The work to be published Oct 14 in the journal Nature Communications could lead to new types of biological sensors flow valves
Additional observations made using the Very Long Baseline Array--an interferometer consisting of 10 identical antennas distributed across the United states
and optimization of the device which is based on a phosphor screen and single-walled carbon nanotubes as electrodes in a diode structure.
Then they painted the mixture onto the positive electrode or cathode and scratched the surface with sandpaper to form a light panel capable of producing a large stable and homogenous emission current with low energy consumption.
The resistance of cathode electrode with highly crystalline single-walled carbon nanotube is very low. Thus the new flat-panel device has compared smaller energy loss with other current lighting devices
The next step is to combine a charged nanopore setup with a sensor to build a DNA sequencing device that would incorporate both motion control and nucleotide recognition.
The new technology is designed for conventional lithium-ion batteries now used in billions of cellphones laptops and other electronic devices as well as a growing number of cars and airplanes.
A typical lithium-ion battery consists of two tightly packed electrodes--a carbon anode and a lithium metal-oxide cathode--with an ultrathin polymer separator in between.
The separator keeps the electrodes apart. If it's damaged the battery could short-circuit and ignite the flammable electrolyte solution that shuttles lithium ions back and forth.
so that lithium ions can flow between the electrodes as the battery charges and discharges. Manufacturing defects such as particles of metal and dust can pierce the separator
and his colleagues applied a nanolayer of copper onto one side of a polymer separator creating a novel third electrode halfway between the anode and the cathode.
The copper layer acts like a sensor that allows you to measure the voltage difference between the anode
Lithium-ion batteries usually use additives to bind the electrodes to the anode which affects the speed in
However Prof Chen's new cross-linked titanium dioxide nanotube-based electrodes eliminate the need for these additives
The research team behind the finding led by MIT professor Ju Li says the work could have important implications for the design of components in nanotechnology such as metal contacts for molecular electronic circuits.
For example if gold or silver nanoligaments are used in electronic circuits these deformations could quickly cause electrical connections to fail.
That crossover he says takes place at about 10 nanometers at room temperature--a size that microchip manufacturers are approaching as circuits shrink.
#Getting sharp images from dull detectors Observing the quantum behavior of light is a big part of Alan Migdall's research at the Joint Quantum Institute.
--and sometimes only one photon at a time, using"smart"detectors that can count the number of individual photons in a pulse.
what Migdall calls"stupid"detectors that, when counting the number of photons in a light pulse,
as anything more than zero befuddles these detectors and is considered as number that is known only to be more than zero.
And why use"stupid"detectors? Because they are cheaper to use. The Experiment In the case of coherent light, a coordinated train of waves approach a baffle with two openings (figure, top.
creating a characteristic pattern as recorded by a detector, which is moved back and forth to record the arrival of light at various points.
Each of these two portions of light will strike movable detectors which scan across sideways.
If the detectors could record a whole pattern, they would show that the pattern changes from moment to moment.
if you record not just the instantaneous interference pattern but rather a correlation between the two movable detectors.
when detector 1 observes light at a coordinate x1 how often does detector 2 observe light at a coordinate x2?
Plotting such a set of correlations between the two detectors does result in an interference-like pattern,
the detectors would run into each other. To avoid that a simple partially silvered mirror, commonly called a beam splitter,
That way the two detectors can simultaneously sample the light from virtual positions that can be as close as desired
And what about the use of stupid detectors those for which each"click"denoting an arrival tells us only that more than zero photons have arrived?
so that its limited coherence time is larger than the recovery time of our stupid detectors,
it is possible for the detector to tell us that a specific number of photons were recorded, perhaps 3 or 10,
"In this way, we get dumb detectors to act in a smart way, "says Migdall. This improved counting the number of photons,
or equivalently the intensity of the light at various places at the measuring screen, ensures that the set of correlations between the two detectors does result in an interference-like pattern in those correlations.
So while seeing an interference pattern could not be accomplished with dumb detectors, it could be accomplished by engineering the properties of the light source to accommodate the lack of ability of the detectors
and then accumulating a pattern of correlation between two detectors. Considering that the incoming light has a wavelength of 800 nm,
the pattern is sharper by a factor of 20 or more from what you would expect
#Sensor invented that uses radio waves to detect subtle changes in pressure Stanford engineers have invented a wireless pressure sensor that has already been used to measure brain pressure in lab mice with brain injuries.
In one simple demonstration they used this wireless pressure sensor to read a team member's pulse without touching him.
Bao's wireless sensor is made by placing a thin layer of specially designed rubber between two strips of copper.
The technology involves beaming radio waves through this simple antenna-and-rubber sandwich. When the device comes under pressure the copper antennas squeeze the rubber insulator and move infinitesimally closer together.
That tiny change in proximity alters the electrical characteristics of the device. Radio waves passing through the two antennas slow down in terms of frequency.
When pressure is relaxed the copper antennas move apart and the radio waves accelerate in frequency.
The engineers proved that this effect was measurable giving them a way to gauge the pressure exerted on the device by tracking the frequency of radio waves passing through the device.
and calibrated the pressure sensor in simple laboratory tests. Alex Chortos graduate student in the department of materials science and engineering made the wireless device more robust and reusable.
Tse tested the wireless pressure sensor as a tool for managing patients with severe brain trauma.
In experiments on laboratory mice Tse used radio waves to probe Bao's wireless sensor allowing him to monitor changes in intracranial pressure continuously.
On a slightly different tack his team is thinking about how to retool the wireless sensor
By putting this pyramid-shaped rubber layer between the copper antennas this team of engineers was able to exploit the subtle interactions of radio waves
"The sensor is connected to a modem using radio frequency systems. The processed information from the elder's movement pattern may include factors such as temperature, heart rate and deviations in the usual activity path,
#Launch of new sensor device on Hudson river set to wire river for cleaner water In the race to find solutions to critical water issues the launch of a new cost-effective water quality sensor
The installation of the Institute's newest generation of River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON II) sensor arrays signifies the passing of the baton from the science lab to the river as they run ahead complementing government capacity to invest in wiring the river for cleaner water.
It is one of 37 sensor stations currently in place in the Hudson and St lawrence river watersheds making REON one of the world's most robust resources of real-time data.
The goal of the REON research team to develop affordable scalable low-profile sensor networks
and its potential for making water sensor technology universal could be transformational to the field of environmental science.
a new type of meson 1 was discovered by analysing data collected with the LHCB detector at CERN's Large hadron collider (LHC) 2. The new particle is bound together in a similar way to protons.
#More efficient transformer materials Almost every electronic device contains a transformer. An important material used in their construction is electrical steel.
Transformers convert the standard voltage from the wall outlet into the lower voltages required by electronic devices.
A novel sensor makes it possible to significantly reduce their size and moreover enables a more precise analysis in half the time previously required.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg have developed a sensor that shrinks the size of the spectrometer optics.
Whereas earlier high-resolution spectrometers were the size of a washing machine those built using our sensor will be no bigger than a microwave oven says IMS department head Werner Brockherde.
And this is not the only advantage of the new sensor: the delivered results are also more precise and available in half the time.
The first sensor that combines time-and space-resolved measurementsto understand how the scientists were able to miniaturize the instrument to this extent we need to take a closer look at its inner workings.
In the first beam channel light-sensitive electronic components known as CCD line sensors record the entire spectrum of the sample.
Our CMOS-based sensor enables these two sets of measurements to be conducted in parallel. As a result we only require a single beam channel
Demonstrator at the Vision trade showa demonstration version of the sensor will be presented at the Vision trade show in Stuttgart from November 4 to 6 (Booth 1h74.
Our new sensor which was developed in Germany and is not available anywhere else will enable these manufacturers to secure a further competitive advantage.
After the integrated image sensor has recorded the images, the processor evaluates the frames.""The video itself no longer has to--as previously the case--be sorted
A total of 72 passive and 13 active components (such as LEDS, DC-to-DC converters, memory chip, image sensor and image processor) had to be positioned within the module in an especially space-saving manner.
not by electrodes inserted through the protective nerve membranes. Surgeons Michael W Keith, MD and J. Robert Anderson, MD, from Case Western Reserve School of medicine and Cleveland VA, implanted three electrode cuffs in Spetic
's forearm, enabling him to feel 19 distinct points; and two cuffs in Vonderhuevel's upper arm, enabling him to feel 16 distinct locations.
when a sensor was touched was a tingle. To provide more natural sensations, the research team has developed algorithms that convert the input from sensors taped to a patient's hand into varying patterns and intensities of electrical signals.
The sensors themselves aren't sophisticated enough to discern textures, they detect only pressure. The different signal patterns, passed through the cuffs,
are read as different stimuli by the brain. The scientists continue to fine-tune the patterns
Then the human's biological control system, that is nerves and muscles, is interfaced also to the machine's control system via neuromuscular electrodes.
Before the surgery, his prosthesis was controlled via electrodes placed over the skin. Robotic prostheses can be advanced very,
Electrodes are implanted in nerves and muscles as the interfaces to the biological control system. These electrodes record signals which are transmitted via the osseointegrated implant to the prostheses,
where the signals are decoded finally and translated into motions. Direct skeletal attachment by osseointegration means:
every day No socket adjustments required (there is no socket) Implanting electrodes in nerves and muscles means that:
The close proximity between source and electrode also prevents activity from other muscles from interfering (cross-talk),
because there is no need to reposition the electrodes on every occasion the prosthesis is worn (as opposed to superficial electrodes).
Since the electrodes are implanted rather than placed over the skin, control is affected not by environmental conditions (cold and heat) that change the skin state,
or power lines) as the electrodes are shielded by the body itself. Electrodes in the nerves can be used to send signals to the brain as sensations coming from the prostheses e
#Minimally invasive procedures offer hope for elderly patients with heart-valve problems Annie Henderson 69 suffers from multiple chronic ailments including kidney failure and mitral valve insufficiency.
and is detected by a sensor. In the NIST LADAR system the laser sweeps continuously across a band of frequencies.
and analysis instruments of a modern chemistry lab onto a microchip-sized wafer Zeng said. Also referred to as'microfluidics'technology it was inspired by revolutionary semiconductor electronics
and uses a technique called on-chip immunoisolation. We used magnetic beads of 3 micrometers in diameter to pull down the exosomes in plasma samples Zeng said.
#Lego-like modular components make building 3-D labs-on-a-chip a snap Thanks to new LEGO-like components developed by researchers at the USC Viterbi School of engineering it is now possible
Traditionally microfluidic devices are built in a cleanroom on a two-dimensional surface using the same technology developed to produce integrated circuits for the electronics industry.
to try to pack in as much integrated structure as possible into a single chip explained Bhargava.
and a component that contains an integrated optical sensor for measuring the size of small droplets.
In the paper the researchers also described how off-the-shelf sensors or other integrated components can be incorporated easily into systems built from MFICS
The technology often dubbed Lab-on-Chip has the potential to accelerate the pace of development
but can be used to coat glass and plastic as well as radar domes and antennas. This scanning electron microscope image shows a closeup of the nanoribbon network in Rice university's high-density graphene nanoribbon film.
"He said nanoribbon films also open a path toward embedding electronic circuits in glass that are both optically and RF transparent.
And because the new process creates membranes on silicon surfaces it is a significant step toward creating bio-silicon interfaces where biological sensor molecules can be printed onto cheap silicon chip holding integrated electronic circuits.
First discovered five years ago, Rice's silicon oxide memories are a type of two-terminal,"resistive random-access memory"(RRAM) technology.
"This memory is superior to all other two-terminal unipolar resistive memories by almost every metric,
For example, manufacturers have announced plans for RRAM prototype chips that will be capable of storing about one terabyte of data on a device the size of a postage stamp--more than 50 times the data density of current flash memory technology.
Silicon is the most abundant element On earth and the basic ingredient in conventional microchips. Microelectronics fabrication technologies based on silicon are widespread and easily understood,
and just drop down electrodes without having to fabricate edges, "Tour said.""When we made our initial announcement about silicon oxide in 2010, one of the first questions
which would give personnel and equipment such as sensors improved protection along with other benefits. This research was reported in the January 30 2014 issue of the journal Acta Materialia.
Different sensors see different wavelengths of light. Infrared is important for heat-seeking capabilities. UV imaging can be used to detect threats not seen in the visible spectrum.
UV detectors also have applications in space-borne astronomy missions. A single window that could be produced using the NRL-developed nanocrystalline spinel would be transparent across many technologically important wavelengths easing design
Sensor-based irrigation systems show potential to increase greenhouse profitability Wireless sensor-based irrigation systems can offer significant benefits to greenhouse operators.
Advances in sensor technology and increased understanding of plant physiology have made it possible for greenhouse growers to use water content sensors to accurately determine irrigation timing and application rates in soilless substrates.
The wireless sensor systems provide more accurate measurements of substrate moisture than qualitative methods and can save irrigation water labor energy and fertilizer.
The authors of a report published in Horttechnology said that the use of sensor-based irrigation technology can also accelerate container and greenhouse plant production time.
Sensor-based irrigation systems substitute capital for water and associated inputs such as energy labor and fertilizer the authors explained.
The scientists found that controlling irrigation using data from moisture sensors led to substantial reductions in both production time and crop losses.
Calculations showed that annualized profit under the wireless sensor system was over 1. 5 times more than under the nursery's standard practice
even if efficiency gains are not as high as those in the study controlling irrigation using wireless sensor systems is likely to increase profitability substantially.
They added that wireless sensor systems can have environmental benefits as well as the economic benefits shown in the study.
#Laser scientists create portable sensor for nitrous oxide, methane Rice university scientists have created a highly sensitive portable sensor to test the air for the most damaging greenhouse gases.
The device created by Rice engineer and laser pioneer Frank Tittel and his group uses a thumbnail-sized quantum cascade laser (QCL) as well as tuning forks that cost no more than a dime to detect very small amounts of nitrous oxide and methane.
and the QEPAS sensor's findings compared favorably to the lab's much larger instrument,
the researchers pass a suspension of B cells and target antigen through tiny, parallel channels etched on a chip.
but problematic for the next step because another robot or sensor is needed, Rus says. he current grasping formation may not allow room for a new robot
or sensor to join the team. So our solution considers a multiple-step assembly operation
or fuel cell electrodes, which catalyze reactions at their surfaces. Nanofibers can also yield materials that are permeable only at very small scales, like water filters,
however, and the number of nozzles per unit area is limited by the size of the pump hydraulics. The other approach is to apply a voltage between a rotating drum covered by metal cones and a collector electrode.
where it emitted toward the electrode as a fiber. That approach is erratic, however, and produces fibers of uneven lengths;
When an electrode is mounted opposite the sawteeth and a voltage applied between them, the water-ethanol mixture streams upward, dragging chains of polymer with it.
The water and ethanol quickly dissolve, leaving a tangle of polymer filaments opposite each emitter, on the electrode.
The researchers were able to pack 225 emitters, several millimeters long, on a square chip about 35 millimeters on a side.
wee demonstrated that we can make all the universal logic gates used in electronics, simply by changing the layout of the bars on the chip,
said Katsikis. he actual design space in our platform is incredibly rich. Give us any Boolean logic circuit in the world,
and demonstrates building blocks for synchronous logic gates, feedback and cascadability hallmarks of scalable computation. A simple-state machine including 1-bit memory storage (known as lip-flop is demonstrated also using the above basic building blocks.
A new way to manipulate matter The current chips are about half the size of a postage stamp,
and do more number of operations on a chip, said graduate student and co-author Jim Cybulski. hat lends itself very well to a variety of applications.
With its current power output, the floating evaporation engine could supply small floating lights or sensors at the ocean floor that monitor the environment,
In this so-called low battery, the electrodes are suspensions of tiny particles carried by a liquid
while the electrode material does not flow, it is composed of a similar semisolid, colloidal suspension of particles.
e realized that a better way to make use of this flowable electrode technology was to reinvent the lithium ion manufacturing process. nstead of the standard method of applying liquid coatings to a roll of backing material,
the new process keeps the electrode material in a liquid state and requires no drying stage at all.
thicker electrodes, the system reduces the conventional battery architecture number of distinct layers, as well as the amount of nonfunctional material in the structure, by 80 percent.
Having the electrode in the form of tiny suspended particles instead of consolidated slabs greatly reduces the path length for charged particles as they move through the material a property known as ortuosity.
A less tortuous path makes it possible to use thicker electrodes, which, in turn, simplifies production
While conventional lithium-ion batteries are composed of brittle electrodes that can crack under stress the new formulation produces battery cells that can be bent,
This can lead the way to tiny, solar-powered sensors. The latest buzz in the information technology industry regards he Internet of thingsthe idea that vehicles, appliances, civil-engineering structures, manufacturing equipment,
and even livestock would have embedded their own sensors that report information directly to networked servers,
however, will require extremely low-power sensors that can run for months without battery changes or, even better, that can extract energy from the environment to recharge.
this new chip can do both, and it can power the device directly from the battery.
All of those operations also share a single inductor the chip main electrical component which saves on circuit board space
Nonetheless, the chip power consumption remains low. e still want to have battery-charging capability, and we still want to provide a regulated output voltage,
To control the current flow across their chip, El-Damak and her advisor, Anantha Chandrakasan,
whose regulation is the very purpose of the chip. Since that voltage is fixed, the variation in timing has to come from variation in capacitance.
El-Damak and Chandrakasan thus equip their chip with a bank of capacitors of different sizes.
who leads a power conversion development project as a fellow at the chip manufacturer Maxim Integrated. f youe only coming in with a small amount,
he adds. t really kind of a full system-on-a chip for power management. And that makes it a little more complicated
and electron those reaching the detectors simultaneously are very likely to have come from the same molecule.
and trees when under stress and detectors to identify concentrations in air samples could be used to monitor our changing ecology.
and still be deciphered accurately by a receiver. This advance has the potential to increase the data transmission rates for the fiber optic cables that serve as the backbone of the internet, cable wireless and landline networks.
the researchers at UC San diego successfully deciphered information after it traveled a record-breaking 12,000 kilometers through fiber optic cables with standard amplifiers and no repeaters,
so the receiver is caused free of crosstalk by the Kerr effect. The photonics experiments were performed at UC San diego Qualcomm Institute by researchers from the Photonics Systems Group led by Radic.
The frequency comb ensured that the system did not accumulate the random distortions that make it impossible to reassemble the original content at the receiver.
Wearable electronic devices for health and fitness monitoring are a rapidly growing area of consumer electronics; one of their biggest limitations is the capacity of their tiny batteries to deliver enough power to transmit data.
as the electrodes in tiny supercapacitors (which are essentially pairs of electrically conducting fibers with an insulator between).
At the moment, the coin-sized batteries used in many small electronic devices have limited very ability to deliver a lot of power at once,
and challenging to make autonomous because most motors, pumps, batteries, sensors, and microcontrollers are rigid.
and the excellent precision of our detector, we have examined all possibilities for these signals, and conclude that they can only be explained by pentaquark states says LHCB physicist Tomasz Skwarnicki of Syracuse University. ore precisely the states must be formed of two up quarks,
A wireless transmitter on the robot sends camera video and sensor data such as the unit's speed,
For its guidance system, the Trakür employs sensors that allow it to follow a 1 mm copper cable,
to commodity items such as consumer electronics technologies, said Jordan Socran, vice president of business development. There are even technologies emerging to help small local businesses.
The rise of sensors: Information technology is at the heart of successful share models, and sensors are a critical part of that mix
because they allow us to track and know where physical things are --or will be given--at a moment in time.
The idea of wireless charging is tantalizing--a vision of electronic devices that stay powered up without wall sockets,
-or solar-powered sensors that are distributed in a greenhouse or field. These sensors connect to backend servers that process the data collected,
and the information is displayed as requested by the customer. So, for example, a farmer could monitor conditions for his
as it is equipped with an infrared video camera. This could apply to assisting humans in search and rescue--or for military combat awareness.
#A Tunable Liquid Metal Antennas for Tuning in to Anything Tuning in is getting to be complicated a thing.
All those need antennas of different lengths and shapes to accommodate the sometimes widely spread wavelength bands.
Monopole antennas, consisting of a single conducting rod, transmit maximum power when their length corresponds to half the wavelength of the RF signal,
"The present solution is to have a switchable filter bank along with switchable and/or multi-band antenna, ays Jacob Adams,
a liquid metal antenna that can continuously adapt to different wavelengths by changing its length inside a capillary.
Such antennas have been developed in the past but with little success because they rely on pneumatic pumps for controlling the length in the capillary,
For centimeter-wavelengths, liquid metal antennas would remain separate elements in the circuitry, but for millimeter waves they could be integrated on microfluidic chips,
says Adams. However even larger liquid metal antennas could be useful in defense communications and radar systems that use bands ranging from a few megahertz to tens of gigahertz,
says Adams."While a single tunable element will probably never be able to cover this entire range,
they could potentially cut down on the'antenna farms'found on large defense platforms, such as on ships and planes,"says Adams
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