person.

Metal pipework forms a surprisingly large proportion of the total volume of contaminated material that must be removed and treated when a nuclear facility is decommissioned. Laser cutting offers benefits for cutting of contaminated tubing, in that the cutting rate can be quite fast, no reaction forces result from the cutting process, and very little spread of contaminated material occurs. However, past laser cutting systems have generally been unwieldy, cumbersome, and used cutting geometries not well suited to the nuclear jungle of densely interwoven stainless steel tubing.

The TWI handheld laser cutting torch uses laser light generated by an IPG Photonics YLS-5000 5 kW ytterbium fiber laser (Larger fiber lasers are available, and could be used to enable more powerful laser torches). Ytterbium is the same laser element as is found in YAG lasers, which share the 1.06 micron laser wavelength. While this unit is rather large (1.4 m/55 in tall, 0.85 m/33 in on a side, and weighing in excess of half a ton), it can be connected to the torch through hundreds of meters of fiber, if required.

Laser cutting is a well established manufacturing process, but the cutting geometries encountered in demolition work are very different than the usual cutting on a flat table. In particular, very little study has been made of cutting tubing from a single side, rather than cutting by rotating the tube with a fixed laser directed at the desired kerf.

The above sketch of the TWI laser cutting torch explains how single side cutting is accomplished. The output from the optical fiber is collected by a first lens, and then focused into a fine cone by a second lens. The cone must be very narrow, so that there is sufficient laser power density to cut metal at all positions within the tube walls. In the unit shown above, the focusing lens has a 500 mm (20 in) focal length, ensuring that the laser beam would be tightly focused over a wide range of distances from the torch output.

In experimental cutting of stainless steel tubes ranging in size from 25-150 mm (1-6 in) diameter, with walls from 1.5-11 mm (0.11-0.45 in) in thickness, it became clear that it was more effective to take two quick passes with the laser torch, rather than trying to sever tubes in a single pass. Otherwise, there is too much distortion of the cutting beam from penetrating the near wall of the tube to allow enough power density for a clean cut at the far wall. The cutting process is fast, with the laser torch being capable of cutting through a 150-mm (6-in) stainless steel tube with a 1.5 mm (0.06 in) thick wall in less than 30 seconds.

You can get an idea of the impact of a tool like this in the very enjoyable video below. Also, the image gallery has a picture of the result of 15 minutes of demolition using the laser torch on a mixed bag of tubes and fixtures.

Source: TWI

Share About the Author From an early age Brian wanted to become a scientist. He did, earning a Ph.D. in physics and embarking on an R&D career which has recently broken the 40th anniversary. What he didn't expect was that along the way he would become a patent agent, a rocket scientist, a gourmet cook, a biotech entrepreneur, an opera tenor and a science writer.   All articles by Brian Dodson
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New process recycles rare earth elements from wastewater

 

Scientists have had success at capturing rare earth elements diluted in industrial wastewater

Rare earth elements are an integral part of many of today's electronic devices, serving as magnets, catalysts and superconductors. Unfortunately, these minerals are also ... well, rare, and thus very pricey. Recently, however, scientists discovered that some of them can be reclaimed from industrial wastewater, instead of being mined from the earth.

The researchers, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, already knew that a nanomaterial known as nano-magnesium hydroxide (nano-Mg(OH)2) could remove some metals and dyes from wastewater. It was also known that the rare earth elements in wastewater tend to be very diluted, and thus quite difficult to remove in a practical, inexpensive fashion.

After studying the manner in which nano-Mg(OH)2 works, the scientists proceeded to produce special flower-shaped nanoparticles of the material. In lab tests that replicated real-world conditions, these particles were able to capture over 85 percent of the rare earth elements diluted in water samples. By subsequently adjusting the pH, it was possible to then separate the captured minerals from the nano-Mg(OH)2.

“Recycling REEs from wastewater not only saves rare earth resources and protects the environment, but also brings considerable economic benefits,” the team stated in a paper on the research, which was recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

Source: American Chemical Society

Share About the Author An experienced freelance writer, videographer and television producer, Ben's interest in all forms of innovation is particularly fanatical when it comes to human-powered transportation, film-making gear, environmentally-friendly technologies and anything that's designed to go underwater. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where he spends a lot of time going over the handlebars of his mountain bike, hanging out in off-leash parks, and wishing the Pacific Ocean wasn't so far away.   All articles by Ben Coxworth http://twitter.com/bencoxworth
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Magnum unveils multi-use MK5 track-car

The MK5's mid-mounted 4-cylinder engine develops 250 hp, delivering a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 240 km/h (150 mph)

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Relatively unknown in the automotive mainstream, Canada’s Magnum began building open-wheeled race cars and specialized parts in the late 1960s. Now the boutique manufacturer from Quebec has moved to the streets with the introduction of the open-aired, dual-purpose Magnum MK5.

Described as "wedging itself between expensive supercars and track-day cars," the MK5 sports a mid-mounted 4-cylinder engine developing 250 hp married to a 6-speed sequential gearbox. It weighs just 1,200 lbs (545 kg), making for a power-to-weight ratio of 460 bhp per tonne. This ratio helps the car produce a reported 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 240 km/h (150 mph), putting it squarely into international performance waters with Mexico’s VUHL 05, France’s BAC Mono, Austria’s KTM X-Bow GT and most recently New Zealand’s Zenos E10.

Like the other multi-purpose street/track racers in this group, handling is perhaps higher on the priority list than commuter functionality. Magnum’s claim of managing 2G’s on the skidpad could be due in part to its combination of composite body materials, big performance rubbers and a race inspired suspension configuration. On the outside corners, 225/40 R18 tires up front and 265/35 R18 out back attached to 18 inch alloy wheels keep the car on the road. The MK5’s pushrod suspension geometry and inboard 2-way adjustable dampers are similar in concept to systems used in Formula 1 and Lamborghini’s Aventador.

On the design side, the French-Canadian firm certainly seems to have embodied its own language in the modular carbon fiber composite bodywork of the MK5. From a forward three-quarter view, design influences from Acura and Audi spring to mind in the hood and fender department. The MK5’s long nose is also counter to the short-overhang treatments typically used on most track cars. The exaggerated butterfly shape between the front and rear haunches is both visually striking and functional in providing air to the engine and brakes for cooling. The rear section of the car, with its deep inset taillights and linear, boxy finish, speaks to a time when Transformers will walk the earth.

Inside the MK5, drivers and passenger are kept in place by race-inspired carbon fiber seats and 6-point racing harnesses. A built-in GPS-enabled lap-timer, mounted on the removable suede steering wheel gives track feedback during the weekend race events. According to Magnum there’s enough storage space on board for two helmets and a briefcase, so extended camping trips may not be part of the equation.

Magnum says the base price includes “carbon-fiber bodywork and seats, removable racing steering wheel, data-logger system, cockpit adjustable brake bias, rear-view camera & monitor, 6-point racing harnesses, fully adjustable racing dampers and anti-roll bars, ultra-high performance tires, 18-inch ultra-lightweight alloy wheels, and limited-slip differential.”

The Magnum MK5 will be built on an order basis, with an initial annual production rate of 20 cars. Prices start at US$139,000 and deliveries are projected to begin in late 2014.

Source: Magnum Cars

Share About the Author Born on the cold, barren Canadian plains of Calgary, Alberta, Angus MacKenzie couldn’t decide between marketing, automotives or an entrepreneurial path - so he chose all three. When not writing, Angus has for the past six years been Editor-in-Chief for elemente, an internationally recognized architecture/design magazine.   All articles by Angus MacKenzie
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Nexus 5 vs. Galaxy S4

Gizmag compares the features and specs of the new LG/Google Nexus 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4

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Last year's Nexus 4 was a high-end phone that sold for a budget price. This year's Nexus 5 kicks it up another notch, offering the best specs a US$350 phone has ever offered. How does it compare to 2013's most popular Android flagship, the Galaxy S4? Read on.

Look familiar? Sizes are very similar, with the biggest difference being the GS4's eight percent thinner frame.

Another encouraging sign for the Nexus 5, as it's the same light weight as the Galaxy S4.

Both phones are plastic, but the Nexus 5 has a matte build (similar to the 2013 Nexus 7), which should feel different from the glossy plastic GS4.

Resolutions are identical, and screen sizes are roughly the same. The Nexus 5 has an IPS display, which should have more toned-down, realistic colors than the hyper-saturated AMOLED screen in the Galaxy S4.

Both phones are very fast, but the Nexus 5 has the advantage with its Snapdragon 800 processor.

Note that the CPU listed above is for the LTE version of the Galaxy S4. The HSPA model, available in some countries, has an octa core Samsung Exynos processor, clocked at 1.9 GHz.

Both phones also have 2 GB of RAM.

The Galaxy S4 gives you more storage options, as well as microSD card support.

This might be the most notable upgrade from last year's Nexus 4. It technically had LTE capabilities, but its software disabled it. The Nexus 5 gives you LTE by default, making it a much better buy in markets that offer the speedy cellular data network.

The GS4 holds a bit more juice, but we'll have to wait a while for some Nexus 5 battery tests.

The GS4 wins on megapixels, but as you may know, that doesn't necessarily translate to better pictures. That's another front we'll have to stay tuned on. One bonus that the Nexus 5's camera gives you is optical image stabilization, which should help to cut down on the effects of camera shake.

No IR blaster in the Nexus 5, so only the GS4 will let you change channels on your TV.

Pretty much a standard on modern high-end Android phones, both phones have NFC chips.

Carriers are just beginning to roll out their Android 4.3 updates for the Galaxy S4, so the Nexus 5 will launch two full versions ahead of many GS4s. It runs the brand new Android 4.4 KitKat, with its redesigned launcher (home screen), voice activated ("OK Google") search from that home screen, improved phone app, and much more.

We could write a book on the GS4's software, thanks to Samsung's kitchen sink feature strategy. Feel free to hit up our comparison of the GS4 to the HTC One for more on the Galaxy S4's TouchWiz features.

We aren't quite in the "bad time to buy" zone for the Galaxy S4, but if next year's release cycle is the same, then we're probably about halfway towards the Galaxy S5. The Nexus 5, of course, just hit Google Play today.

Speaking of Google Play, that's the best place to buy the Nexus 5 ... or at least it is if you can get your hands on one. Minutes after going on sale, shipments were delayed to a week. As of the time of this writing, the 16 GB version is completely sold out, and the 32 GB model ships in three to four weeks.

But if you can snag one from Google Play, you can get quite a deal on the new Nexus. Good luck finding another phone with specs anywhere near this good for US$350 off-contract. The GS4's off-contract price varies, but $630 seems to be the default. That's an 85 percent premium over the Nexus 5, which is arguably the higher-end phone.

The unfortunate thing is that right now, the easiest way to get the Nexus 5 is to buy it on-contract from your carrier. You might still get it for cheaper than the GS4, but something is diminished when you're signing your life away for two years in order to get it.

If this plays out anything like the Nexus 4 did last year, then it might be at least a couple of months before Nexus 5 inventory catches up in Google Play. We'll have to wait for our review to offer our assessment of the Nexus 5, but from where we stand now, we wouldn't be surprised if the $350 version from Google Play is, dollar for dollar, the best smartphone out there.

Share About the Author Will Shanklin covers consumer technology for Gizmag. He's previously written for Android Central, Geek, GottaBeMobile, Android Police, and The Huffington Post.
He lives in New Mexico, U.S., with his lovely wife, Jessica.
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Gaia launch delayed over dicey components

Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way (Photo: ESA/ATG medialab; background image: ESO/S. Brunier)

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The Gaia mission to map a billion stars in the Milky Way has been delayed for about two months by the European Space Agency (ESA). X-band transponders used in other satellites have begun to fail, so the ESA has decided to replace those modules prior to launching. The likely blastoff date will be in late December of this year.

The Gaia mission is intended to map the position and velocity of a billion stars in the Milky Way to support ongoing studies on galactic dynamics. The main instrument for this mapping is a gigapixel camera, by far the most complex ever launched into space. The Gaia satellite will orbit near the L2 point positioned about 1.5 million kilometers behind Earth.

Gaia will produce a three-dimensional map of our galaxy. The map will be missing most of the Milky Way's stars (only including one billion of a total of some 400 billion), but this will cover our galactic region in considerable detail, and will provide much needed information about more distant and dust-obscured regions. The positions will be solid to about 24 microarcseconds, which is the width of a human hair at a distance of 1,000 km (621 mi).

As a "free" side result, Gaia is expected to find hundreds of thousands of asteroids and comets in the solar system, perhaps 7,000 exoplanets, 20,000 supernovae, and hundreds of thousands of quasars. Clearly, the analysis of Gaia's petabyte (one million gigabytes) of data will continue long after its five-year mission is complete.

Source: ESA

Share About the Author From an early age Brian wanted to become a scientist. He did, earning a Ph.D. in physics and embarking on an R&D career which has recently broken the 40th anniversary. What he didn't expect was that along the way he would become a patent agent, a rocket scientist, a gourmet cook, a biotech entrepreneur, an opera tenor and a science writer.   All articles by Brian Dodson
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