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05/19/2016 : 118711
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Healthcare Monitoring is Revolutionized by Air-Powered Computer
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Posted by Okachinepa on 08/23/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit:William Grover/ UCR
An air-powered computer that can identify and sound alarms when specific medical devices malfunction has been created by researchers. By doing away with the requirement for electronic sensors, this gadget streamlines the monitoring procedure and provides a dependable and affordable means of assisting in the prevention of blood clots and strokes.
According to an article published in the journal Device, the computer not only requires air to operate, but it also uses air to emit alerts. When it notices an issue with the life-saving compression machine it is meant to keep an eye on, it promptly sounds a whistle.
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit:William Grover/ UCR
Leg sleeves known as intermittent pneumatic compression, or IPC devices, are designed to pressure a person's legs to improve blood flow by occasionally filling with air. By doing this, clots that cause fatalities, strokes, or clogged blood vessels are avoided. These devices are usually operated and observed by electronics.
"IPC devices are expensive because of all the electronics in them, but they can save lives. Therefore, in order to reduce costs and improve safety, we intended to create a pneumatic device that eliminates some electronics, according to William Grover, UC Riverside associate professor of bioengineering and co-author of the related research.
Compressed air is moved about using pneumatics. This is how IPC devices, bicycle pumps, tire pressure gauges, respirators, and emergency brakes work aboard freight trains. Grover and his colleagues reasoned that it would be safer to control one pneumatic logic gadget with another.
By computing parity bits, this kind of gadget functions similarly to electronic circuits. Grover stated, "Let me say I want to send a message in ones and zeroes, like 1-0-1, three bits." "People discovered decades ago that they could send these three pieces along with one extra piece of information to ensure the recipient received the correct message."
We refer to that additional bit of data as a parity bit. The bit is a number, which is 1 in the case of an odd number of ones in the message and 0 in the case of an even number of ones. If a message with an even number of bits ends with the number one, it is obvious that there was a mistake in the message. This is how a lot of electronic computers send messages.
An air-powered computer counts ones and zeroes by measuring variations in air pressure passing through twenty-one small valves. The whistle does not blast in the event that there has been no counting error.
If it does blow, the machine needs to be repaired. Grover and his pupils are shown in a video showcasing the air computer cutting an IPC device with a knife, rendering it useless. After a few seconds, the whistle sounds.
This gadget is around the size of a matchbox. It substitutes a computer and a few other sensors, according to Grover. Thus, we can save expenses while still identifying issues with a gadget. Additionally, it could be utilized in conditions with high humidity or high heat that aren't good for electronics.
Air computing has many uses, one of which is IPC device monitoring. Grover's next effort would be to create a machine that could replace the requirement for a work that results in annual fatalities: shifting grain at the top of tall silos.
Grain silos are tall structures filled with wheat or maize that are frequently seen in the Midwest. To level off the interior piles and break up the grains, a person frequently needs to enter using a shovel.
"A startlingly high proportion of fatalities happen when someone becomes stuck when the grain moves. This might be done by a robot in place of a human. However, Grover noted that an electronic robot would not be the greatest option because these silos are explosive and could be destroyed by a single electric spark. "My goal is to create an air-powered robot that can operate in this explosive environment, avoid sparking, and rescue people from harm."
The concept of air-powered computing has existed for a minimum of a century. Air-powered pianos that played music from punched rolls of paper were once manufactured. Pneumatic circuits lost appeal to engineers with the development of modern computing.
Grover observed, "Once a new technology takes hold, we lose sight of other solutions to problems." "This research can demonstrate to the world that there are still applications for ideas that are over a century old today, which is something I find appealing."
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"Hydrogel Brain" Uses Deep Learning to Surpass Expectations
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Posted by Okachinepa on 08/23/2024 @
Courtesy of Synevol
A group led by Dr. Yoshikatsu Hayashi showed in a paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science that a basic hydrogel, a kind of soft, flexible material, can be taught to play the straightforward computer game "Pong" from the 1970s. Over time, the hydrogel's performance improved when it was interfaced with a computer simulation of the classic game using a specially designed multi-electrode array.
As stated by Dr. Hayashi, a biomedical engineer from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading: "Our research demonstrates that even very simple materials can exhibit complex, adaptive behaviors typically associated with sophisticated AI or living systems."
"This presents intriguing opportunities for creating novel'smart' materials that are able to perceive and adjust to their surroundings."
It is believed that charged particles in the hydrogel migrate in response to electrical stimulation, forming a kind of "memory" within the material itself, which is the source of emergent learning behavior.
Robotics engineer Vincent Strong, the initial author, states that "ionic hydrogels can achieve the same kind of memory mechanics as more complex neural networks." Strong is affiliated with the University of Reading. "We demonstrated that hydrogels can learn to play Pong and become increasingly proficient at it over time."
The earlier study, which shown that brain cells in a dish can pick up the game of Pong if they are electrically stimulated in a way that provides them with performance feedback, served as motivation for the researchers.
Dr. Hayashi, a corresponding author on the study, stated, "Our paper addresses the question of whether simple artificial systems can compute closed loops similar to the feedback loops that allow our brains to control our bodies."
The fundamental idea behind ions' movement and distribution in hydrogels and neurons alike is that they can serve as memory functions that are correlated with sensory-motor loops in the context of Pong. Ions circulate throughout the cells of neurons. Outside, they run in the gel.
According to the researchers, hydrogels offer a different sort of “intelligence” that might be utilized to create new, simpler algorithms, as neural networks are the basis for the majority of AI algorithms currently in use. Future investigations into the hydrogel's "memory" will involve assessing the material's capacity for additional activities as well as studying the mechanics underlying memory.
Dr. Hayashi's team, along with Reading colleagues Dr. Zuowei Wang and Dr. Nandini Vasudevan, showed in a recent related study that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences how an external pacemaker may be trained to beat in time with a different hydrogel substance. This is the first time a material other than living cells has been used to do this.
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The scientists showed how a hydrogel substance oscillates mechanically and chemically in a manner similar to the coordinated contraction of heart muscle cells. These dynamic phenomena are explained theoretically by them.
The scientists discovered that they could synchronize the chemical oscillations of the gel with the mechanical rhythm by subjecting it to repeated compressions. This entrained heartbeat was remembered by the gel even after the mechanical pacemaker was turned off.
"This is an important step toward creating a cardiac muscle model that may be utilized in the future to investigate the interaction between chemical and mechanical signals in the human heart," stated Dr. Hayashi. "It opens up exciting possibilities for these chemically-powered gel models to replace some animal experiments in cardiac research."
Dr. Tunde Geher-Herczegh, the study's lead author, stated that the results may open up new avenues for research on cardiac arrhythmia, a disorder that affects over 2 million people in the UK and causes the heart to beat too quickly, too slowly, or irregularly.
"Drugs or an electrical pacemaker can be used to treat an irregular heartbeat, but studying the mechanical systems that underlie an irregular heartbeat independently of the chemical and electrical systems in the heart is challenging due to the complexity of biological heart cells," the speaker stated.
"Our findings will further our understanding of how artificial materials could be used in place of animals and biological tissues for research and treatments in the future, and could lead to new discoveries and potential treatments for arrhythmia."
These investigations, which connect ideas from the fields of materials science, neurology, physics, and cardiac research, imply that the basic ideas behind learning and adaptation in living systems may be more widespread than previously believed.
The research team thinks that a wide range of industries, including environmental sensing, prosthetics, soft robotics, and adaptive materials, may be impacted by their findings. Subsequent research endeavors will center on the advancement of intricate behaviors and the investigation of plausible practical uses, such as the creation of substitute laboratory models to promote cardiac research and mitigate the utilization of animals in medical investigations.
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A New Sensor Could Reduce the Cost of Groceries and Increase Farming Efficiency
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Posted by Okachinepa on 08/21/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
A lightweight, portable sensor system with infrared imaging capabilities that can be quickly installed on a drone for remote crop monitoring has been created by an international team of engineers.
In a number of industries, this flat-optics technology may take the place of conventional optical lens applications for environmental sensing.
Because farmers would be able to identify which crops need fertilization, irrigation, and pest control rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all strategy, this innovation may lead to lower grocery prices while also potentially increasing harvests.
The sensor system does not have to generate vast amounts of data or use heavy external computers in order to quickly flip between edge detection, which involves photographing the shape of an object, like a fruit, and extracting detailed infrared information.
Courtesy of SynEvol
When the remote sensor detects possible pest infestation locations, farmers may be able to gather additional information by switching to a comprehensive infrared image. This is a new breakthrough in the field.
Published in Nature Communications, this study was conducted by engineers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS), RMIT University, University of Melbourne, and City University of New York (CUNY).
TMOS Chief Investigator Professor Madhu Bhaskaran and her team at RMIT in Melbourne developed the prototype sensor system, which consists of a filter built with a thin layer of a substance called vanadium dioxide that can switch between edge detection and detailed infrared imaging.
"Vanadium dioxide and other materials add a fantastic tuning capability to render devices'smart,'" the speaker stated.
TMOS Chief Investigator Professor Madhu Bhaskaran and her team at RMIT in Melbourne developed the prototype sensor system, which consists of a filter built with a thin layer of a substance called vanadium dioxide that can switch between edge detection and detailed infrared imaging.
"Vanadium dioxide and other materials add a fantastic tuning capability to render devices'smart,'" the speaker stated.
"The processed image shifts from a filtered outline to an unfiltered infrared image because the vanadium dioxide changes from an insulating state to a metallic one when the temperature of the filter is changed."
These materials have the potential to be very useful in the development of futuristic flat-optic devices that can take the place of technologies utilizing conventional lenses for environmental sensing applications. This makes them perfect for usage in satellites and drones, which have to be small, light, and power-efficient.
For its process of creating vanadium dioxide films, which could find use in a variety of fields, RMIT has been granted a US patent and is currently pursuing an Australian patent application.
The system's capacity to transition between processing tasks—from edge detection to taking in-depth infrared images—was important, according to lead author Dr. Michele Cotrufo.
The majority of the devices that have been demonstrated thus far are static, however a few recent demonstrations have used metasurfaces to perform analog edge detection. According to Corufo, a researcher at CUNY, "their functionality is fixed in time and cannot be dynamically altered or controlled."
However, in order for metasurfaces to compete with digital image processing systems, they must be able to dynamically alter processing activities. What we have created is this.
The University of Melbourne's Shaban Sulejman, a co-author, stated that the filter's design and materials allow for mass production.
It can quickly transition from research to practical use since it can integrate with commercially available systems and operates at temperatures that are consistent with regular production procedures.
Flat optics technologies have the potential to revolutionize numerous industries, according to Ann Roberts, the chief investigator of TMOS, who is also affiliated with the University of Melbourne.
For a long time, the barrier halting further device downsizing has been traditional optical elements. Thin-film optics' capacity to supplement or replace conventional optical elements allows for the removal of that barrier.
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A New Sensor Could Reduce the Cost of Groceries and Increase Farming Efficiency
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|
|
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Posted by Okachinepa on 08/21/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
A lightweight, portable sensor system with infrared imaging capabilities that can be quickly installed on a drone for remote crop monitoring has been created by an international team of engineers.
In a number of industries, this flat-optics technology may take the place of conventional optical lens applications for environmental sensing.
Because farmers would be able to identify which crops need fertilization, irrigation, and pest control rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all strategy, this innovation may lead to lower grocery prices while also potentially increasing harvests.
The sensor system does not have to generate vast amounts of data or use heavy external computers in order to quickly flip between edge detection, which involves photographing the shape of an object, like a fruit, and extracting detailed infrared information.
Courtesy of SynEvol
When the remote sensor detects possible pest infestation locations, farmers may be able to gather additional information by switching to a comprehensive infrared image. This is a new breakthrough in the field.
Published in Nature Communications, this study was conducted by engineers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS), RMIT University, University of Melbourne, and City University of New York (CUNY).
TMOS Chief Investigator Professor Madhu Bhaskaran and her team at RMIT in Melbourne developed the prototype sensor system, which consists of a filter built with a thin layer of a substance called vanadium dioxide that can switch between edge detection and detailed infrared imaging.
"Vanadium dioxide and other materials add a fantastic tuning capability to render devices'smart,'" the speaker stated.
TMOS Chief Investigator Professor Madhu Bhaskaran and her team at RMIT in Melbourne developed the prototype sensor system, which consists of a filter built with a thin layer of a substance called vanadium dioxide that can switch between edge detection and detailed infrared imaging.
"Vanadium dioxide and other materials add a fantastic tuning capability to render devices'smart,'" the speaker stated.
"The processed image shifts from a filtered outline to an unfiltered infrared image because the vanadium dioxide changes from an insulating state to a metallic one when the temperature of the filter is changed."
These materials have the potential to be very useful in the development of futuristic flat-optic devices that can take the place of technologies utilizing conventional lenses for environmental sensing applications. This makes them perfect for usage in satellites and drones, which have to be small, light, and power-efficient.
For its process of creating vanadium dioxide films, which could find use in a variety of fields, RMIT has been granted a US patent and is currently pursuing an Australian patent application.
The system's capacity to transition between processing tasks—from edge detection to taking in-depth infrared images—was important, according to lead author Dr. Michele Cotrufo.
The majority of the devices that have been demonstrated thus far are static, however a few recent demonstrations have used metasurfaces to perform analog edge detection. According to Corufo, a researcher at CUNY, "their functionality is fixed in time and cannot be dynamically altered or controlled."
However, in order for metasurfaces to compete with digital image processing systems, they must be able to dynamically alter processing activities. What we have created is this.
The University of Melbourne's Shaban Sulejman, a co-author, stated that the filter's design and materials allow for mass production.
It can quickly transition from research to practical use since it can integrate with commercially available systems and operates at temperatures that are consistent with regular production procedures.
Flat optics technologies have the potential to revolutionize numerous industries, according to Ann Roberts, the chief investigator of TMOS, who is also affiliated with the University of Melbourne.
For a long time, the barrier halting further device downsizing has been traditional optical elements. Thin-film optics' capacity to supplement or replace conventional optical elements allows for the removal of that barrier.
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New Electric Bandages: 30% Faster Wound Healing
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Posted by Okachinepa on 08/19/2024 @
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Rajaram Kaveti
Open wounds classified as chronic heal very slowly, if at all. For instance, some diabetic individuals have persistent lesions, such as sores. These wounds are very dangerous since they greatly raise the risk of amputation and death and frequently return even after treatment. Unfortunately, patients experience further issues as a result of the high costs associated with the current choices for treating chronic wounds.
Recently, scientists have created a low-cost bandage that stimulates the healing of chronic wounds using an electric field. In experiments on animals, wounds treated with these electric bandages healed thirty percent quicker than wounds treated with traditional bandages.
The work's co-corresponding author and assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University, Amay Bandodkar, states, "Our goal here was to develop a far less expensive technology that accelerates healing in patients with chronic wounds." Additionally, we wanted to ensure that the technology wasn't limited to what patients could only get in professional settings and that it was simple enough for people to utilize at home.
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Rajaram Kaveti
According to Sam Sia, a Columbia University biomedical engineering professor and co-corresponding author of the work, "this project is part of a bigger DARPA project to accelerate wound healing with personalized wound dressings." "This collaborative project demonstrates that wounds healed at a similar rate to bulkier and more expensive wound treatment, faster than the control group, thanks to these lightweight bandages that can provide electrical stimulation simply by adding water."
In particular, the study team created water-powered, electronics-free dressings (WPEDs), which are single-use wound dressings with a tiny, biocompatible battery on one side and electrodes on the other. In order for the electrodes to make touch with the wound, the dressing is put to the patient. The battery is then activated by applying a drop of water to it. The bandage creates an electromagnetic field that lasts for several hours once it is turned on.
Courtesy of SynEvol
Credit: Gurudatt Nanjanagudu Ganesh
"It's well known that electric fields speed up healing in chronic wounds, so that electric field is essential," explains co-first author Rajaram Kaveti, a post-doctoral researcher at NC State.
The electrodes are made to be flexible enough to bend with the bandage and fit the surface of chronic wounds, which are frequently deep and asymmetrical.
According to Kaveti, "this conformability is essential because we want the electric field to be directed from the wound's periphery toward the wound's center." Electrodes must come into touch with the patient at both the edge and the center of the wound for the electric field to be focused properly. Furthermore, you need electrodes that can adapt to a wide range of surface features because these wounds might be deep and asymmetrical.
"We evaluated the dressings on diabetic mice, which are a widely used model for human wound healing," explains Columbia graduate student Maggie Jakus, who is also one of the study's co-first authors. "We discovered that the electrical stimulation from the device reduced inflammation, accelerated the rate of wound closure, and encouraged the formation of new blood vessels, all of which point to overall improved wound healing."
In particular, the researchers discovered that compared to mice treated with traditional bandages, mice treated with WPEDs healed almost 30% faster.
"However, it's also crucial that these bandages be made at a reasonable cost—we're talking about a few dollars in overhead costs for each dressing,” Bandodkar said.
Aristidis Veves, a Beth Israel Deaconess Center surgical professor and co-author of the study, states that diabetic foot ulceration is a dangerous condition that can result in lower extremity amputations. Since the last therapeutic method to receive FDA approval was created more than 25 years ago, there is an urgent need for new ones. My team is extremely fortunate to be a part of this research initiative, which looks into novel and effective approaches that could completely change the way diabetic foot ulcers are managed.
Furthermore, the WPEDs are simple and quick to apply. Patients are able to move around and engage in everyday activities after the application. Patients are more likely to cooperate with treatment when they may receive it at home because to this feature. Put differently, since patients don't have to go to a clinic or stay immobile for long periods of time, they are less prone to skip therapy sessions or take short cuts.
Our next course of action entails carrying out more research to improve our capacity to lessen electric field fluctuations and prolong field duration. In addition, we are carrying out more research that will bring us one step closer to clinical trials and, eventually, useful applications that can benefit people, says Bandodkar.
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