Dutch technologists have carried out research into a more environmentally friendly car tyre. The scarcely mixable substances silica and rubber were mixed in a ratio that produced a tyre with a low rolling resistance and therefore a lower fuel use for the vehicle to which it will be fitted.
Louis Reuvekamp from the University of Twente mixed silica and rubber under the influence of organosilane. Tyre manufacturers normally use carbon black instead of silica to strengthen the rubber of car ty
Dutch researchers have developed a computer model that calculates the rate at which salt and moisture penetrate reinforced concrete. The model can be used for both the design of new concrete structures as well as analysing the lifespan of existing ones.
Sander Meijers from Delft University of Technology studied the relationship between moisture transport and salt penetration in concrete. Concrete structures such as bridges and dams are designed with as long a lifespan as possible. If these
A sensor system that can autonomously, continuously and in real-time monitor streams, lakes, ocean bays and other bodies of liquid may help solve problems for environmentalists, manufacturers and those in charge of homeland security, according to Penn State engineers.
“The importance of developing a network sensor technology for operation in liquid environments has recently been highlighted in reports detailing the chemical slurry of antibiotics, estrogen-type hormones, insecticides, nicotin
A highly sensitive, inexpensive “lab-on-a-chip” that provides warning within seconds of even trace amounts of toxic chemicals in water was designed and demonstrated recently by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) scientists and collaborators.
The prototype sensor system monitors the natural response of bacterial cells bound within the microscopic channels of a plastic microfluidics device–a miniaturized chemical and biochemical analysis system. In the presence of certain
Scientists at the University of the West of England and the University of Sheffield have won funding to create a robotic system based on the whiskers of a rat.
The system would mimic the biological rat whisker and would provide an entirely new and groundbreaking modality for mobile robots working in confined spaces.
Known as ‘Whiskerbot’ the project will bring together experts in robotics from UWE with experts from Sheffield University who specialise in computer modelling of the brains o
Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have developed a better-performing, less costly method of disinfecting water used in food processing.
Like current technologies, the new Advanced Disinfection Technology System relies on ultraviolet (UV) radiation to eliminate molds, viruses and bacteria. But the new system handles water more efficiently and thus improves the overall effectiveness of the disinfection process, researchers reported.
“We’re creating a mixing pattern to e
In order for robots to replace or assist humans in dangerous, delicate, or remote situations, such as military reconnaissance, neural microsurgery, or extra-planetary probes, they must have sensory abilities similar to or superior to humans. The sense of touch has proved particularly difficult to duplicate through artificial sensors due to the harsh environments such artificial ’skins’ would encounter.
In a paper published today in the Institute of Physics’ Journal of Micromec
To assess the wear and tear on jet engine parts, mechanics used an old technology called ferrography to run the aircraft’s lubricating fluid through a magnetic device to separate out metal shavings and other ferrous engine debris. A University of Rhode Island researcher uses a similar process to assess the wear and tear on artificial hip and knee joints so patients can reduce the number of follow-up surgeries they must undergo or reduce the time spent in revision surgery.
Donna Meyer,
Gaiker y Santa Ana de Bolueta Abrasión, S. A., have developed a novel, rapid and efficient method to reduce abrasion in industrial parts.
The considerable wear suffered by industrial parts and equipment and by extracting tools that come into contact with abrasive materials forces companies to make periodic maintenance breaks in normal activity, thus causing considerable losses in time and money.
Santa Ana de Bolueta Abrasión, S. A., together with Gaiker, have developed a novel metho
Data gathered by Penn State engineers in a volunteer effort at the World Trade Center tragedy, suggests that simple, inexpensive microphones dropped into the rubble of a collapsed building may be able to aid search and rescue teams despite ground level noise.
Dr. Thomas B. Gabrielson, associate professor of acoustics and senior research associate at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory, says, “In conventional survivor searches, noise generating activities at the surface must be stopped
Penn State engineers have developed a low- cost, high-torque rotary motor, based on “smart” materials, that can be configured in a wide range of formats, including one as flat and thin as a CD case.
The inventors say that, in the flat format, the motor could be used to drive changes in the camber of airplane wings or fins, essentially shape-shifting the curvature of the wing or fin surface.
In other formats, the motor could work in tightly integrated spaces where other motors can
Oxford University researchers have devised a novel coil design for magnetic resonance (MR) application, devised specifically for deep organ MR where sensitive imaging and spectroscopy have been previously difficult.
Deep organ magnetic resonance requires maximised sensitivity and magnetic field homogeneity over a relatively large field of view (FOV). However, it is difficult to maximise both sensitivity and magnetic field homogeneity simultaneously. The sensitivity can be maximised by reduci
Details published in Jan. 10 issue of the journal Science
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a series of novel techniques in nanotechnology that hold promise for applications ranging from highly targeted pharmaceutical therapies, to development of nutrition-enhanced foods known as “nutraceuticals,” to nanoscopic sensors that might one day advance medical imaging and diagnostics. The research, published in the Jan. 10 issue of Science, was funded by
Nanoshell sensor opens door for new methods to exam single molecules
Nanotechnology researchers at Rice University have demonstrated the ability to precisely control the electromagnetic field around nanoparticles, opening the door for chemical screening techniques that could allow doctors, life scientists and chemists to routinely analyze samples as small as a single molecule.
The research is detailed in the current issue of Applied Physics Letters. It builds upon a widely u
When you buy a bottle of wine for the holidays, you are actually paying for more than a bottle. That’s because during the months or years that the wine was aging, as much as 15 percent of it was lost to evaporation.
Now, that loss of good wine can be prevented — and wine prices reduced — with an atomizer system that keeps the humidity inside and outside the barrels equal, thereby eliminating the evaporation that occurs as nature works to maintain equilibrium.
The system, develop
A study of airflow in pipes may help solve a mystery concerning the ears of fast-swimming sharks. The results could also lead to new audio technologies, according to an engineer at Ohio State University.
Konrad Koeltzsch, a postdoctoral researcher in chemical engineering and the Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at Ohio State, and his colleagues investigated grooves in sharkskin called riblets.
Koeltzsch began to study sharkskin while he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Dresden Uni
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