Connect with us

Uncategorized

$500 Guaranteed Monthly Stimulus Check from Cambridge: Applications Open June 1

A guaranteed income program will soon start accepting applications from the residents of Cambridge, Mass. Selected recipients will receive a … Read …

Published

on

A guaranteed income program will soon start accepting applications from the residents of Cambridge, Mass. Selected recipients will receive a guaranteed monthly stimulus check from Cambridge of $500 for 18 months. Applications for the program, Rise Up Cambridge, will open on June 1, 2023.   

Guaranteed Monthly Stimulus Check From Cambridge: Who Will Get It?

The Rise Up Cambridge program aims to help households with at least one child. The program has been funded by a $22 million commitment from Cambridge. This new program is based on the city’s previous initiative, the Cambridge RISE pilot program.

The new program addresses the city’s “growing economic divide and racial inequities.” The program uses direct cash assistance as an “effective anti-poverty strategy” that allows residents to decide how to manage their financial needs and goals.

“Cambridge is utilizing this approach to positively impact some of our most vulnerable families as they strive for economic stability, access to education and opportunity, and improved health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the program’s website says.

To qualify for the guaranteed monthly stimulus check from Cambridge, an applicant must be at least 18 years old, be a resident of Cambridge and have at least one person below 21 years in the household. The income of the household must be at or below 250% of the federal poverty level.

Applicants must meet the income requirement, which depends on the number of people in the household.

For example, a household with two people must not have an annual income of more than $49,300 a year, while the threshold income for a household of three is $62,150. The income threshold increases with every additional member in the household.

Rise Up Cambridge Program: How To Apply

Selected recipients will receive a guaranteed monthly stimulus check from Cambridge of $500 for 18 months for a total of $9,000. About 2,000 families will be selected under the program. Recipients will be free to spend the money on whatever they want, and they won’t have to report the monthly payments as taxable income.

Residents who meet the eligibility requirements need to apply online. The application portal will open on June 1 and close after July 31. Applicants can use community outreach workers’ help to fill out an application.

After applying, there will be a confirmation text or email that includes a link to view the status of the application. Participants will be approved on a rolling basis, and only one application is allowed per household. It is the only guaranteed income program in the country that doesn’t use the lottery system to select the recipients.

Payments will go out on the first of each month, but if the first of the month falls on a weekend, the payment will go out the Friday before. The first payments will go out on June 30. Applicants’ confirmation notification will include the date of their first payment.

More information on the guaranteed monthly stimulus check from Cambridge can be found on the Rise Up Cambridge website.

Read More

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

New study unveils direct synthesis of FCMs via solid-state mechanochemical reaction between graphite and PTFE

A research team, led by Professor Jong-Beom Baek and his team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST have achieved a significant breakthrough…

Published

on

A research team, led by Professor Jong-Beom Baek and his team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST have achieved a significant breakthrough in battery technology. They have developed an innovative method that enables the safe synthesis of fluorinated carbon materials (FCMs) using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and graphite.

Credit: UNIST

A research team, led by Professor Jong-Beom Baek and his team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST have achieved a significant breakthrough in battery technology. They have developed an innovative method that enables the safe synthesis of fluorinated carbon materials (FCMs) using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and graphite.

Fluorinated carbon materials have garnered considerable attention due to their exceptional stability, attributed to the strong C-F bonding—the strongest among carbon single bonds. However, traditional methods of fluorination involve highly toxic reagents such as hydrofluoric acid (HF), making them unsuitable for practical applications.

In this study, the research team introduced a straightforward and relatively safe approach for scalable synthesis of FCMs through mechanochemical depolymerization of PTFE—a commonly used compound found in everyday items—and fragmentation of graphite. By utilizing ball-milling techniques that induce both mechanical and chemical reactions, they successfully produced FCMs with significantly improved performance compared to graphite.

The use of hazardous compounds like fluorine gas or HF in conventional carbon fluoride production raises safety concerns, increasing manufacturing costs associated with stringent safety measures. To address these challenges, Professor Baek’s team devised a solid-phase fluorination method using PTFE—an inert polymer known for its stability under atmospheric conditions and harmlessness when consumed orally.

Through experiments, it was observed that subjecting PTFE to higher energy than it can withstand leads to molecular chain breakage and radical formation—initiating a reaction resulting in the production of carbon fluoride complexes. These complexes then adhere to the surface and edges of graphite particles during subsequent processes.

The resulting FCMs demonstrated superior storage capacity and electrochemical stability compared to traditional graphite anodes. At a low charging rate of 50 mA/g, the FCMs exhibited storage capacities 2.5 times higher (951.6 mAh/g) than graphite, while at a high charging rate of 10,000 mA/g, their storage capacity was tenfold higher (329 mAh/g). Remarkably, even after more than 1,000 charge/discharge cycles at a rate of 2,000 mA/g, the FCMs retained 76.6% of their initial capacity compared to only 43.8% for graphite.

“This study highlights not just safe fluorination methods but also the broader potential of solid-phase reactions,” stated Boo-Jae Jang, a researcher in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST.

“This research prompts us to reconsider materials that are commonly found in our surroundings,” added Professor Baek. He further emphasized the significance of understanding solid-phase reactions as it opens doors to developing novel materials that were previously unexplored.

The study findings have been published ahead of their official publication in the online version of Advanced Functional Materials on July 27, 2023. This work has been supported through the U-K Brand and Carbon Neutrality projects of UNIST, and the Creative Research Initiative program through the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea.

Journal Reference
Boo-Jae Jang, Qiannan Zhao, Jae-Hoon Baek, et al., “Direct Synthesis of Fluorinated Carbon Materials via a Solid-State Mechanochemical Reaction Between Graphite and PTFE,” Adv. Funct. Mater., (2023).


Read More

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Sustained Bitcoin mempool congestion shows unwavering demand for Ordinals Inscriptions

Earlier this year, the market saw an unprecedented uptake of Ordinals and its associated Inscriptions. Ordinals serve as a unique numbering scheme for…

Published

on

Earlier this year, the market saw an unprecedented uptake of Ordinals and its associated Inscriptions. Ordinals serve as a unique numbering scheme for satoshis, allowing users to track and transfer individual sats. Inscriptions are a form of NFTs on Bitcoin’s network, enabling users to etch their messages on the Bitcoin blockchain. The introduction of the Ordinals theory marked a significant milestone, heralding Bitcoin’s foray into the NFT space.

When the popularity of Ordinals and Inscriptions surged, some market observers speculated that it was a fad. However, recent on-chain data suggests otherwise. The demand for Ordinals remains robust, and the Inscriptions phenomenon might not be waning for a while.

The Bitcoin mempool, a holding area for unconfirmed transactions, is a critical metric to gauge this demand. An overflowing mempool indicates a high volume of pending transactions, often leading to increased transaction fees and congestion in the Bitcoin network. The mempool hasn’t cleared since April this year, indicating sustained activity and demand.

Graph showing the number of transactions waiting in the Bitcoin mempool by a relative fee in 2023 (Source: Glassnode)

This mempool congestion correlates with a surge in the count of new Inscriptions.

According to data from Glassnode, there was a notable increase in the daily creation of new Inscriptions towards the end of April. By mid-May, 400,000 new Inscriptions were created in just one day. While a dip in June suggested a potential waning interest, the numbers bounced back. September ended with an all-time high of 450,000 new Inscriptions in a single day.

While the early days saw the dominance of image-based Inscriptions, text-based ones have now taken the lead.

ordinals inscriptions new daily count 2023
Chart showing the number of new Inscriptions created daily in 2023 (Source: Glassnode)

Bitcoin transaction fees spiked in May due to the surge in Inscriptions and the congested mempool. However, despite the continued demand for Ordinals, the fees have since stabilized. This stabilization suggests that the market has adjusted to the Inscriptions phenomenon, and the Bitcoin network has found equilibrium.

bitcoin transaction fees 2023
Graph showing the total amount of fees paid on the Bitcoin network in 2023 (Source: Glassnode)

The consistent demand for Inscriptions suggests they may have found a niche and a dedicated user base. Their impact on the Bitcoin network, especially transaction fees, and blockspace, cannot be ignored. While the initial surge might have caused some disruptions, the network’s ability to adapt and stabilize showcases its resilience.

The post Sustained Bitcoin mempool congestion shows unwavering demand for Ordinals Inscriptions appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Read More

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Nansen third-party vendor suffers security breach, user data affected

The crypto analytics provider says a security breach of a third-party vendor has affected nearly 7% of users in the system who were promptly informed of…

Published

on

The crypto analytics provider says a security breach of a third-party vendor has affected nearly 7% of users in the system who were promptly informed of the incident.

Prominent crypto and blockchain analytics company Nansen posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that one of its third-party vendors suffered a security breach affecting 6.8% of its users.

According to Nansen, the breach gave hackers access to admin rights for an account used to “provision customer access” to its platform.

Without directly naming the company affected, it said this vendor is “an established company that is used by many Fortune 500 companies,” along with other companies in the industry, to manage data. 

The users affected by the breach reportedly had their email addresses exposed, along with some password hashes, and some had their blockchain addresses compromised.

Nansen said it has identified and informed those affected and asked all to change their passwords. It also clarified that wallet funds were unaffected by the event. 

Related: PayPal’s PYUSD struggles with early adoption — Nansen

Nansen is a prominent resource in the crypto space and provides on-chain analytics about many of the industry’s major players. 

In a recent interview with Cointelegraph, Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik said that he believes in the future, a protocol will exist that creates a balance between blockchain transparency and user privacy and is compliant with regulators.

In May, the company was among many suffering the effects of the ongoing bear market, laying off around 30% of its workforce.

Magazine: How to protect your crypto in a volatile market: Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in

Read More

Continue Reading

Trending