#Zero emissions liquid air engine begins tests 26 june 2015uk liquid-nitrogen engine pioneer Dearman has begun full testing of its zero-emission engine technology at its new liquid air R&d facility.
Claimed to be dedicated the first liquid air engine facility of its kind, the Dearman Technology Centre, located near Croydon, houses a range of custom-built test cells, in
which the firm technologies will undergo extended durability testing and new applications will be developed. The firm technology is based on a new kind of engine,
Ayres added that having four test cells means that the company is able to work on several projects in parallel. lready we are placed to commence work work on the high-efficiency auxiliary power unit for use on buses and heavy-duty vehicles next week,
Meanwhile, Dearman zero-emission transport refrigeration system is extended currently in on-vehicle testing at MIRA, and will be commencing commercial on-road trials later this year.
The company has recently been awarded funding from Innovate UK to develop its auxiliary power unit and work on customising the transport refrigeration system for different vehicle types.
Dearman is one of a number of small technology firms working with the Proving Factory,
an initiative set up to help bolster the UK automotive supply chain. c
#BBC trials"mind-control"TV remote 26 june 2015 By Helen Knight It a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Youe catching up with your favourite shows on the BBC iplayer, but youe just too tired to get up
and find the remote control. So why not use your brainwaves to switch programmes instead? That could one day be possible,
following experiments carried out by the BBC to investigate the use of technology that allows people to control their televisions with only their brainwaves.
The mind control technology could ultimately give people with severe disabilities, motor neurone disease or locked in syndrome the ability to control digital media by thought alone, according to Cyrus Saihan,
head of business development at BBC Digital. or anybody who can use standard remote controls for any reason,
this technology has the potential to open up this completely new world of digital content that you and
The technology could also allow able-bodied people to access TV programmes much more quickly and easily,
he said. his is building on work we have done using voice control on consoles like the Xbox One, for example,
the BBC developed a prototype mind control TV using a low-cost headset equipped with sensors that measure electrical activity in the brain.
The electroencephalography (EEG) brainwave reading headset has a sensor that rests on the user forehead,
The user can choose to operate the device in either oncentrationor editationmode. If they choose meditation
the headset and app monitor their level of relaxation, which is displayed on a volume bar on the side of the screen. hen,
when a certain threshold is reached for that type of electrical activity, it sends a signal to the device on our tablet
which in turn sends a signal to the TV, said Saihan. During the experiment, 10 users were given a headset to wear,
and sat in front of the TV. The users either concentrated hard or relaxed their brain until the volume bar showed the threshold had been reached, at
which point a signal was sent to the TV to open the application, an experimental form of iplayer.
The users were presented then with a screen showing the five most popular programmes on iplayer at that time.
Each programme was highlighted, in turn, for ten seconds. To select a programme the users waited until the show was highlighted,
and then relaxed until the volume bar again reached the necessary threshold. Some users taking part in the experiment found the technology easier to use than others.
A few were able to pick up the technique immediately and begin watching programmes, while others found it harder to time their levels of meditation with the ten seconds in which their chosen programme was highlighted,
for example. The technology is still at a very early stage, and currently only allows users to select
either nor ff said Saihan. Whether the idea takes off will ultimately depend on how the technology evolves over the coming years,
including both the sensors and neuroscientistsunderstanding of brain activity, he said. t very early stages in terms of this type of technology,
so (this experiment) was very much a toe in the water for us, he said. The system is an internal BBC prototype,
technologists and other users an idea of how the technology might be used in the future
#Cold plasma technique helps wounds heal quicker 29 june 2015medical researchers in Germany have developed a technique which,
they claim, will help open wounds to heal more quickly. A particular problem in older people, open wounds such as ulcers, complications from diabetes and skin conditions like dermatitis and psoriasis are painful, often difficult to treat,
and create a path for further infections. The treatment method uses cold plasma as a healing agent, the first time this has been used on human beings.
It uses the skin itself as an electrode in an electrical discharge process. The treatment device
about the size of a hand-held torch, houses an electrode that the doctor holds close to the wound site.
A high voltage applied across the gap between the device electrode and the skin lectrodecreates an electrical field that ionises the air in the gap, bathing the wound in a nonthermal
or cold plasma. ll you feel is a slight tickling sensation, said Prof Wolfgang Viöl of the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films,
who developed the technique working with the company Cinogy and the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology at the University Medical centre Göttingen.
The plasma kills bacteria on the skin surface while the electrical fields stimulate microcirculation in the blood vessels, bringing more oxygen into the affected area;
both of these accelerate healing. Moreover, according to Prof Steffen Emmet of Göttingen, who carried out a clinical study of the technique,
which is called Plasmaderm, it combines the effect of several other therapies but works faster. V, ozone and electrotherapy are already available,
but plasma achieves a better effect in a shorter period of time, he said. Working with Cinogy, the researchers developed a portable unit that powers the treatment device. e had to develop a device that was small
but capable of generating high voltages. The result is only about the size of a laptop
and can be plugged into a normal socket between 100 and 230 V, says Dr. Dirk Wandke, managing director of Cinogy.
Viöl believes that he compact size of thre unjt and the simplicity of its use could make it suitable for first aid at home. anticipate that in the future,
a child who falls off a skateboard could be treated at home. Parents could care for the wound using a small Plasmaderm stick instead of iodine.
And I could even imagine the device itself being able to measure what wrong with somebody skin
and then adjust the dose accordingly and start the physical treatment
#Synchrotron shines a light on future medical devices According to the international team, this technique could be important in the development of devices that are highly sensitive to magnetic fields,
such as in medical diagnostics for example. Their results are published in Nature Communications. Three-dimensional structures in materials and biological samples can be investigated using X-ray tomography,
which is done by recording images layer-by-layer and assembling them on a computer into a three-dimensional mapping.
To date, there has been no comparable technique for imaging 3d magnetic structures on nanometre length scales.
Now teams from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB) and the Institute of Solid State Physics
Berlin/Dresden University of Technology in collaboration with research partners from Advanced Light source/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
and UC Santa cruz have developed a technique with which this is possible. They studied the magnetisation in rolled-up tubular magnetic nanomembranes (nickel or cobalt-palladium) about two layers thick.
To obtain a 3d mapping of the magnetisation in the tubes, the samples were illuminated with circularly polarised X-rays.
Using the X-ray microscope at the Advanced Light source and the X-ray Photoemission Electron microscopy (XPEEM) beamline at HZB BESSY II,
The physicists then successfully reconstructed the magnetic features on a computer in three dimensions. hese samples displayed structures not smaller than 75nm.
However, so far only electron holography could be considered for mapping magnetic domains of three-dimensional objects at the nanometre scale
Furthermore, the magnetisation could only be determined indirectly through the resulting distribution of the magnetic field. ur process enables you to map the magnetisation in directly in 3d.
Knowledge of the magnetisation is prerequisite for improving the sensitivity of magnetic field detectors, said Kronast.
such as those developing more sensitive devices for medical imaging as procedures-including magnetoencephalography-depend on externally detecting very weak magnetic fields created by the electrical activity of individual nerve cells. l
#Government to force employers to own up to gender pay gap The new measures, which will be defined through a consultation process
This pay gap is found to a greater and lesser degree throughout the economy, including in the manufacturing sector where,
head of employment policy at EEF, the manufacturersorganisation, warned against confusing a gender pay gap with equal pay,
However, our survey also revealed a pay gap between men and women at similar levels of seniority,
commented Katja Hall, CBI deputy director-general, o see real progress, however, we need to challenge occupational stereotypes by encouraging more women into male dominated industries
and investing in careers advice. lick here to access The Engineer Salary Survey 2015and click here to access our online salary-benchmarking tool
#Argus II ionic eyeimplanted for first time in patient with AMD A man with age related macular degeneration has become the first person with the condition to receive an implant to restore his sight.
Ray Flynn, 80, had the Argus II device implanted during a four-hour procedure carried out by Prof Paulo Stanga at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital.
California-based Second sight and previously implanted into to patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa, converts video images from a miniature camera installed in Flynn glasses.
Unfortunately, with an ageing population, it is becoming more common. Flynn was fitted with the device in June,
in time the benefits derived from the implant will increase as we find the best settings for the patient
How it works Argus II is Second sight second-generation implantable device intended to treat profoundly blind people suffering from degenerative diseases.
the system converts video images captured from a camera housed in the patient glasses into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the retina.
said Prof Stanga, who works in Manchester University Institute of Human Development as Professor of Opthalmology & Retinal Regeneration.
#Metal foam provides lightweight radiation shielding Nuclear, space exploration and medical applications abound for low-density, nontoxic structural shielding materials Lightweight composite metal foams can absorb energy from impacts
and block X-rays, gamma rays and neutron radiation, according to a study from North carolina State university. The discovery means the materials could be useful in spacecraft, the nuclear industry and in medicine.
Aerospace and mechanical engineer Afsanah Rabiei originally developed the foams, which consist of hollow metal spheres of one metal dispersed in a matrix
which can be of the same or a different metal, for military transport applications. They are mechanically strong, thermally insulative and lightweight,
with their structure reducing the density compared with a bulk material, but Rabiei wanted to determine
whether they could provide structural support while also shielding from radiation. Her research involved comparing foamsshielding properties against pure lead and the A356 grade of aluminium, metals that are used currently for shielding purposes.
Each comparison used samples of the same weight, but differing volume. A sample of high-Z steel-steel foam The best results were obtained from a foam called high-Z steel-steel,
which consists of stainless steel spheres dispersed in a matrix of high-speed T15 steel, an alloy containing trace amounts of vanadium and tungsten.
The term High-Z refers to all the metals in the alloy having a large number of protons in their atomic nuclei;
Rabiei team chose this alloy because tungsten and vanadium both have good radiation shielding properties.
The tungsten-containing foam was modified so that its density was the same as a foam made entirely from stainless steel.
The researchers found that the high-Z foam was as good as the bulk materials at blocking high-energy gamma rays,
such as those emitted by radioactive caesium and cobalt, but even better at blocking low energy gamma,
such as the radiation from barium an americium. It outperformed bulk materials at blocking neutron radiation, and was bettered only by lead at blocking X-rays. owever,
we are working to modify the composition of the metal foam to be even more effective than lead at blocking X-rays
The size of the hollow steel spheres seemed to have little effect, as long as the ratio of wall thickness to diameter stayed constant;
however, smaller spheres (around 2mm diameter) seem to be more efficient in X-ray applications. Rabiei believes that the foams could be particularly useful in making vessels to transport nuclear waste,
and in protecting patients from radiation doses in CT SCANNERS. The team discusses its work in a paper in the journal Radiation Physics and Chemistry a
#Tiny'wrist'to assist needle surgery A tiny flexible wrist component for needle-sized surgical equipment could enable surgeons to perform operations in tiny spaces
which would involve incisions so small that they could be sealed just with surgical tape, rather than sutures.
Less than 2mm in diameter, the wrist, which would form part of the suite of equipment for a type of minimally invasive technique known as needlescopic surgery,
has developed ben by engineers at Vanderbilt University in Nashvile, Tennessee. Needlescopic surgery, also known as mico-laproscopy, uses instruments about the size of a sewing needle inserted through incisions that are typically 5-10mm long.
It causes less pain to patients reduces tissue damage and scarring, and speeds up recovery times;
and is particularly useful for operations in the head and neck. But such tiny instruments are difficult to control.
is developing a surgical robot for needlescopic surgery, which a surgeon would operate remotely, like the Da vinci robot which is used now mainly for abdominal operations such as prostate surgery. he Da vinci uses a wire
-and-pulley system that is extremely difficult to miniaturise any further, so it won work in smaller spaces like the head and neck, said Webster.
Instead of Da vinci rigid rods tipped with pulley-operated instruments Webster team is working on a robot
whose rmsare steerable needles made from a memory metal called nitinol. These needles are curved, and nested inside each other in a telescoping configuration.
the surgeon can move the tip of the needle to the site of surgery with great accuracy.
when the surgeon gets the needle tip where it needs to go. Without a riston the end of the needle, it hard for the the surgeon to cut
or remove tissue, or repair damage. Most microlaproscopy uses sharp-edged rings or heated wires on the end of the needle to scrape
or burn tissue away by moving the tip back and forth. he smaller you can make surgical instruments the betters long as you can maintain an adequate degree of dexterity,
Combined with a pincer on the end of the wrist, this could allow surgeons to make precise cuts
a professor urology surgery at Vanderbilt who is consulting on the project. here are a myriad of potential applications in some really exciting areas such as endoscopic neurosurgery,
This would allow us to do surgeries that at present require much larger incisions and may even enable us to perform operations that are not feasible at present. he team is now working on the user interface and control software for the device,
and hopes to test it first in transnasal surgery, which aims to remove tumours at the base of the skull by inserting instruments through the nose. t should be useful for a number of other operations as well,
said Webster. e think once we give this tool to surgeons they will find all kinds of applications we haven thought of.
Webster is hoping to find a commercial partner to develop the robot and take it through FDA approval, a process
scientists develop machines that adapt to injury Intelligent robots that can adapt to injury, or even become more powerful under attack,
robots that can dapt like animalsto injuries and recover within minutes. The ability for robots to cope with unforeseen challenges is seen as a crucial step towards the widespread use of smart machines everywhere from the home to the battlefield,
but until now scientists have struggled to develop machines that work alone without human intervention. Jeff Clune, a computer scientist at the University of Wyoming, said:
verything we take for granted works so well because nature worked at it for so long. If we get a splinter in our heel,
we just start walking on our tiptoes, we don even think about how wee doing it.
Clune and his colleagues have managed to reproduce this nimal-likeability to adapt to injury in a six-legged walking robot
and a mechanical arm designed to pick up objects. Videos recorded by the researchers show the six-legged robot initially flailing helplessly like a squashed spider after the power is cut to one of its legs.
our biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile. But in reality, Clune says,
The study, published in the journal Nature, describes the new algorithms that underpin the advance,
it uses a computer simulation of its own body to create a detailed map of the types of movements it can make something the researchers describe as the robot imulated childhood f you watch children play,
they work out how their body works by moving in all different ways, said Clune. his means
of the Pierre and Marie Curie University in France and the lead author, said: nce damaged, the robot becomes like a scientist.
if one behaviour doesn work, the robot is smart enough to rule out that entire type of behaviour and try a new type
Pilots will be able to reach altitudes of 1, 000m taking off and landing vertically, meaning rooftops,
gardens and parking lots are all viable launchpads. In fact, Martin believes that the jetpack ability to land in confined spaces will be its selling point,
Peter Coker, chief executive of Martin told Reuters. aturally for the ambulance service getting to a point of importance of rescuing people in the shortest possible time is crucial. he jetpack will ship for emergency services in the second-half of 2016,
New zealand-based Martin Aircraft recently floated on the Australian stock exchange, seeing a $50m investment from Chinese aerospace company Kuang-Chi Science,
valuing Martin at $100m. It began taking orders earlier this year, and has been showing off a simulator of the jetpack at airshows including Paris. Jetpacks:
French taxi drivers were protesting on Thursday at vehicles operated by drivers working for the Californian business,
but via smartphones and without directly employing its drivers. The taxi drivers were protesting at seeing their livelihoods threatened:
though, pay nothing, using their own cars and just paying a proportion of their takings to the company for the rides they pick up.
called edallions can cost a million dollars. And regulators, courts and police have been raising concerns around the world, too.
It been a tough week for Uber. The protests in France, where Uberpop (as it is called locally) has been declared illegal yet still operates
came just a week after California Labor Commission decided that Uber drivers there were employees, not contractors a distinction that could impose significant costs and responsibilities.
the sharing economy. In this brave new world, untapped capacity such as idle cars and rooms is made available for hire,
increases efficiency and lowers the price of those goods and services. It is not just Uber that is facing resistance over the sharing phenomenon.
Paris is also the scene of another collision between a company from the sharing economy and the authorities:
about 2%of all apartment units in the city are available for rent through Airbnb,
which connects apartment owners and short-term renters. With 40,000 listings at the start of April, it the company largest market in Europe, ahead of London with just under 25,000 and Barcelona with 16,600.
Investigators from Paris city hall have been trawling the city and can impose fines of#25,000 for any unlicensed short-term rental;
and pay tourist taxes for out-of-town visitors to apartments. Hotels, too, are angry at seeing their revenues eroded by the upstart.
Airbnb has met resistance elsewhere too, usually from local governments concerned they are missing out on taxes.
Barcelona and Berlin have brought both in tough regulations that will stifle Airbnb growth. But London, by contrast, relaxed old laws following a 2014 government review of what might hold haring economycompanies back.
Pricewaterhouse Coopers forecast last year that total revenues for the five largest sharing economy businesses could be £9bn in the UK by 2025,
the sharing economy is a throwback to the preindustrial age, when village communities had to share resources to survive,
Pwc chief economist. hey built up trust through repeated interactions with people they had known all their lives.
But as Love discovered, the sharing economy can create significant tensions. Some view the taxi driversanger as a repeat of the Luddite protests of 1811,
when textile workers protested and smashed up laboursaving looms and frames, and just as doomed to fail. hese new services are more than just a cheaper alternative to traditional providers,
or part-time workers, or spare room owners, it argued, the new companies unleash new sources of economic activity that was suppressed previously.
The deeper question though is whether such peer-to-peer systems erode wages and worker rights even while they create jobs.
Uber claims drivers can earn significant amounts of money, but studies and undercover experiences by journalists have demonstrated that requires huge,
or even impossible amounts of time. One writer discovered that to earn Uber promised median $90, 000 a year after expenses in New york,
she would have to work 365 days each of 27 hours. Meanwhile, in Paris the biggest threat is that the taxi drivers will withdraw their labour or sue their mployersout of existence.
With California having struck the first blow there may be trouble ahead
#The innovators: how smaller batteries give more power to UK solar households When Elon musk, the chief executive of Tesla, took to the stage in California in April to launch a solar battery for the home,
the audience hollered and whooped at every detail. On the other side of the Atlantic, a more modest, quieter challenger plans to take on the US electric car giant.
Based within a railway arch, with the sound of trains running overhead from nearby London Bridge station
and surrounded by other ecologically minded startups, the offices of Powervault are a far cry from Tesla showpiece Californian stage.
The similarity lies in the product the Powervault battery which stores energy from domestic solar panels. ome people, especially if they don have solar panels,
just assume solar panels come with a battery, says Joe Warren, Powervault managing director. They don. Home energy generation has blossomed in the UK over the past four years,
with an estimated 650,000 homes fitted with solar panels. In 2010, the government introduced the feed in tariff scheme to pay householders who produce
and supply energy. The scheme aims to push renewable energy in the UK towards 15%of total energy by 2020.
In 2009, the figure stood at 2%.Powervault Tesla and other players in the emerging solar battery market aim to supply the means for householders to store energy produced during the sunniest part of the day for use at peak times,
when more people are at home but the sun is down. lot of people are not at home during the day,
they are at work, Warren says. he solar system is generating energy which is exported all. We thought,
ouldn it be great if you could store that energy and use it when you are at home in the evening?
Our system stores energy during the day when it is sunny and then gives it back to the customer in the evening.
The Powervault unit is about the size of a washing machine and weighs about 150kg (330lbs).
Inside are batteries, chargers and electronics. A charger takes the energy from the solar panels and transforms it into energy
which is stored then in the batteries and discharged around the home when needed. Powervault energy storage system is just a little smaller than the average UK washing machine. ypically the system works on a daily cycle
so it charges up when it is sunny and then on that same day discharges, Warren says. t would typically store the energy for less than 24 hours. t has a control system and a monitoring system
which works out whether you are importing or exporting electricity. If you are exporting it will charge the batteries until they are full
and if it notices that you are importing electricity, it will start to discharge energy
and reduce the amount of energy being imported from the grid by offsetting that with the energy in the battery.
The unit stores 2 to 4 kilowatt hours, enough energy to watch television for 14 or 28 hours or wash two to four full loads in the washing machine.
Priced between £2, 000 and £2, 800 per unit, it is cheaper than rivals, says Warren,
and it has been reduced in size to tailor it for The british home energy needs. he main purpose is to reduce people electricity bills,
to charge up during the day when it sunny, discharge it in the evening when people are using power.
If you made the battery bigger, you could store the energy for longer but the problem with that is it would cost a lot more.
What we have tried to do is size the unit so it is just right for a British house.
Savings from the device depend on consumption, the number of solar panels installed and how much energy they produce,
although the company estimates that it could lower electricity bills by up to 15%.%Warren said sales started in September,
with devices snapped up by early adopters and people enthusiastic about green technology. Powervault is aiming to cut the cost to £1,
000, making the savings on evolving battery technology and economies of scale. Warren says some estimates put the number of households with solar panels at 2m by 2020, by
which time the company hopes to have sold 50,000 units. hat we are trying to do here is change the electricity market,
change the way people consume energy, says Warren. he country and everybody in it are facing big challenges,
we have got huge electricity cost increases that are affecting homeowners, are affecting the country. We need to get the carbon emissions of the country down,
we need to ensure security of supply all those things affect people and affect the country as a whole.
Elon musk, of Tesla, at a glitzy launch to unveil the Powerwall home battery in April.
However, competition is expected to be harsh. Tesla wall-mounted Powerwall batteries are designed to store up to 10kw hours of wind or solar energy;
units have sold out until mid-2016. It aims to have its batteries in the UK by the end of this year.
Last month, Mercedes-benz also entered the battery market for home and business use. Eco-entrepreneur Dale Vince, chair of the renewable energy firm Ecotricity,
said the home battery market remained undeveloped until now because energy had been oo cheap for too long for it to matter Ecotricity is also developing a product expected to be launched next year with a working title of lack box a 2ft to 3ft-high device that will control power coming in and out of the home.
The missing link Energy storage has been described as the missing link of solar energy adoption. A report from Deutsche Bank this year said solar energy storage would be cheap enough to be deployed on a large scale within five years as a result of a yearly cost reduction of 20%to 30%in the price of lithium-ion
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