MindMemo(Free) Gaumont Pathé Archives.
Deutschland Devours the Last of Its 100-Watt Incandescent Bulbs. 5 October 2010—Sales of efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) rose by an aggregate of 30 percent across Europe from September 2009 through December 2009 following the first phase of a continent-wide ban on the sale of traditional incandescent bulbs, according to figures from GfK, a market research firm in Nuremberg, Germany. But a lot of people were not happy about it. In the United Kingdom and Germany, people threatened to hoard incandescents. At least a few made good on the threat and snapped up thousands of the old-school bulbs. They bought so many, in fact, that in the German market, CFL sales actually fell 5 percent by last Christmas. "In Germany and Austria there was a boom—a hoarding—on every kind of incandescent bulb," says GfK spokeswoman Alice Pirgov.
"That’s why the sales of incandescents soared in those countries, whereas the figures for compact fluorescents declined. " IEEE Spectrum searched the Berlin underground to see how well the ban is holding up. RAPID: phasing out conventional incandescent bulbs. Brussels, 1 September 2009 FAQ: phasing out conventional incandescent bulbs On 18 March 2008, the Commission adopted a regulation on non-directional household lamps which would replace inefficient incandescent bulbs by more efficient alternatives (such as improved incandescent bulbs with halogen technology and compact fluorescent lamps) between 2009 and 2012.
The following table of contents provides clickable links (while pressing on the CTRL button) to the main questions relating to this regulation. Further information on the Ecodesign Directive (2005/32/EC) and its implementing measures can be found here . For light bulbs: or www.e-lumen.eu I. Timing and level of ambition I.1. I.2. A. conventional incandescent lamp (GLS) B. conventional halogen lamps B. C. D. I.3. I.4. I.5. I.6. I.7. Statistical analysis of ambition level I.8. I.9. I.10. Industry issues I.11. I.12. I.13. I.14. Consumer issues I.15. I.16. I.17 Communicating the phase-out to consumers II. II.1. II.2. III. Paper Accelerometer Could Mean Disposable Devices. 4 February 2011—Tiny microscale accelerometers revolutionized car air-bag deployment systems in the mid-1990s. Costing a few dollars apiece and just a few millimeters wide, these sensitive microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices carved from silicon replaced a bulky, multicomponent deployment system that used to cost more than US $50.
Now researchers at Harvard have fashioned a MEMS force sensor that’s so cheap it could be disposable. It’s made from paper, and each one costs four cents. The team presented the design and experimental results of the device at the IEEE MEMS 2011 conference last week. The new device emulates the piezoresistive silicon MEMS sensors that are at the heart of many modern accelerometers. Harvard chemistry professor and paper device pioneer George Whitesides, who led the new work, says he does not expect the paper sensors to replace silicon accelerometers.
Fabricating the device requires simple tools such as a paper cutter and a painting knife. Physics World reveals its top 10 breakthroughs for 2011. The two physics stories that dominated the news in 2011 were questions rather than solid scientific results, namely "Do neutrinos travel faster than light? " and "Has the Higgs boson been found? ". However, there have also been some fantastic bona fide research discoveries over the last 12 months, which made it difficult to decide on the Physics World 2011 Breakthrough of the Year. But after much debate among the Physics World editorial team, this year's honour goes to Aephraim Steinberg and colleagues from the University of Toronto in Canada for their experimental work on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. Using an emerging technique called "weak measurement", the team is the first to track the average paths of single photons passing through a Young's double-slit experiment – something that Steinberg says physicists had been "brainwashed" into thinking is impossible.
We have also awarded nine runners-up (see below). 1st place: Shifting the morals of quantum measurement. 5Alarm. Digital HD Microscope Cameras and High Definition Medical Grade Imaging Systems for Research and Surgical Microscopy. Abraham's bosom: meaning and definitions — Infoplease.com. Tools at a glance.