Taming quirky ceramics
Article Abstract:
Temperature, current density, and magnetic field govern whether a conductor will superconduct or conduct current with zero resistance. All recent superconducting advances have involved ceramics, rather than metals or other substances. To date the ceramics of yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) have dominated, superconducting at four-to-five times the temperature of niobium alloys and compounds - but at far inferior current densities. However, encouraging advances in processing and fabrication techniques are increasing ceramics' superconducting current densities. Materials research is now the key to superconductivity. Researchers are working hard to make yttrium compounds more flexible and to decrease their usual sensitivity to oxygen content and environmental conditions. Finding suitable cladding material for ceramic superconductors is a problem of intense concern.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1988
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Contract research gains adherents for its flexibility and low overhead
Article Abstract:
Corporations can gain the advantage of research operations, without the expense of overhead and new staff and equipment, when they use contract research organizations. Many US contract research firms began after World War II, such as SRI International, Southwest Research Institute, Midwest Research Institute, and Southern Research Institute. Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, OH is the world's largest independent R&D firm. Xerography is Battelle's largest commercial success. Chester Carlson, the owner of the xerography patent, had unsuccessfully offered his invention to 20 other companies before Battelle accepted it in exchange for royalties. Many corporations prefer to work with research firms rather than universities, due to the emphasis on applied research, as opposed to theoretical research.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1990
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Technology in medicine: too much too soon?
Article Abstract:
Growing cost and incomplete data on effectiveness causes many observers to question whether high-technology diagnostic and treatment equipment may be over-used in the US medical community. The cost of health care in 1989 absorbs 12 percent of the gross national product, as compared with six percent in 1964. With the advent of Medicare and health insurance, neither the patient nor the doctor has an incentive to keep costs down. The Federal Food and Drug Administration tests and regulates new products but cannot control the rate of use. Such new technology as implantable defibrillators, magnetic resonance imaging, and cathode ray tube scanning entered the market at various rates and with various reports of success. Among possible solutions are Medicare reforms and a payment system based on Canada's.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1989
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- Abstracts: Technology '84: Medical Electronics. Technology '84: Education. Learning from Elsewhere
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