Engineering

Hotsites - New & notable sites for engineering

Bourne Shell Programming By Robert P. Sayle
An e-book - "Bourne Shell Programming teaches UNIX users how to harness the power of the shell. The book assumes that the reader has at least a general knowledge of UNIX including its commands, syntax, and operation. It also assumes that the reader also understands simple programming techniques inherent to most programming languages. The book does not provide instuction on the basics of UNIX. It instead builds upon these basics by showing how to combine them with the shell's programming facilities. The goal is to train users to employ these techniques at both the command line and within scripts so that the operating system becomes a tool instead of a hindrance."
Read more at http://sayle.net/book/

Demystifying the memristor:
"Proof of fourth basic circuit element could transform computing. By Jamie Beckett, April 2008 Researchers at HP Labs have solved a decades-old mystery by proving the existence of a fourth basic element in integrated circuits that could make it possible to develop computers that turn on and off like an electric light. The memristor — short for memory resistor - could make it possible to develop far more energy-efficient computing systems with memories that retain information even after the power is off, so there's no wait for the system to boot up after turning the computer on. It may even be possible to create systems with some of the pattern-matching abilities of the human brain."
Read more at http://www.hpl.hp.com/news/2008/apr-jun/memristor.html

The 2008 AAAS/Science Dance Contest
"The "Dance Your Ph.D." contest know that the human body is an excellent medium for communicating science--perhaps not as data-rich as a peer-reviewed article, but far more exciting. " Some of the more engineering winners were - "Photo-magnetization in the Anti-ferromagnetic Mnf2", "Generating Entanglement in a Cold Atomic Ensemble via Atom-Light Interaction in an Optical Resonator" , "Properties of Hard, Nanolayered TiB2:CHx Low Friction Coatings", and "Generation and Detection of High-Energy Phonons by Superconducting Junctions".
Read and see more at http://gonzolabs.org/dance/contestants/  

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy
"JRSE is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal covering all areas of renewable and sustainable energy-related fields that apply to the physical science and engineering communities. As an electronic-only, Web-based journal with rapid publication time, JRSE is responsive to the many new developments expected in this field. The interdisciplinary approach of the publication ensures that the editors draw from researchers worldwide in a diverse range of fields. "
Read more at http://jrse.aip.org/

The Public Knowledge Project
"is a research and development initiative directed toward improving the scholarly and public quality of academic research through the development of innovative online publishing and knowledge-sharing environments. Begun in 1998, PKP has developed Open Journal Systems and Open Conference Systems, free software for the management, publishing, and indexing of journals and conferences, as well as Open Archives Harvester and Lemon8-XML to facilitate the indexing of research and scholarship. This open source software is being used around the world to increase access to knowledge and improve its scholarly management, while considerably reducing publishing costs. See Software & Services for demos, downloads, and information about these systems. Located at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and Stanford University, PKP also sustains an active research program on the impact of increased access to knowledge, with the resulting publications,dating back to 1998, available from this site."
Read more at http://pkp.sfu.ca/

Tutorials from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research
They cover wave basics; wave interactions; standing waves; hearing sounds; & other concepts.
Read more at http://www.isvr.soton.ac.uk/SPCG/Tutorial/Tutorial/StartCD.htm

Lecture Notes on Partial Differential Equations Peter J. Olver
An e-book covering What are Partial Differential Equations? Linear and Nonlinear Waves Fourier Series Separation of Variables Generalized Functions and Green's Functions Complex Analysis and Conformal Mappings Fourier Transforms Linear and Nonlinear Evolution Equations A General Framework for Linear Partial Differential Equations Numerical Methods Dynamics of Planar Media Partial Differential Equations in Space.
Read more at http://www.math.umn.edu/~olver/pdn.html

Advances in Artificial Neural Systems
An e-journal - "Advances in Artificial Neural Systems publishes original research and authoritative reviews on all aspects of the engineering of artificial neural information processing based on the neural paradigm. The neural information processing paradigm rests on the use of large numbers of densely interconnected simple information processing units, and on highly parallel and distributed information processing throughout the system. Similar to natural information processing systems, artificial neural systems have a homogeneous structure, which are highly adaptive and integrate all the information processing for the task from sensing to actuation."
Read more at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aans/

Researchers discover method for mass production of nanomaterial graphene
"Process has already produced the largest graphene sample reported. By Mike Rodewald. 11/10/2008. Graphene is a perfect example of the wonders of nanotechnology, in which common substances are scaled down to an atomic level to uncover new and exciting possibilities. Graphene is created when graphite — the mother form of all graphitic carbon, which is used to make the pigment that allows pencils to write on paper — is reduced down to a one-atom-thick sheet. Graphene is among the strongest materials known and has an attractive array of benefits. These sheets — single-layer graphene — have potential as electrodes for solar cells, for use in sensors, as the anode electrode material in lithium batteries and as efficient zero-band-gap semiconductors. ... Led by Yang Yang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering, and Richard Kaner, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry, the researchers developed a method of placing graphite oxide paper in a solution of pure hydrazine (a chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen), which reduces the graphite oxide paper into single-layer graphene. Such methods have been studied by others, but this is the first reported instance of using hydrazine as the solvent. The graphene produced from the hydrazine solution is also a more efficient electrical conductor. Field-effect devices display output currents three orders of magnitude higher than previously reported using chemically produced graphene. "
Read more at http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/method-for-mass-production-of-70969.aspx

Brain Computer Interface Technology
"New York State Department of Health scientist Jonathan R. Wolpaw, M.D., will appear this Sunday on "60 Minutes" to demonstrate the progress of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology. The demonstration will show how severely paralyzed individuals can use their brain signals to send commands to a computer, allowing them to communicate independently. ... The video is also posted at www.wadsworth.org/bci. Researchers at the state Department of Health, the Wadsworth Center and Helen Hayes Hospital have developed and successfully tested the BCI technology. Dr. Wolpaw, chief of the Laboratory of Neural Injury and Repair at the Wadsworth Center in Albany, has been a central figure in the field of BCI research and technology since its beginning in the late 1980s. This Sunday, "60 Minutes" will feature a demonstration of how severely paralyzed people can use electrical signals from their brains, rather than muscles, to type characters or manipulate a cursor on a computer screen. The BCI uses a computer to track brain waves through a technology known as electroencephalography or EEG. Users wearing an EEG cap look at a computer screen that rapidly illuminates different groups of letters. Their brains issue a particular electrical signal only when the letter they desire appears. With this system, a paralyzed individual can type or operate other devices with brainpower alone. Unlike many other BCI systems, the Wadsworth system uses brain signals recorded from the scalp, and does not involve surgery. "
Read more at http://www.health.state.ny.us/press/releases/2008/2008-10-31_brain_computer_featured_on_60_minutes.htm

Engineering teamwork gives bridge building a lift
"Bridges like the Golden Gate in San Francisco or the Brooklyn Bridge in New York never fail to thrill us with their elegance and the ingenuity of their design. They also make the squat, concrete spans we drive over every day seem pretty mundane. But looks can be deceiving. Several of Wisconsin’s highway bridges are in fact far from ordinary, thanks to a partnership between UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT). With major grants from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the team has designed and built four innovative, experimental bridges on the state’s roadways during the past eight years, with a fifth project now wrapping up in St. Croix County. "
Read more at http://www.wisconsinidea.wisc.edu/profiles/Bridges/

Electrotactile shape perception on the tongue (Shapes on tongue)
"In this project we demonstrated, we believe for the first time, that humans tongue are capable of perceiving geometric shapes on their tongues. We used the 7x7, or 49-electrode array originally developed for fingertip electrotactile stimulation. Five sighted adult human subjects (3M/2F) each received 4 blocks of twelve tactile patterns, approximations of circles, squares, and vertex-up equilateral triangles, sized to 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, and 7x7 electrode arrays. Perception with electrical stimulation of the tongue is better than with fingertip electrotactile stimulation, and the tongue requires 3% (5-15 V) of the voltage. The mean current for tongue subjects was 1.612 mA. Tongue shape recognition performance across all sizes was 79.8%. The approximate dimensions of the electrotactile array and the dimensions of compartments built into dental retainers have been determined. The goal is to develop a practical, cosmetically acceptable, wireless system for blind persons, with a miniature TV camera, microelectronics and FM transmitter built into a pair of glasses, and the electrotactile array in a dental orthodontic retainer. "
Read more at http://kaz.med.wisc.edu/projects_tongshappercept.php

Yorkshire pudding must be four inches tall, chemists rule
"12 November 2008 A Yorkshire pudding isn't a Yorkshire pudding if it is less than four inches tall, says the Royal Society of Chemistry. The Society has ruled on the acceptable dimensions of the Yorkshire pudding and is now issuing the definitive recipe. The judgement followed an enquiry from an Englishman living in the Rockies in the USA who emailed the RSC seeking scientific advice on the chemistry of the dish following a string of kitchen flops. ... The society, which has thousands of members working in the foods and drinks industries, including top chef Heston Blumenthal, used the query to ascertain the correct way to prepare a Yorkshire pudding, as it will soon launch a food theme for coming year. Calls to, and from, various parts of the UK led the Royal Society of Chemistry to conclude that for a Yorkshire pudding to be judged successful it had to be no less than four inches (10 cms) in height. Chemical scientist and author John Emsley, of Yorkshire, claimed that people not from that county rarely produced worthy Yorkshire puddings. "
Read more at http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2008/PerfectYorkshire.asp

Print posted @ Tuesday, December 02, 2008 2:27 PM