Time to Adjust: Changes to the 2016 NFPA 72

Excerpted from page 94 of Electrical Contractor Magazine. 

The Mystery of the Flickering Star

This development was just too cool to pass up. Recently, professional and citizen scientists in the Planet Hunter program using the Kepler Space Telescope picked up on a bizarre occurrence - a flickering star.  Located around 1,500 light years away, the star has been labeled KIC 8462852. Out of the approximately 150,000 stars that the telescope observes, this one star is somehow displaying unusual, irregular flashes light.

Theories as to what may have caused this phenomenon are varied. An astronomer at Yale University, Tabetha Boyajian, wrote that " the scenario most consistent with the data in hand is the passage of a family of exocomet fragments, all of which are associated with a single previous breakup event."

Others brought up the possibility that this event could be a confirmation of alien life, exploring that "the mysterious dips in light were due to massive structures built around the star by an advanced civilization."

Who really knows? The Kepler Space telescope was damaged in 2013 so researchers have less data to work with and unfortunately will have a hard time figuring out just what is happening 1,500 light years away.

Read more here: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/kepler-space-telescope-mysterious-objects-raise-questions-bizarre/story?id=34494182
Tabetha Boyajian's Report in the Monthly Notes of the Royals Astronomical Society: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1509.03622v1.pdf

How portobello mushrooms are going to replace graphite in batteries.

"Can portabella mushrooms stop cell phone batteries from degrading over time?

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside Bourns College of Engineering think so.

They have created a new type of lithium-ion battery anode using portabella mushrooms, which are inexpensive, environmentally friendly and easy to produce. The current industry standard for rechargeable lithium-ion battery anodes is synthetic graphite, which comes with a high cost of manufacturing because it requires tedious purification and preparation processes that are also harmful to the environment.

With the anticipated increase in batteries needed for electric vehicles and electronics, a cheaper and sustainable source to replace graphite is needed. Using biomass, a biological material from living or recently living organisms, as a replacement for graphite, has drawn recent attention because of its high carbon content, low cost and environmental friendliness.

Diagram showing how mushrooms are turned into a material for battery anodes.

UC Riverside engineers were drawn to using mushrooms as a form of biomass because past research has established they are highly porous, meaning they have a lot of small spaces for liquid or air to pass through. That porosity is important for batteries because it creates more space for the storage and transfer of energy, a critical component to improving battery performance.

In addition, the high potassium salt concentration in mushrooms allows for increased electrolyte-active material over time by activating more pores, gradually increasing its capacity.

A conventional anode allows lithium to fully access most of the material during the first few cycles and capacity fades from electrode damage occurs from that point on. The mushroom carbon anode technology could, with optimization, replace graphite anodes. It also provides a binderless and current-collector free approach to anode fabrication.

“With battery materials like this, future cell phones may see an increase in run time after many uses, rather than a decrease, due to apparent activation of blind pores within the carbon architectures as the cell charges and discharges over time,” said Brennan Campbell, a graduate student in the Materials Science and Engineering program at UC Riverside.

The research findings were outlined in a paper, “Bio-Derived, Binderless, Hierarchically Porous Carbon Anodes for Li-ion Batteries,” published today (Sept. 29) in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. It was authored by Cengiz Ozkan and Mihri Ozkan, both professors in the Bourns College of Engineering, and three of their current or former graduate students: Campbell, Robert Ionescu and Zachary Favors.

Nanocarbon architectures derived from biological materials such as mushrooms can be considered a green and sustainable alternative to graphite-based anodes, said Cengiz Ozkan, a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering.

The nano-ribbon-like architectures transform upon heat treatment into an interconnected porous network architecture which is important for battery electrodes because such architectures possess a very large surface area for the storage of energy, a critical component to improving battery performance.

One of the problems with conventional carbons, such as graphite, is that they are typically prepared with chemicals such as acids and activated by bases that are not environmentally friendly, said Mihri Ozkan, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. Therefore, the UC Riverside team is focused on naturally-derived carbons, such as the skin of the caps of portabella mushrooms, for making batteries.

It is expected that nearly 900,000 tons of natural raw graphite would be needed for anode fabrication for nearly six million electric vehicle forecast to be built by 2020. This requires that the graphite be treated with harsh chemicals, including hydrofluoric and sulfuric acids, a process that creates large quantities of hazardous waste. The European Union projects this process will be unsustainable in the future.

The Ozkan’s research is supported by the University of California, Riverside.

This paper involving mushrooms is published just over a year after the Ozkan’s labs developed a lithium-ion battery anode based on nanosilicon via beach sand as the natural raw material. Ozkan’s team is currently working on the development of pouch prototype batteries based on nanosilicon anodes.

The UCR Office of Technology Commercialization has filed patents for the inventions above."

Source: http://www.upworthy.com/what-do-portobello-mushrooms-have-to-do-with-better-batteries-everything?c=utw1&utm_content=buffer4bdcf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

U.S. Green Building Council Study Says "Green Building is Outpacing Overall Construction Growth"

"The green building sector is outpacing overall construction growth in the U.S. and will account for more than 2.3 million American jobs this year, according to a new U.S. Green Building Council study from Booz Allen Hamilton.

The 2015 Green Building Economic Impact Study, released today by USGBC and prepared by Booz Allen, finds the green building industry contributes more than $134.3 billion in labor income to working Americans. The study also found that green construction's growth rate is rapidly outpacing that of conventional construction and will continue to rise.

By 2018, the study finds, green construction will account for more than 3.3 million U.S. jobs–more than one-third of the entire U.S. construction sector–and generate $190.3 billion in labor earnings. The industry's direct contribution to U.S. Gross Domestic Product  is also expected to reach $303.5 billion from 2015-2018.

"Green building is playing a massive role in the U.S. construction sector, the clean and efficient energy sector and the U.S. economy as a whole," said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO and founding chair, USGBC. "More than 2.3 million U.S. workers are taking home $134 billion annually in large part because of green building programs like LEED. Demand for green building will only continue to grow as individuals, businesses and institutions continue to prioritize sustainable approaches to the design, construction and operations of our built environment."

The new USGBC analysis also explores the multifaceted economic contribution of green construction to the U.S. economy and individual U.S. states, quantifying the economic impact of green building and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). 

"Our research shows that green building has created millions of jobs and contributed hundreds of billions of dollars to the U.S. economy, with the construction of LEED-certified buildings accounting for about 40 percent of green construction's overall contribution to GDP in 2015," said David Erne, a Senior Associate at Booz Allen. "This industry is certainly on the rise, and aggressive growth in the green building sector is anticipated over the next four years."

In addition to national jobs, GDP and labor earnings from green building, the study projects significant growth in green building's contribution to individual states' tax contributions and environmental asset indicators at both the national and state levels.

Total state earnings related to LEED building construction projects are estimated to total $8.4 billion by 2018. In Texas alone, almost 1.26 million jobs in the green building sector are projected between 2015 and 2018. As a result, green building will also contribute to significant savings across energy, trash, water and maintenance costs."

Source: http://www.plumbingengineer.com/content/usgbc-study-says-green-building-outpacing-overall-construction-growth%E2%80%8B

How Electrical Stimulation to the Brain Can Be the Answer to Many Issues Facing Humans Today

Before the realization that deep brain stimulation, or "using mild electrical shocks to targeted parts of the brain with the purpose of affecting how they function," could be used to treat a multitude of neurological issues, doctors were lost. Now, as technological and medical innovations are increasing tenfold, scientists are testing to see if deep brain stimulation can transform mental health disorders and even behavior. 

The Smithsonian Magazine summarized recent brain stimulation research quite well:

"Slowing down Alzheimer’s: 

Alzheimer’s disease remains one of medicine’s most daunting challenges, both in terms of pinpointing a cause and developing a truly effective treatment. Now a team led by scientists at Johns Hopkins University is conducting a clinical trial to see if deep brain stimulation can slow memory loss and cognitive decline.

The research involves placing implants into the brains of about 40 patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease and measuring progression of the disease over an 18-month period. Specifically, the devices are being implanted in the patients’ fornix—a bundle of nerve fibers connecting the left and right sides of the hippocampus. That’s the region of brain associated with memory. The theory is that brain stimulation in this area could slow the rate of damage to the fornix and even create new brain cells in the hippocampus. 

The most recent phase of the trial, expected to last four years, focused on the safety of the implants in Alzheimer’s patients. So far, it has found no serious adverse effects.

So long to the big queasy?:  

Researchers at Imperial College London say that brain stimulation could even be used to ease motion sickness. Scientists aren’t absolutely certain what causes the queasy sensation, but they believe it has to do with the brain trying to process conflicting signals from our ears and our eyes when we’re in motion. Previous research has determined that a well-functioning vestibular system—that’s the part of the inner ear that senses movement—makes it more likely that someone will feel that nauseating sensation.

So, the researchers wondered what would happen if they used an electric current to mute the signals from the vestibular system to the brain. They worked with 10 men and 10 women volunteers who agreed to wear a cap fitted with electrodes and then, for 10 minutes, receive a mild electrical current designed to inhibit brain cell activity. That was followed by a ride on a chair that rotated and tilted at different speeds to make them feel sick.

It turned out that those who received stimulation that reduced brain cell activity were less likely to feel nauseous and recovered more quickly than people whose brains were stimulated to boost cell activity. Now, the researchers are talking with potential partners about developing a portable anti-nausea stimulation device you could pick up at the drug store. 

Memories are made of this:

 At a conference earlier this month, DARPA, the research arm of the Defense Department, announced that as part of a study it has funded, patients who were given brain implants scored better on memory tests. Traumatic brain injuries are a big issue for the U.S. military—almost 300,000 members of the service have been treated for one since 2000. So DARPA is leading research efforts into how electrical stimulation might be used to help people with damaged brains create and retrieve memories.

Scientists having been working with brain surgery patients who have volunteered to be part of the memory project. The goal is to more clearly identify the process for how the brain forms and recalls memories and then use mild shocks from implants to recreate that process. It’s only a year into the project, but DARPA says that based on the results so far, it appears possible to map and interpret the neural signals coming from a brain as it encodes or retrieves a memory, and then actually improve that recall by electrically stimulating targeted sections of the brain.

Put down that cigarette:

 Another project in the early stages is looking at how brain stimulation might help people fight cravings for cigarettes or unhealthy food. Caryn Lerman, senior deputy director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center, recently received a grant to investigate whether applying electrical shocks to sections of the prefrontal cortex behind the forehead—a brain region tied to self-control—can help people resist urges to engage in unhealthy behavior.

The idea is that if targeted correctly, this stimulation could strengthen pathways being used to fight the desire to light up. Preliminary results of an experiment involving 25 smokers found that after a 20-minute session with electrical stimulators strapped to their foreheads, people were able to wait longer before they reached for a cigarette than those who received a placebo treatment.  They also smoked fewer cigarettes.

Stroke recovery:

 Scientists at the Cleveland Clinic have applied to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for permission to begin testing deep brain stimulation on human stroke victims. The treatment seemed to have worked with rats—it appeared to promote the growth of new neurons in the brain.

Not that anyone thinks that this can provide a cure for strokes. When they occur, the blood supply to the brain is cut off and some areas just shut down, while communication to other regions is disrupted. Electrical stimulation can’t bring dead neurons back to life. But it could help create new neural connections, particularly in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls voluntary movements. The hope is that parts of the brain that are still healthy would then be better able to compensate for damaged ones.

About 800,000 people in the U.S. suffer strokes every year. And, according to the National Stroke Association, about half of those who survive become severely debilitated.

Boosting empathy: 

But what about using brain stimulation to change how people feel?  Researchers at Harvard University and Vanderbilt University have ventured into that territory with an experiment related to the doling out of justice.

They presented 66 volunteers with stories about a fictitious person named John—specifically they related a range of crimes he had committed and his mental condition when he had committed them. Beforehand, some of the participants were given a form of brain stimulation that could disrupt activity in the prefrontal cortex, which plays a key role not just in self-control, but also decision-making. For others, the stimulation device was attached, but never turned on.

The volunteers were asked to decide how blameworthy John was and also to determine, on a scale of 0 to 9, how extreme his punishment should be. What the researchers found is that the people whose brain activity was disrupted chose less severe punishments." 

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/six-ways-electrical-brain-stimulation-could-be-used-future-180956690/?no-ist

Fire Protection Week, Coming October 4th through the 10th, 2015

The National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) 2015 Fire Prevention Week is coming! From October 4th to the 10th, the NFPA is campaigning the theme "Hear the Beep Where You Sleep: Every Bedroom Needs a Working Fire Alarm". Started in 1922, Fire Prevention Week commemorates the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which caused an astounding amount of damage: burning more than 2,000 acres, killing more than 250 people, leaving around 100,000 homeless, and destroying more than 17,400 structures.

In an online questionnaire distributed by the NFPA, 42 percent of the 36,000 respondents were not aware that smoke alarms are necessary inside every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of a home (including the basement). The NFPA intends to fix these worrying statistics with tons of fun Fall activities, challenges, and facts that make learning about fire safety even more fun. Smoke alarms save lives and the more you know about protecting your home, the better.

Take the 2015 Fire Prevention Week Quiz after reading up on fire safety to test your knowledge on smoke alarm safety today! http://www.nfpa.org/safety-information/fire-prevention-week/fire-prevention-week-quiz

NorCal NECA's 2015 Project Excellence Awards

Intrepid Electronic Systems would like to congratulate Collins Electrical Company for the Project Excellence Award they just won from the Northern California Chapter of NECA! Collins demonstrated contracting expertise in their "Mountain House High School Increment 2" project in Mountain House and their "Memorial Medical Center Emergency Department Remodel Phase I" in Modesto.

Using technologically advanced lighting control, communication, and safety system equipment, Collins created a progressive campus that included two classroom buildings, an administration building, a gymnasium, a multi-use food services building, a sports field, and a football stadium.

"The project shows very well as the use of the BIM system provided the exact layout, and the installation is spot on. Collins Senior Project Manager Wen Luu said that the Mountain House project was a 'successful coordinated effort to build multiple high-end buildings, classrooms, and the stadium. Had it not been for the teamwork of the owner and the design team, this would not have been possible.'"

Greg Armstrong, Executive Director of the Northern California Chapter, NECA, went on to comment that "NECA's Project Excellence Awards program allows our electrical contractors and the project team members to be recognized for excellence in construction. NECA contractors not only perform specialized electrical work, but also follow sustainable practices to ensure the highest level of energy efficiency in new construction and retrofitted projects. This prestigious recognition gives them an opportunity to market their achievements."

Along with Collins Electrical Company, these other marvelous NECA electrical contractors and their project team members received honors for construction excellence:

• BECI Electric, Inc. (Oakland) for City of Berkeley Streetlighting LED Conversion (Berkeley)
• Columbia Electric, Inc. (San Leandro) for Cayetano Park (Livermore)
• Del Monte Electric Co., Inc. (Dublin) for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, Flexlab (Berkeley)
• Long Electric (Napa) for Genentech CCp-2 Return to Service (Vacaville)
• Napa Electric Shop (Napa) for Hall Winery Phase 3B (St. Helena)
• Ray's Electric (Oakland) for Automated License Plate Recognition (City of Piedmont)
• Smith & Sons Electric, Inc. (Fremont) for Berkeley West Branch Library (Berkeley)
• St. Francis Electric (San Leandro) for Downtown Napa Traffic Signal Modification (Napa)
• Trinity EMCS, Inc. (Benicia) for City of Berkeley West Branch Library (Berkeley)   

Source: http://news.theregistrysf.com/northern-california-chapter-neca-presents-project-excellence-awards/