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Sensing trouble: New way to detect hidden damage in bridges, roads: Engineers devise new method for monitoring structural health

The Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI) will host a webinar on “Back to Basics: Cold-Formed Steel Framing Design Guide, AISI D110-16” on Thursday, August 11, 2016 at 3:00 PM EDT. This is the seventh webinar in CFSEI’s “Back to Basics” series and is designed for architects, engineers,…

Jul 8, 2016

The Wrench Group Appoints Ken Haines as Chief Executive Officer

University of Delaware engineers Thomas Schumacher (left) and Erik Thostenson are leading research on a new technique to monitor the health of structures including roads and bridges. Aging, deterioration and extreme events like earthquakes and hurricanes can take a toll on roads, bridges and other…

Jul 7, 2016

Dow to Stop Manufacturing Powerhouse Solar Shingles

MARIETTA, Ga. — The Wrench Group announced that Ken Haines has been selected to lead the company and will assume the role of chief executive officer. Haines was formerly the president and CEO of Atlanta’s Coolray Companies, one of Wrench’s four regional brands. The company will be headquartered in…

Jul 7, 2016

OSHA Confined Spaces Rule Has Limited Application in Residential HVAC

Dow Chemical Co. will stop manufacturing its Powerhouse modules at its Midland plant. According to a letter being sent to builders dated June 28, Dow is going to accept orders for its "Powerhouse Solar System 2.0" through July 28. All shipments will be made by Aug. 10, according to the letter. All…

Jul 7, 2016

Flipping crystals triples solar-cell performance

WASHINGTON — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) Confined Spaces in Construction final rule, issued May 4, 2015, created confusion in the HVAC industry. ACCA announced that, after months of negotiations with OSHA, an agreement clarifies that the rule has very limited…

Jul 6, 2016

Consistency Leads to Choice of Metal Composite

Three types of large-area solar cells made out of two-dimensional perovskites. At left, a room-temperature cast film; upper middle is a sample with the problematic band gap, and at right is the hot-cast sample with the best energy performance. In a step that could bring perovskite crystals closer to…

Jul 6, 2016

Engineers to use cyborg insects as biorobotic sensing machines

Sign In Create Account Sign Out My Account Home News Digital Editions Online Issue Columns Project Profiles Products Blog Trade Shows Building Professional of the Month Codes Waterproofing Roofing Details Waterproofing Roofing University Low-Slope Roofs Pitched Roofs Metal Roofing Materials…

Jul 6, 2016

Coconuts could inspire new designs for earthquake-proof buildings

Locust (stock image). Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are using a locust's sense of smell to develop new biorobotic sensing devices. A team of engineers from Washington University in St. Louis is looking to capitalize on the sense of smell in locusts to create new biorobotic…

Jul 6, 2016

Insulation Market Projected to Reach $93.34 Billion by 2024

The distinct ladder-like design and angle of the vessels in coconut shells helps to dissipate energy. Coconuts are renowned for their hard shells, which are vital to ensure their seeds successfully germinate. But the specialised structure of coconut walls could help to design buildings that can…

Jul 6, 2016

Schneider Electric Names Annette Clayton to Lead North America Operations

SAN FRANCISCO — The global insulation market is forecast to reach $93.34 billion by 2024, according to a new report by Grand View Research Inc. The rising importance of energy efficient buildings owing to escalating energy costs is expected to remain a key driving factor for the global insulation…

Jul 6, 2016

Reinvented Innovation Hub Dominates Architecture Awards

ANDOVER, Mass. — Schneider Electric announced it has appointed Annette Clayton as president and CEO, North America Operations. Clayton will be based in Schneider Electric’s North America headquarters in Andover, Massachusetts, and is responsible for driving business strategy and execution for the…

Jul 5, 2016

Nexia Smart Home Devices Now Integrate with Amazon Echo

The redevelopment of a former car manufacturing plant in Adelaide’s southern suburbs into an innovation hub for high value industries has dominated the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2016 South Australian Architecture Awards Four projects at the Tonsley Innovation Hub in Adelaide’s southern…

Jul 5, 2016

Fundamental limits of invisibility cloaks determined

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Nexia™, a brand of Ingersoll Rand, has given subscribers the ability to control Nexia-certified smart home devices in their home — starting with thermostats, lighting, and plug-in wall modules — with simple voice commands through Amazon Echo. Additional features will be added…

Jul 5, 2016

Two New Products to the Commercial Polyiso Market

Click to enlarge The graph shows the trade-off between how much an object can be made transparent (scattering reduction; vertical axis) and the color span (bandwidth; horizontal axis) over which this phenomenon can be achieved. The red line represents the optimal performance achievable by a passive…

Jul 5, 2016

Grade-school students teach a robot to help themselves learn geometry

Sign In Create Account Sign Out My Account Home News Digital Editions Online Issue Columns Project Profiles Products Blog Trade Shows Building Professional of the Month Codes Waterproofing Roofing Details Waterproofing Roofing University Low-Slope Roofs Pitched Roofs Metal Roofing Materials…

Jul 5, 2016

Seaman Appoints New FiberTite VP and GM

Computer technology has become integral to the learning process. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, at the end of the last decade, some 97 percent of U.S. teachers had one or more computers located in the classroom every day, and the ratio of students to computers in the…

Jul 5, 2016

New technology could improve use of small-scale hydropower in developing nations

Seaman Corporation is pleased to announce the appointment of Scott Gipson to its FiberTite Roofing Systems division. Gipson will serve as the Vice President & General Manager of FiberTite. Gipson will be responsible for the entire value chain from production creation through post-sale support. “As…

Jul 5, 2016

Injectable biomaterial could be used to manipulate organ behavior: Silicon-based invention is tiny, soft, wirelessly functional

This image shows both a model and a working small scale hydropower system in the central Oregon Cascade Range. Engineers at Oregon State University have created a new computer modeling package that people anywhere in the world could use to assess the potential of a stream for small-scale, "run of…

Jul 5, 2016

Royalty Roofing Hires Business Development Director

These images show a mesostructured silicon particle. Left: transmission X-ray microscopy 3D data set of one region, suggesting spongy structures. The purple square measures 8.28 microns along the top edges, which is much less than the width of a human hair. Right: transmission electron microscopy…

Jul 5, 2016

CFSEI Publishes Note on Antiterrorism Design

Royalty Roofing announced the hiring of Thomas G. Hollingsworth as the company’s new Business Development Director. Most recently, Tom was President of Duro-Last Roofing, a position he held for 17 years. Prior to becoming President, Tom was Duro-Last’s Vice President of Quality Assurance and…

Jul 5, 2016

3-D paper-based microbial fuel cell operating under continuous flow condition

The Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute (CFSEI) has published a new Technical Note, “Antiterrorism Design Requirements for Cold-Formed Steel Framing” (Tech Note S100-16). While cold-formed steel can be used throughout the building as exterior and/or interior walls, floor and roof systems, this…

Jul 5, 2016

Call For Presentation Abstracts at Hawaii Winter Workshop

The device allows flow of the streams of Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1 (yellow) and the Potassium Ferricyanide (white) into the chambers. Proton exchange membrane is placed between the two chambers to separate the two liquids as well as allow the positively charged ions released in the biocatalytic…

Jul 5, 2016

New California Architecture Wins Awards

The So Cal Chapter of RCI, Inc. is seeking abstracts for presentations at the 17TH Annual Hawaii Winter Workshop for Roofing, Waterproofing & Exterior Walls. The event will be held January 23-24, 2017 at Kahala Hotel & Resort in Honolulu, HI. Professionals from roofing, waterproofing, architecture,…

Jul 5, 2016

Technique from biology helps explain the evolution of the American car

Among the latest new buildings earning kudos and green ratings in Southern California are a new university science center in San Diego and a major mixed-use living project in Glendale. Both are by Carrier Johnson + CULTURE, and today both have received prestigious Gold Nugget Awards . In addition,…

Jul 5, 2016

Summer 2016 Marks Start of U.S. Cooling Revolution

1910 Ford Model T. A UCLA-led team of researchers has taken a unique approach to explain the way in which technologies evolve in modern society. Borrowing a technique that biologists might use to study the evolution of plants or animals, the scientists plotted the "births" and "deaths" of every…

Jul 5, 2016

Seeing RNA at the nanoscale: Microscopy technique allows scientists to pinpoint RNA molecules in the brain

Summer officially began June 20th and as the temperatures warm-up, this year may mark a time when U.S. consumers really begin to warm-up to the benefits of ductless mini-split technology. According to Friedrich, a U.S.-based air conditioning manufacturer, the hot trend for summer of 2016 is a rising…

Jul 4, 2016

HVAC Value Fund Created to Acquire Southwest HVAC Businesses

Cells contain thousands of messenger RNA molecules, which carry copies of DNA's genetic instructions to the rest of the cell. MIT engineers have now developed a way to visualize these molecules in higher resolution than previously possible in intact tissues, allowing researchers to precisely map the…

Jul 4, 2016

ASHRAE and NEMA Publish Smart Grid Standard

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Sitestar Corp. has announced the creation of the HVAC Value Fund LLC along with JNJ Investments. Sitestar has committed an initial $1 million investment to the HVAC Value Fund for the purpose of acquiring and managing HVAC companies in Arizona and throughout the Southwest. This…

Jul 4, 2016

Drones to keep tabs on light pollution

ATLANTA — A newly published smart grid standard from ASHRAE and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) aims to help transform the fundamental structure of the electrical grid by combining it with an intelligent infrastructure, which will enable the two-way flow of both information…

Jul 4, 2016

Dexter + Chaney Announces Executive Team Moves

Click to enlarge The map above shows the impact of light pollution in and around the Peak District National Park, in 2009. This map was generated using data obtained from a satellite orbiting the Earth, and has been adjusted to use artificial colour. Even though approximately 16 million people live…

Jul 4, 2016