#Magnetic Signals Sent through the Human body for Wireless communication Electrical engineers at the University of California, San diego demonstrated a new wireless communication technique that works by sending magnetic signals through the human body.
The new technology could offer a lower power and more secure way to communicate information between wearable electronic devices, providing an improved alternative to existing wireless communication systems,
researchers said. They presented their findings Aug 26 at the 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in Milan, Italy.
While this work is still a proof-of-concept demonstration researchers envision developing it into an ultra low power wireless system that can easily transmit information around the human body.
An application of this technology would be a wireless sensor network for full-body health monitoring."
"In the future, people are going to be wearing more electronics, such as smart watches, fitness trackers and health monitors.
All of these devices will need to communicate information with each other. Currently, these devices transmit information using Bluetooth radios,
which use a lot of power to communicate. We're trying to find new ways to communicate information around the human body that use much less power,
"said Patrick Mercier, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer engineering at UC San diego who led the study.
Mercier also serves as the co-director of the UC San diego Center for Wearable Sensors.
Communicating magnetic signals through the human body The new study presents a solution to some of the main barriers of other wireless communication systems:
in order to reduce power consumption when transmitting and receiving information, wireless systems need to send signals that can easily travel from one side of the human body to another.
Bluetooth technology uses electromagnetic radiation to transmit data, however these radio signals do not easily pass through the human body
and therefore require a power boost to help overcome this signal obstruction, or"path loss."
"In this study, electrical engineers demonstrated a technique called magnetic field human body communication, which uses the body as a vehicle to deliver magnetic energy between electronic devices.
An advantage of this system is that magnetic fields are able to pass freely through biological tissues,
so signals are communicated with much lower path losses and potentially, much lower power consumption. In their experiments, researchers demonstrated that the magnetic communication link works well on the body,
but they did not test the technique's power consumption. Researchers showed that the path losses associated with magnetic field human body communication are upwards of 10 million times lower than those associated with Bluetooth radios."
"This technique, to our knowledge, achieves the lowest path losses out of any wireless human body communication system that's been demonstrated so far.
This technique will allow us to build much lower power wearable devices, "said Mercier. Lower power consumption also leads to longer battery life."
"A problem with wearable devices like smart watches is that they have short operating times because they are limited to using small batteries.
With this magnetic field human body communication system, we hope to significantly reduce power consumption as well as how frequently users need to recharge their devices,
"said Jiwoong Park, a Ph d student in Mercier's Energy-efficient Microsystems Lab at the UC San diego Jacobs School of engineering and first author of the study.
The researchers also pointed out that this technique does not pose any serious health risks. Since this technique is intended for applications in ultra low power communication systems
the transmitting power of the magnetic signals sent through the body is expected to be many times lower than that of MRI SCANNERS and wireless implant devices.
Another potential advantage of magnetic field human body communication is that it could offer more security than Bluetooth networks.
Because Bluetooth radio communicates data over the air, anyone standing within 30 feet can potentially eavesdrop on that communication link.
On the other hand, magnetic field human body communication employs the human body as a communication medium, making the communication link less vulnerable to eavesdropping.
With this technique, researchers demonstrated that magnetic communication is strong on the body but dramatically decreases off the body.
To put this in the context of a personal full-body wireless communication network, information would neither be radiated off the body nor be transmitted from one person to another."
"Increased privacy is desirable when you're using your wearable devices to transmit information about your health,
"said Park. Demonstrating magnetic communication with a proof-of-concept prototype The researchers built a prototype to demonstrate the magnetic field human body communication technique.
The prototype consists of copper wires insulated with PVC tubes. On one end, the copper wires are hooked up to an external analyzer and on the other end,
the wires are wrapped in coils around three areas of the body: the head, arms and legs.
These coils serve as sources for magnetic fields and are able to send magnetic signals from one part of the body to another using the body as a guide.
With this prototype, researchers were able to demonstrate and measure low path loss communication from arm to arm, from arm to head,
and from arm to leg. Researchers noted that a limitation of this technique is that magnetic fields require circular geometries
in order to propagate through the human body. Devices like smart watches, headbands and belts will all work well using magnetic field human body communication
but not a small patch that is stuck on the chest and used to measure heart rate, for example.
As long as the wearable application can wrap around a part of the body, it should work just fine with this technique,
researchers explained d
#Wearable technology Combines Inertial and Electromyographic Sensors for Detecting Gestures A smart device that translates sign language
while being worn on the wrist could bridge the communications gap between the deaf and those who don know sign language,
says a Texas A&m University biomedical engineering researcher who is developing the technology. The wearable technology combines motion sensors and the measurement of electrical activity generated by muscles to interpret hand gestures,
says Roozbeh Jafari, associate professor in the university Department of Biomedical engineering and researcher at the Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems.
Although the device is still in its prototype stage it can already recognize 40 American sign language words with nearly 96 percent accuracy,
notes Jafari who presented his research at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 12th Annual Body Sensor Networks Conference this past June.
The technology was among the top award winners in the Texas instruments Innovation Challenge this past summer.
The technology, developed in collaboration with Texas instruments, represents a growing interest in the development of high-tech sign language recognition systems (SLRS) but unlike other recent initiatives,
Jafari system foregoes the use of a camera to capture gestures. Video-based recognition he says,
can suffer performance issues in poor lighting conditions, and the videos or images captured may be considered invasive to the user privacy.
What more, because these systems require a user to gesture in front of a camera, they have limited wearability and wearability,
for Jafari, is key.""Wearables provide a very interesting opportunity in the sense of their tight coupling with the human body,
Jafari system makes use of two distinct sensors. The first is an inertial sensor that responds to motion.
Consisting of an accelerometer and gyroscope the sensor measures the accelerations and angular velocities of the hand and arm, Jafari notes.
This sensor plays a major role in discriminating different signs by capturing the user hand orientations and hand and arm movements during a gesture.
However, a motion sensor alone wasn enough, Jafari explains. Certain signs in American sign language are similar in terms of the gestures required to convey the word.
With these gestures the overall movement of the hand may be the same for two different signs,
but the movement of individual fingers may be different. For example, the respective gestures for leaseand orryand for ameand orkare similar in hand motion.
Jafari system makes use of another type of sensor that measures muscle activity. Known as an electromyographic sensor (semg), this sensor non-invasively measures the electrical potential of muscle activities,
Jafari explains. It is used to distinguish various hand and finger movements based on different muscle activities.
Essentially, it good at measuring finger movements and the muscle activity patterns for the hand and arm, working in tandem with the motion sensor to provide a more accurate interpretation of the gesture being signed,
In Jafari system both inertial sensors and electromyographic sensors are placed on the right wrist of the user where they detect gestures
and send information via Bluetooth to an external laptop that performs complex algorithms to interpret the sign
and display the correct English word for the gesture. As Jafari continues to develop the technology,
he says his team will look to incorporate all of these functions into one wearable device by combining the hardware and reducing the overall size of the required electronics.
He envisions the device collecting the data produced from a gesture, interpreting it and then sending the corresponding English word to another person smart device
so that he or she can understand what is being signed simply by reading the screen of their own device.
and expanding the system to both hands. he combination of muscle activation detection with motion sensors is a new and exciting way of understanding human intent with other applications in addition to enhanced SLR systems,
Jafari is associate professor in Texas A&m Department of Biomedical engineering, associate professor in the Department of computer science and Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer engineering,
His research focuses on wearable computer design and signal processing. He is director of the Embedded Signal processing Laboratory (http://jafari. tamu. edu/).About the Center for Remote Health Technologies
and Systems (CRHTS) The Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems is designing and developing advanced health technologies
and systems to enable healthy living through health monitoring and disease diagnosis, management and prevention.
and overcome the unmet needs of patients and health care providers through the development of breakthrough remote health care devices, biosignal mapping algorithms,
remote health analytics and information systems that will improve access, enhance quality, and reduce the cost of health care.
About the Texas A&m Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) As an engineering research agency of Texas,
strengthens and expands the state workforce through educational partnerships and training; and develops and transfers technology to industry.
TEES partners with academic institutions, governmental agencies, industries and communities to solve problems to help improve the quality of life,
and enhance educational systems. TEES, a member of the Texas A&m University System is in its 100th year of engineering solutions 0
#Novel Sensor System Nondestructively Detects Risk of Corrosion in Concrete Structures Researchers of the Universitat Politècnica de València have developed a new sensor system able to quickly
and nondestructively detect the risk of corrosion in the concrete structure of buildings and do so
when the first symptoms appear. The information provided by this system, which has been patented by the UPV,
which provides information on the intensity of the corrosion for every point in the network of sensors of the structure analysed,
and specific software for analysing the electrical response from each sensor. Today, the most common way to determine the corrosion speed of the rebars in a reinforced concrete structure is based on destructive techniques, for
which it is necessary to expose the rebars at a certain distance in order to electrochemically measure the intensity of the corrosion.
It is then necessary to repair the area with mortars. Its benefits include a reduction in the time and cost of the diagnosis of the structure.
In addition it is able to register in real time the state of maintenance and the speed of corrosion of the rebars at several points of the structure, even in non-accessible areas.
In the first case, it must be incorporated when the concrete is poured in those areas of the structure most exposed to corrosion caused by humidity, carbon dioxide or chlorides, among others.
#BAE Systems Creates Innovative Communication Device to Assist Armed forces The prototype system is designed to improve soldier safety
transferring messages directly from the soldier helmet to the inner ear. It is being developed as part of Company-funded research which aims to reduce the burden on the dismounted soldier through wearable technology.
Soldiers need to be able to receive audio communications to maximise their awareness and understanding of the challenging environments they are working in,
whilst also protecting themselves from extremely loud noises such as gunfire. To address these conflicting requirements
BAE Systems engineers have adapted existing bone conduction technology often used in commercial headphones and hearing aids for the military domain.
The resulting solution significantly improves the performance of the device and minimising the size and weight of the transducer to the size of a five pence coin.
Leveraging off-the-shelf technology to engineer the prototype has allowed the team to significantly reduce development time and costs.
Mohammed Akhmad, Principal Scientist at BAE Systems, said:""We recognise that on the battlefield, auditory situational awareness is essential for armed forces personnel.
With this system, the soldiers can safeguard their hearing with ear protectors whilst still clearly receiving military voice communications,
to enable them to perform their roles efficiently and safely.""Through collaborating directly with our customer,
A concept demonstrator for BAE Systems'bone conduction technology will be on display at DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International), in London this year r
and Bioelectronics the technology works by using the smell receptors in the human nose. The sensor is simple to use
and it can detect tiny amounts of contamination in water, making it more sensitive than existing detection methods.
The authors of the study, from Seoul National University, say this could make the technology even more useful in the field.
they can make the water toxic, and make it smell bad. At high concentrations, bacteria can be toxic in drinking water.
But at lower levels virtually undetectable by current culturing techniques they can cause an ff flavor,
and other microbes by detecting the off flavor they give off. ater that smells bad isn necessarily toxic,
said Professor Tai Hyun Park, who has been leading the study. magine you don do your laundry;
it not that toxic but you don want to wear it because the smell is bad.
even if the water isn toxic, you don want to drink it. We wanted to develop a way to detect
such as gas chromatography or mass spectroscopy. hese are good ways to detect smell molecules, but they require a large amount of work before the sample is even ready to test,
said Prof. Park. nd all of these tests need to be done in a laboratory with expensive equipment theye just not suitable for the field. rof.
bacteria and other microbes can also contaminate rivers and lakes for example, the algal blooms in Hong kong.
sight (video cameras) hearing (audio recorders) and touch (TABLET PCS. But there is not yet a device that successfully captures information for smell or taste.
geosmin (GSM) and 2-methylisoborneol (MIB. The new nose-like device can detect these smells at very low concentrations of just 10ng per liter of water.
Park and his colleagues naturally thought about how the human nose works and adapted its function as a sensor element.
The human nose is complicated more than receptors for two smell molecules, so to make a true smelling device,
Certain diseases, such as lung cancer, can cause patients to give off particular smells; dogs have been known to detect these,
and a bioelectronic nose opens the path to diagnosis through smell. There also a role for security, for example in drug searches at airports.
#MIT Develops Protein-Based Sensor Capable of Killing Cancer cells MIT biological engineers have developed a modular system of proteins that can detect a particular DNA sequence in a cell
says James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT Department of Biological engineering and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science (IMES).
To achieve this, the researchers could program the system to produce proteins that alert immune cells to fight the infection,
a professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at The swiss Federal Institute of technology in Zurich, described this experiment as an legant proof of conceptthat could lead to greatly improved treatments for viral infection. entinel designer cells engineered with the DNA sense
This would represent a quantum leap in antiviral therapy, says Fussenegger, who was involved not in the study.
While treating diseases using this system is likely many years away, it could be used much sooner as a research tool,
whether genetic material has been delivered successfully to cells that scientists are trying to genetically alter. Cells that did not receive the new gene could be induced to undergo cell death,
or to study the 3-D structure of normal chromosomes by testing whether two genes located far from each other on a chromosome fold in such a way that they end up next to each other,
the researchers say
#Liquid crystals Detect Protein Fibers Associated with Development of Neurodegenerative Diseases Liquid crystals are familiar to most of us as the somewhat humdrum stuff used to make computer displays and TVS.
Even for scientists, it has not been easy to find other ways of using them.
Now a group of researchers at the University of Chicago's Institute for Molecular Engineering (IME) is putting liquid crystals to work in a completely unexpected realm:
as detectors for the protein fibers implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
less costly way to detect these fibers and to do so at a much earlier stage of their formation than has been possible before--the stage
when they are thought to be the most toxic.""It is extremely important that one develop techniques that allow us to detect the formation of these so-called amyloid fibrils
whose group did the new work.""We have developed a system that allows us to detect them in a simple and inexpensive manner.
"Amyloid fibrils are protein aggregates that are associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's,
Scientists would like to be able to study their formation both for therapeutic reasons and so that they can test the effect of new drugs on inhibiting their growth.
Then they applied chemicals to the 5cb film that caused the molecules to align in such a way as to block the passage of light.
Floating on top of the film was made a membrane of molecules resembling those found in the membranes of biological cells.
which the scientists injected the molecules that spontaneously form the toxic aggregates.""As aggregates grow on the membrane,
"said de Pablo, the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering.""The liquid crystal molecules that are at the interface become distorted:
"This disturbance on the membrane--the imprint of the protein fibers--is transmitted down through the liquid crystal film,
The fibers might be tens of nanometers in diameter and a hundred nanometers long, far smaller than a red blood cell.
and adopt the shape of the actual fibers that the protein is forming. Except you're not seeing the fibers,
you're seeing the liquid crystal's response to the fibers.""The work of de Pablo's team was published online Sept. 9, 2015, by the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
Co-authoring the article were IME scientists Monirosadat Sadati, Julio Armas-Perez, Jose Martinez-Gonzalez,
and Juan Hernandez-Ortiz, as well as Aslin Izmitli-Apik and Nicholas Abbott of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
They relied crucially on theoretical molecular models, both to help guide them through the real system
They are now developing sensors for the amyloid fibrils that may allow experimenters to use droplets of liquid crystals in emulsion rather than the flat surfaces used in the proof-of-concept experiments.
or other body fluid using the new detectors, or for drug researchers to put the amyloid proteins in water,
and staff by up to 30%,allowing an addition of an annual 100 scans a year at Central Manchester University Hospitals.
PET imaging is used widely in the management of cancer patients. Most commonly, an FDG PET scan is carried out to identify areas with high glucose metabolism, such as tumours.
These images are useful for diagnosis, staging and monitoring treatment. Such a scan requires the injection of a radioactive racerwhich is taken up by the tumour tissue
and therefore the procedure has associated an radiation dose for the patient and for staff at the imaging facility A recent study by scientists at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and The University of Manchester investigated
whether technological developments in scanner equipment over the last decade could allow a reduction in the amount of radioactive tracer used.
Ian Armstrong, a nuclear medicine physicist who led the study, said: espite improvements in PET technology, we haven seen any change in the guidance regarding the amount of injected radiotracer we should use for FDG PET.
which utilises the faster detectors present in modern PET systems to more accurately locate the source of each pair of rays.
As a result we have managed to lower the radiation dose for cancer patients and our staff and also increase the numbers of scans we are able to carry out, added Ian l
#Companies'take on more UK graduates'UK graduates looking for employment face a brighter landscape than in previous years,
research suggests. The annual survey of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) indicates a 13.2%increase on 2014 in vacancies being offered by graduate recruiters.
But the study also says the number of female graduates being recruited by AGR employers is lower than it should be
The AGR research suggests London continues to attract large numbers of graduates with a 46%share of vacancies.
Accountancy The study indicates employers in the accountancy or professional services sector continue to offer the highest proportion of graduate vacancies, at 23%.
%graduatesimage copyrightdima sidelnikov Image caption The proportion of women being recruited averaged 42%per employer in 2013-14,
the AGR says The median starting salary for graduates in 2014-2015 was £28, 000-up from £27, 000 in 2013-14 and a continuation of the steady increase from £25, 000 in 2010-2011
while banking or financial services companies continued to occupy second place but at a slightly lower starting salary of £31,
Consulting or business services, fast-moving consumer goods companies and information and telecommunications companies were the next highest, with median starting salaries of £28, 500.
The study also suggests the proportion of women being recruited averaged 42%per employer in 2013-14,
despite the fact that 59%of all university graduates are female (according to the UK's Higher education Statistics Agency)."
it appears that more could be done to attract female candidates to graduate recruitment programmes, "the AGR report says.
The lowest share of female recruits was in engineering and industrial companies (24%)and construction companies (28%.
%But women made up the largest share of graduate recruits in the public sector (59%)and retail sector (57%)in 2013-14. employer
and employeeimage copyrightthinkstock Image caption More men than women are finding jobs with leading employers,
Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) graduates hired averaged 16%per employer in 2013-2014, which"compares well with the graduate talent pool,
as 19%of university graduates are BAME. AGR chief executive Stephen Isherwood said:""Gender diversity is an issue
"Although our data cannot explain why women aren't securing more graduate placements, it indicates there is more to be done to attract female graduates who in turn need to make the most of the opportunities available."
"A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said:""Today's figures continue to show the significant benefits of a degree for young people."
"Graduates under 30 are enjoying falling rates of unemployment and record earnings, on average. Our reforms are raising education standards across all ages,
giving young people the skills to succeed. t
#How to build a hypersonic airliner t is a magic aircraftthe pleasure of flying in it is almost a carnal one.
So said Joelle Cornet-Templet, a chief stewardess for Air france, about Concorde: one of the world first supersonic civilian airplanes,
compared to around 22 hours on a Boeing 747. Concorde was the best-known member of an exclusive club of two;
the only other civilian airliner able to break the speed of sound was the Soviet union Tupolev tu-144,
which flew until 1999. A variant of the Tupolev was used in experiments by Nasa, and American and Russian aerospace industries, in a joint research program after the end of the Cold war.
The end of the Concorde and Tupolev airliners left the supersonic market empty. But now, 12 years after the Concorde fleet last flew,
even faster airliners are taking shape in research facilities. One of those designs is by Lapcat-II,
a European-designed aeroplane capable of cruising speeds up to eight times faster than sound (8, 500 km h or 5, 280 mph) taking passengers from Brussels to Sydney in 2 hours and 55 minutes.
At the AIAA Hypersonic Space Plane conference in Glasgow in Scotland in July, a paper submitted by Lapcat-II researchers said their early airliner tests suggested such a design would be greener than current aircraft,
A similar concept powers the new missiles used by the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter plane, for instance. Ramjets can move a plane very fast.
the airfare tickets of a hypersonic trip could drop to about half the price of a business-class ticket.
Based on current projections the ticket price will be about three times more expensive on average than current business-class subsonic tickets One estimate puts the cost at#5, 000 (£3, 700) per seat for a Brussels to Sydney one-way trip.
The big question now is how to create all of that hydrogen. ind turbines could actually store their energy by producing hydrogen,
says Steelant. his has already been established by a Belgian supermarket chain where their forklifts are driven by hydrogen produced from an on-site wind turbine park.
Even though hydrogen-fuelled airliners would not emit greenhouse-increasing gases such as carbon dioxide, sulphur oxides or soot like today subsonic airplanes,
and could be a contributing factor to global warming. And that effect could be worse than the current fleet of long-haul airliners the longer that water vapour remains."
"Lapcat-II also plans for their Mach 8 Esa-variant airliner to fly well above 33 km, hopefully minimising the environmental impact.
Airbus has patented just a delta-wing Mach 4. 5 hypersonic design that could be used to create business jets.
Also, they are working with US-based start-up Aerion to make available a fleet of supersonic jets for wealthy clients.
with internal video screens linked to external cameras instead of windows. And Lockheed martin has a commercial plane, the N+2,
that will travel at Mach 1. 7. There one problem with flying so fast, however the boom as you break the sound barrier.
The retired Concorde produced a 135-decibel noise on the ground a lot more than the average Airbus. Another problem is that of the uperboomwhich develops
Nasa is working with Lockheed martin and Boeing to design airplanes that break the sound barrier more quietly.
From 2020 to 2025 it may be possible that airplanes could then exceed the sound barrier over populated land without causing a major disturbance.
In Europe, Steelant team tested their 300-seat design albeit a 1: 120 scale model, at speeds of Mach 8 within a wind tunnel.
Ceramic panels will have to be used. During tests the heat that accumulated at Mach 8 was up to 30%less than at Mach 5. This hermal paradoxwas a nice surprise for Steelant team,
we have lower fuel consumption and smaller tanks, which makes the vehicle again smaller, Steelant says.
The Jaxa project has studied the potential market for hypersonic airliners travelling at Mach 5 and found a 100-passenger aircraft flying two round trips per day is realistic based on market research.
By 2030 the hypersonic aviation industry could employ over 500,000 people, and be worth 3. 5 billion euros (£2. 5 bn) a year,
according to research by Airbus and the Japan Aircraft Development Corporation. he estimated ticket price for Tokyo to Los angeles is the same as that of an existing first-class seat,
Airbus and Aerion aeroplane tests will start in 2019. The European A2 Mach 5 aeroplane may take another 20 years to complete.
The Concordes and Tupolevs that paved the way for supersonic air travel in the 1970s now gather dust in museums.
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