Schogini

ScienceDaily (May 3, 2012) — A doorknob that knows whether to lock or unlock based on how it is grasped, a smartphone that silences itself if the user holds a finger to her lips and a chair that adjusts room lighting based on recognizing if a user is reclining or leaning forward are among the many possible applications of Touché, a new sensing technique developed by a team at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Touché is a form of capacitive touch sensing, the same principle underlying the types of touchscreens used in most smartphones. But instead of sensing electrical signals at a single frequency, like the typical touchscreen, Touché monitors capacitive signals across a broad range of frequencies.

This Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing (SFCS) makes it possible to not only detect a “touch event,” but to recognize complex configurations of the hand or body that is doing the touching. An object thus could sense how it is being touched, or might sense the body configuration of the person doing the touching.

SFCS is robust and can enhance everyday objects by using just a single sensing electrode. Sometimes, as in the case of a doorknob or other conductive objects, the object itself can serve as a sensor and no modifications are required. Even the human body or a body of water can be a sensor.

“Signal frequency sweeps have been used for decades in wireless communication, but as far as we know, nobody previously has attempted to apply this technique to touch interaction,” said Ivan Poupyrev, senior research scientist at Disney Research, Pittsburgh. “Yet, in our laboratory experiments, we were able to enhance a broad variety of objects with high-fidelity touch sensitivity. When combined with gesture recognition techniques, Touché demonstrated recognition rates approaching 100 percent. That suggests it could immediately be used to create new and exciting ways for people to interact with objects and the world at large.”

In addition to Poupyrev, the research team included Chris Harrison, a Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, and Munehiko Sato, a Disney intern and a Ph.D. student in engineering at the University of Tokyo. The researchers will present their findings May 7 at CHI 2012, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, in Austin, Texas, where it has been recognized with a Best Paper Award.

Both Touché and smartphone touchscreens are based on the phenomenon known as capacitive coupling. In a capacitive touchscreen, the surface is coated with a transparent conductor that carries an electrical signal. That signal is altered when a person’s finger touches it, providing an alternative path for the electrical charge. By monitoring the change in the signal, the device can determine if a touch occurs.

By monitoring a range of signal frequencies, however, Touché can derive much more information. Different body tissues have different capacitive properties, so monitoring a range of frequencies can detect a number of different paths that the electrical charge takes through the body.

Making sense of all of that SFCS information, however, requires analyzing hundreds of data points. As microprocessors have become steadily faster and less expensive, it now is feasible to use SFCS in touch interfaces, the researchers said.

“Devices keep getting smaller and increasingly are embedded throughout the environment, which has made it necessary for us to find ways to control or interact with them, and that is where Touché could really shine,” Harrison said.

Sato said Touché could make computer interfaces as invisible to users as the embedded computers themselves. “This might enable us to one day do away with keyboards, mice and perhaps even conventional touchscreens for many applications,” he said.

Among the proof-of-concept applications the researchers have investigated is a smart doorknob. Depending on whether the knob was grasped, touched with one finger or two, or pinched, a door could be programmed to lock or unlock itself, admit a guest, or even leave a reply message, such as “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

In another proof-of-concept experiment, they showed that SFCS could enhance a traditional touchscreen by sensing not just the fingertip, but the configuration of the rest of the hand. They created the equivalent of a mouse “right click,” zoom in/out and copy/paste functions depending on whether the user pinched the phone’s screen and back with one finger or two, or used a thumb.

The researchers also were able to monitor body gestures, such as touching fingers, grasping hands and covering ears by having subjects wear electrodes similar to wristwatches on both arms. Such gestures could be used to control a smartphone or other device.

They also showed that a single electrode attached to any water vessel could detect a number of gestures, such as fingertip submerged, hand submerged and hand on bottom. Sensing touch in liquids might be particularly suited to toys, games and food appliances.

The researchers at the NanoRobotics Laboratory   in Canada, are putting swarms of bacteria to work, using them to perform micro-manipulations and even propel microrobots.

The researchers want to use flagellated bacteria to carry drugs into tumors, act as sensing agents for detecting pathogens, and operate micro-factories that could perform pharmacological and genetic tests.They also want to use the bacteria as micro-workers for building things. Things like a tiny step pyramid.

The bacteria, of a type known as magnetotactic, contain structures called magnetosomes, which function as a compass. In the presence of a magnetic field, the magnetosomes induce a torque on the bacteria, making them swim according to the direction of the field. Place a magnetic field pointing right and the bacteria will move right. Switch the field to point left and the bacteria will follow suit.

A plasmonic  interferometer that can detect very low concentrations of glucose in water and, with some reengineering, may also work with saliva. If things go as hoped, people with diabetes will one day measure glucose levels by spitting instead of sticking.
Each tiny interferometer consists of a slit in a silver film with two grooves etched on either side. When a beam of white light hits the film, the grooves in the silver scatter it in different directions. Some of the photons travel along the surface of the metal back toward the slit, and as they do so, they interact with free electrons in the material, swooping them up in a wave called a surface plasmon polariton. A wave originating from each groove surges toward the slit and collides with the light in the center, either increasing or decreasing the light’s intensity as it passes through the slit.
The measurement of this intensity gives an idea of how the light at the center interacts with the two interfering waves. “The slit is acting like a spatial mixer of those three contributions.

In one configuration, with a bit of water dropped on the silver film, the interferometer will always give the same output. But if you change the distances between the grooves and the slit, or if you change the wavelength of the original light, the intensity changes on the other end. By trying many configurations, you can get a fingerprint specific to the water.

Because the interferometers are so small, the researchers can try multiple combinations at once, Pacifici says. “What we do is we etch thousands of those in the same chip in the same metal film. It allows us to have nanometer resolution,” he says. Then, when a molecule like glucose is added, it can be detected because it shifts the refractive index of the water, slightly altering its interferometric fingerprint.

This works for solutions like water, where the fingerprint has been worked out ahead of time. And saliva is 99 percent water. But the remaining 1 percent contains a mixture of unpredictable compounds, all of which will have their own influence on the refractive index of the solution.

The interferometer can be used to detect signaling proteins called cytokines, which provide a measurement of inflammation in the body. “Surgeons are in need of a technology that can tell you in real time how much and how many of the cytokines are in the blood or in the serum so they can decide when it is best to operate,” he says.

So measuring glucose is only one proof for a device that could be used for many different applications

Scientists from the California Institute of Technology have come one step closer towards creating a possible cure for cancer. They have used a technique called “gene silencing” to help block the production of proteins that are the key to how cancer & other viruses spread. These scientists incorporated that technique with technology through the introduction of nanobots into the blood stream.

Tiny polymer nanobots were coated in a specially created chemical sensor. This sensor would detect when the nanobot encountered a cancers cell. Once the cell is identified, the nanobot would be able to break itself (gene slicing) and release a deadly cocktail inside of the tumor. This would result in the cancerous cell dying and never coming back. Now imagine several thousand of these nanobots entering your body to fight back the thousand cancerous cells. Cancer could be deleted from the picture forever.

Tests have been conducted in several clinical trials at the California Institute of Technology. One study was conducted with three people diagnosed with melanomas. Each person received four thirty minuted sessions. These sessions would see them receive intravenous doses of the polymer nanobots. It was discovered that over a course of three weeks that the tumors has become less active because of the constant attack of nanobots. This is good news because it means the cancerous tumor was slowly dying away.

It should be noted that the technology has not been used directly in cancer eliminating trials quite yet. The scientists must first watch and study how the nanobots move about the body and react to the cancerous cells. They need to also find out if the cancerous cells have the ability to adapt to the nanobots, thus making them useless to use.

These studies are being conducted right now with the hope of taking the next step towards trying to cure those with cancer. The scientists believe that they are onto something and would of not shared their creation without feeling good about the direction that it is headed. Time will tell if this technology can lead to the body being cured but it is good news either way.

A tiny prototype robot that functions like a living creature is being developed which one day could be safely used to pinpoint diseases within the human body.

Called ‘Cyberplasm’, it will combine advanced microelectronics with latest research in biomimicry (technology inspired by nature). The aim is for Cyberplasm to have an electronic nervous system, ‘eye’ and ‘nose’ sensors derived from mammalian cells, as well as artificial muscles that use glucose as an energy source to propel it.

The intention is to engineer and integrate robot components that respond to light and chemicals in the same way as biological systems. This is a completely innovative way of pushing robotics forward.

Electronics waste now makes up five percent of total municipal solid waste worldwide which is almost equal to the waste of all plastic packaging material. Not only developed countries but the developing countries also have its share in the production of E-Waste.  According to the reports, Asia discards an estimated 12 million tons of E-Waste each year. While the electronic waste stream has increased dramatically in the last 10 years; efforts to regulate or recycle them are being developed at a much slower pace.A recent report by United Nations predicts that by 2020 e-waste from old computers in South Africa and China will have jumped by 200–400 % and by 500 % in India compared to 2007 levels. It also states that by 2020 e-waste from discarded cell phones will be increased to 7 times than 2007 in China and 18 times in India. This report also mentions that in the United States more than 150 million mobiles and pagers were sold in 2008, up from 90 million five years before, and globally more than 1 billion mobile phones were sold in 2007, up from 896 million in 2006. The UN report estimates that countries like Senegal and Uganda can expect e-waste flows from personal computers alone to increase 4 to 8-fold by 2020.

Three major techniques that are employed to destroy or recycle the E-waste are:

Incineration:It is a process to destroy the waste by burning. As there are toxic materials present in the e-waste there may be a risk of generating and dispersing contaminants and hazardous substances.

Open Burning:Generally e-waste is burnt in the open fire but since it is burnt at low temperatures, it releases relatively more pollutants in the atmosphere than incineration   process.Inhalation of open burning emissions may cause serious health problems such as asthma attacks, coughing, chest pain   eye irritation, etc. If open fires burn with a lack of oxygen, it forms carbon monoxide, which poisons the blood when inhaled. In the burning of e-waste chronic emissions are released which may lead to diseases like emphysema and cancer.

Exposure to waves in the frequency range of above 30hertz could help in healing bones and enhances bone growth.This could prove helpful in curing many growth disorders and could help strengthen elderly bones.This range of frequency falls in human  brain’s beta waves.It is proven that this is why cats are supposed to have nine lives bcoz cats when wounded purrs in the range of frequency falling in (30-55)Hz that helps in healing their wounds.

you could get more information about this in the following links

http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/Schumann.html#earth

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1326953/Revealed-how-purrs-are-secret-to-cats-nine-lives.html

Sipping a cup of sugar-sweetened coffee not only kick-starts a day, but also improves memory retention and attention span, a latest research from scientists at the University of Barcelona in Spain has revealed.
The study found that caffeine, a nervous system stimulant, when taken along with sugar boosts brain function more than it does separately.

In fact, researchers believe that both caffeine and sugar enhance the effect of each other on cognitive skills such as learning, concentrating, and retrieving.

Previous studies have also established that coffee improves short-term memory and speeds up reaction time by acting on the brain’s prefrontal cortex.

Study findings

Findings of the study revealed that coffee affects specific brain regions involved in memory and concentration due to which the brain operates more efficiently and actively post caffeine and sugar boost.

It was also found that volunteers who drank coffee with sugar reported a reduced activity in the bilateral parietal cortex and the left prefrontal cortex, the two parts of the brain responsible for attention span and memory.

“The two substances improve cognitive performance by increasing the efficiency of the two areas of the brain responsible for sustained attention and working memory,” the Daily Mail quoted researcher Dr Josep Serra Grabulosa as saying.

“The brain is more efficient under the combined effect of the two substances, since it needs fewer resources to produce the same level of performance than when volunteers took only caffeine, glucose or water,” Serra Grabulosa added.

There are 101 reasons why you shouldn’t use a microwave oven for cooking. There are various adverse effects of consuming foods that have been microwaved:

=>>Nutrients in food are damaged
=>>Food molecules are altered, rendering them inorganic and toxic (or even carcinogenic) to the body
=>>Reduction of hemoglobin levels and alteration of blood serum quality, leading to severe anemia
=>>A decrease in HDL (good cholesterol) and an increase in LDL (bad cholesterol)
=>>A decrease in lymphocytes (white blood cells) leading to the body’s rapid drop in immunity and defense system against viral attacks
More »

Self esteem is your opinion of yourself. High self esteem is a good opinion of yourself and low self esteem is a bad opinion of yourself.   However, low self-esteem is a constant companion for too many people, especially those who experience depression, anxiety, phobias, psychosis, delusional thinking, or who have an illness or a disability.

Things that you can do everyday to increase the self esteem are

1. Face your fears.
2. Forget your failures.
3. Pay attention to your own needs and wants.
4. Eat healthy foods and avoid junk foods.
5. Do proper exercise.
6. Do personal hygiene tasks.
7. Reward yourself when you succeed.
8. Drop your negative friends.
9. Plan fun activities for yourself.
10. Maintain good health.
11. Do things that make use of your own special talents and abilities.
12. Don’t put up with the crap.
13. Dress in clothes that make you feel good about yourself.
14. Talk or  Spend time with people who make you feel good about yourself.
15. Make your living space a place that honors the person you are.
16. Take advantage of opportunities to learn something new or improve your skills.
17. Do something nice for another person.