There are a lot of international sporting events that draw the attention of viewers around the world—the World Cup comes to mind—but it’s hard to think of one that attracts as many people as the Olympic Games. Everyone is rooting for their home country or for local heroes. The first medal for the United States was won by a competitor from The Woodlands, where Rigaku Americas is located. A relative of a Rigaku employee in Japan is competing as well.
While games of this type spur national pride and inspire people to watch sports they might not normally tune in to, there is a scientific aspect to high-caliber competitions like this as well. The news items in this month’s issue of The Bridge reflect some of the research taking place before, during and after the games. There’s even aJournal of Olympic Studies, published for the Center for Sociocultural Sport and Olympic Research, that includes work by “scholars in the fields of history, philosophy, management, communication, classics, literature, anthropology, cultural studies, economics, marketing, and law.”
National rivalries are being played out on tracks, in stadiums, in pools, in boxing rings, on tennis courts, at velodromes, on the grounds of world-famous sites like the Palace of Versailles and in front of the Eiffel Tower, and even in a well-known river, where there hopefully aren’t any sharks, as depicted in the recent movie Sous la Seine (Under Paris).
The competition is fierce, and the winners will bring honor to their homelands as others before them have been doing for well over a century, in a tradition whose origins are nearly 2500 years ago. To paraphrase E. Y. Harburg, “Oh, to be in Paris now that August's here.”
In addition to the Olympic Games, August is a busy month for trade shows and other events. Check out the list below to see where you can visit Rigaku in person or online.
Upcoming Events
ICCC 2024 - International Conference on Coordination Chemistry | Fort Collins, CO | Jul 27, 2024 - Aug 2, 2024 |Website
Texas Narcotic Officers Association Conference | San Marcos, TX |Aug 4, 2024 - Aug 7, 2024 |Website
DXC 2024 | Westminster, CO | Aug 5, 2024 - Aug 8, 2024 | Website
Silicon Carbide (SiC) Materials & Devices Workshop | Fayetteville, AR| Aug 11, 2024 - Aug 12, 2024 |Website
Fire-Rescue International | Dallas, TX | Aug 13, 2024 - Aug 15, 2024 | Website
ACS Fall 2024 | Denver, CO | Aug 16, 2024 - Aug 20, 2024 |Website
Webinar: Nondestructive inspection of batteries using X-ray Computed Tomography | Aug 20, 2024 - Aug 20, 2024 |Website
Electron Crystallography School 2024 | Padua, Italy |Aug 23, 2024 - Aug 25, 2024 |Website
ECM2024 | Padova, Italy | Aug 25, 2024 - Aug 29, 2024 | Website
Mark your calendar for the Rigaku XRD Forum - Semiconductors/Thin Films/Coatings, taking place at the headquarters of Rigaku Europe SE in Neu-Isenburg, Germany, from September 3-5, 2024.
Discover the latest in X-ray diffraction technology through hands-on experience with Rigaku SmartLab diffractometers and advanced software. Benefit from insights shared by leading experts in lectures and workshops, engage in discussions on XRD topics, present research in poster sessions, and network with peers and industry leaders.
Attendance is free but limited, so early registration is encouraged.
Sequential Wavelength Dispersive XRF Spectrometer for Large Samples
Elemental analysis of solids, liquids, powders, alloys and thin films
Rigaku's unique ZSX Primus 400 sequential wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometerwas specifically designed to handle very large and/or heavy samples. Accepting samples up to 400 mm diameter, 50 mm thick and 30 kg mass, this system is ideal for analyzing sputtering targets, magnetic disks, or for multilayer film metrology or elemental analysis of large samples.
An electric-car battery can weigh thousands of pounds. As more electric cars hit the road, the race is on to find a sustainable way to deal with these batteries once they die. One startup uses a high-tech shredding system to recycle battery waste. But it can't recover all the valuable metals from it just yet.
July 9, 2024:Digital scientists are providing valuable dataand developing innovative tools and techniques to help competitors improve their performance and prevent or seek optimum recovery from injuries. One goal is to identify the conditions likely to trigger injury, and to anticipate the sporting intensity at which a player is more or less likely to end up injured.
July 25, 2024: A new term, technological doping, refers to the use of apparel or equipment that provides an unfair athletic advantage. An example of this is a kind of “super shoe” that has been created for sprinters. In previous Olympics, a specific type of swimsuit was worn by nearly all of the athletes who won gold in swimming events.
July 25, 2024:AI is changing the Olympics for athletes and fans. Tracking technology uses AI to monitor numerous points on the human body to provide biomechanical insights into an athlete’s precise physical movement. For viewers, broadcasters are using artificial intelligence to augment the vast array of information generated by each event and put it on TV screens.
July 25, 2024: Athletes from around the world are competing in the Olympics, but animals aren’t. There are some events where people wouldn’t stand a chanceif the competition was opened up to include members of the animal kingdom. Cheetahs, for example, would take all the medals in short-distance running competitions, zebras and impalas would dominate longer events, and horses would give a marathoner a run for his or her money. Many types of marine life could win on speed, although they might not survive waiting on the blocks for the starting gun!
July 26, 2024:Sports scientists are working with athletesto enhance performance and safeguarding ahead of this year’s Paris games, but on-the-ground research is a hotly debated subject. The IOC doesn’t endorse research at the games because they don’t want athletes to be harmed by scientists trying to collect measurements while the athletes are preparing to compete.
Featured Application Notes
Wild Bird Forensic
Wildlife forensic science is an analysis technique used in many different animal studies. For this type of analysis, the samples are often delicate and actively deteriorating, making it challenging to perform characterizations. To preserve the samples, they are often kept in frozen condition, but once they are removed from the freezer to undergo any examination, it is always a race against the clock to obtain the most information before they defrost. In this example, a frozen wild bird was scanned using a micro-CT scanner,CT Lab HX. Scan time was limited to less than an hour with resolution of 104.8 µm, balancing between minimizing specimen defrosting and adequate image quality suitable for a comprehensive characterization.
Rigaku Ultra Carryis a novel sample retainer disk used to preconcentrate an aqueous liquid sample onto a uniform sample carrier optimized to suppress background noise. This approach dramatically improves sensitivity, resulting in up to two orders of magnitude improvement in lower limit of detection (LLD) and thus lower limit of quantification (LLQ) over measuring liquid samples neat.
The local structure of materials is closely related to their functional properties, a subject that has been extensively studied for cathode materials,(1), (2) solid electrolytes(3)–(5) and anode materials(6), (7) for Li-ion batteries, ferroelectric materials (BaTiO3),(8)–(10) and so forth. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis is widely used to evaluate local structure in materials. The PDF G(r) is directly obtained from the Fourier transform of the structure factor S(Q), which is calculated from an experimental total scattering pattern.
In this paper, we introduce the basic functions and features of the TXS analysis plugin using actual analysis data.
Beneath the Surface: X-ray Analyses of Battery Materials and Structures
Non-Destructive Inspection of Batteries Using X-ray Computed Tomography
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 1:00 PM CDT
Did you know X-ray computed tomography (CT) can reveal structural deformities and defects and inspect for proper alignment of electrodes, separators, and electrolytes non-destructively?
X-ray CT is a powerful technique that allows non-destructive imaging of batteries. In this webinar, we will discuss important factors to consider when using X-ray CT methods to inspect batteries. We will also examine data analysis techniques to extract meaningful insight into battery structure and function.
The Opioid Matrix is a podcast for anyone looking for the latest information in the illegal drug supply chain—beginning to end. Each episode will feature a discussion with industry experts about the current opioid crisis, including drug trafficking, drug manufacturing, drug identification, drug addiction, as well as the role of government, law enforcement, new health and social programs, and more.
The Battery Lab is a podcast empowering the researchers powering the future. Every episode features insights from the industry experts, leading academics and cutting-edge research advancing batteries — and society — to the next level of safety and efficiency. From raw materials to analysis to state-of-the-art designs, if you care about fueling the future, you’ve come to the right place.
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