A microbubble-powered bioparticle actuator

We present the results of a device that uses controllable microbubble actuation to manipulate bioparticles. In order to create a useful device for controlling the position of bioparticles, predictable microfluidic actuation is crucial. The goal of this project was to develop fundamental technology that can be used to manipulate single bioparticles (e.g., cells). We use a thermal bubble actuation method to accomplish this goal. Microbubbles have the advantages of relatively simple electronics and fabrication but can be difficult to control. In this paper, we describe two specific accomplishments: the use of micromachined nucleation cavities to precisely localize thermal bubbles and to achieve controllable bubble formation temperatures and bubble dissipation and the demonstration of controllable microbubbles in a new device for particle sorting.     

A real-time vision module for interactive perceptual agents

Abstract. Interactive robotics demands real-time visual information about the environment. Real-time vision processing, however, places a heavy load on the robot's limited resources, which must accommodate multiple other processes running simultaneously. This paper describes a vision module capable of providing real-time information from ten or more operators while maintaining at least a 20-Hz frame rate and leaving sufficient processor time for a robot's other capabilities. The vision module uses a probabilistic scheduling algorithm to ensure both timely information flow and a fast frame capture. In addition, it tightly integrates the vision operators with control of a pan-tilt-zoom camera. The vision module makes its information available to other modules in the robot architecture through a shared memory structure. The information provided by the vision module includes the operator information along with a time stamp indicating information relevance. Because of this design, our robots are able to react in a timely manner to a wide variety of visual events.     

Incremental Evolution in ANNs: Neural Nets which Grow

This paper explains the optimisation of neuralnetwork topology using Incremental Evolution;that is, by allowing the network to expand byadding to its structure. This method allows anetwork to grow from a simple to a complexstructure until it is capable of fulfilling itsintended function. The approach is somewhatanalogous to the growth of an embryo or theevolution of a fossil line through time, it istherefore sometimes referred to as anembryology or embryological algorithm. Thepaper begins with a general introduction,comparing this method to other competingtechniques such as The Genetic Algorithm, otherEvolutionary Algorithms and SimulatedAnnealing. A literature survey of previous workis included, followed by an extensive newframework for application of the technique.Finally, examples of applications and a generaldiscussion are presented.     

Instructional demands and ratings of overt and hidden pain during hypnotic analgesia.

16 highly hypnotizable (Carlton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale) undergraduates rated the intensity of cold pressor pain during a baseline trial and again during 3 hypnotic analgesia trials. During each analgesia trial, Ss were instructed to give overt reports that reflected consciously experienced pain and covert reports that reflected the intensity of "hidden" pain. Treatment instructions administered before the 1st analgesia trial did not specify the relationship between overt and covert pain. Instructions given before the remaining 2 analgesia trials indicated that hidden pain would be either more or less intense than overt pain. Until they were given explicit information about the relative intensities of the pain, Ss reported no differences in the magnitude of overt and covert pain, contrary to the dissociation hypothesis of hypnotic analgesia. Consistent with social psychological formulations of the hidden observer phenomenon, Ss reported both higher covert than overt pain and lower covert than overt pain, depending on the instructions they were administered. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Effect of Restricting Cycle Times in the Economic Lot Scheduling Problem

The economic lot scheduling problem (ELSP) involves specifying economic cycle times for each of several products produced by a set of machines. The extensive, usually experimentally based, literature on the ELSP indicates that it may be desirable to restrict the possible choice of cycle times for each product to a small and very structured set of possible cycle times. In this paper we examine the economic impacts of such a restriction and give evidence that is highly supportive of this type of restriction; in particular, the “powers of 2” sets of possible cycle times used in practice appear to be very desirable from an economic viewpoint.     

Chemical sensor based on a novel capacitive microwave flexible transducer with polymer nanocomposite-carbon nanotube sensitive film

Microsystem Technologies - This study presents the results on the feasibility of a resonant planar chemical capacitive sensor in the microwave frequency range suitable for gas detection and...     

Binning algorithm for high-resolution IRS-P4 OCM chlorophyll image

Daily chlorophyll-a concentration from the Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) sensor onboard the Indian Remote Sensing satellite (IRS-P4) is used to make weekly and monthly chlorophyll-a concentration maps. The pathwise swath data at 12 noon for every alternate day over the north Indian Ocean (NIO) during February 2004 and February 2005 were used to compare the existing algorithms for binning the data. Atmospherically corrected and geocorrected OCM data were used in the comparative study of three averaging algorithms – arithmetic mean (AVG), geometric mean (GEO) and maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). The analysis shows that the AVG algorithm is best suited when compared with the two other algorithms. However, for case 1 water, MLE gives nearly the same value as AVG. Based on this result, AVG was selected for operational weekly and monthly averaging of OCM data over the NIO. These high-resolution-derived chlorophyll-a weekly and monthly products will be useful to resolve inter-annual-to-decadal changes in chlorophyll-a concentration over the NIO.     

Remote sensing of savanna vegetation changes in Eastern Zambia 1972-1989

The use of the historical Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) archive to monitor changes in savanna vegetation between 1972 and 1989 in the South Luangwa National Park region, Eastern Zambia, was investigated. Land-cover types in the region were mapped and major changes in land cover from 1972 to 1989 were detected from MSS data. Woody canopy cover, which provides a quantitative measure of woodland structure, was estimated for woodland vegetation from MSS data using a linear relationship between woody canopy cover and red reflectance. The canopy cover changes estimated from MSS data agreed with those measured from multitemporal aerial photographs (r=0.94). Woody canopy cover changed significantly in the region from 1972 to 1989 and revealed strong spatial patterns of deforestation in Colophospermum mopane woodland on alluvial soils and vegetation regrowth of valley miombo vegetation and riverine woodland. This information on the spatial patterns of canopy cover change from 1972 to 1989 suggests certain criteria that any causative process must satisfy, and it provides a baseline for the National Park and Wildlife Services to manage the natural resources in the region. The canopy cover estimated from MSS data also provides an important input to biophysical and climatic process models for estimating the impact of vegetation structure on vegetation and climate processes.     

Runge-Kutta-Nystrom triples

The embedded Runge-Kutta-Nystrom process for the numerical solution of the special second-order initial-value problem can be extended by the addition of “dense” formulae for both y and y′ which yield solutions at points within the normal step intervals. As for Runge-Kutta methods two modes of implementation are possible and it is shown that these are equivalent under certain conditions. The cases of “dense” formulae applied to RKN4(3) and RKN6(4) families are considered and test results are presented.