The next Industrial Revolution is right around the corner. Fourth generation nanotechnology — molecular manufacturing — will radically transform the world, and the people, of the early 21st century. Whether that transformation will be peaceful and beneficial or horrendously destructive is unknown. Although nanotechnology carries great promise, unwise or malicious use could seriously threaten the [...]
by T. Simonite NewScientist.com, 28 Nov 2006 A series of acoustic sensors that turn any surface into a touch-sensitive computer interface have been developed by European researchers. Two or more sensors are attached around the edges of the surface. These pinpoint the position of a finger, or another touching object, by tracking minute vibrations. This [...]
by T. Siebert et al. SPIE Newsroom, accessed 28 Nov 2006 Effective development of advanced materials and components requires an understanding of their behavior under load in an application. Optical full-field measurement techniques are increasingly being used in material testing, fracture mechanics, and vibration analysis. Digital image correlation (DIC), for example, is a full-field image [...]
by P. O’Donovan IEEE Spectrum, November 2006 With the United States going fully digital in 2009 and other developed countries following closely on its heels, the entire television landscape will change dramatically in the next few years. What technology will dominate this new TV world? It will be flat, that’s for sure. All the new [...]
by S.V. Poroseva arXiv.org E-print Archive, 27 Nov 2006 A new model for the “rapid” part of the velocity/pressure-gradient correlation in the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations is suggested. It is shown that in an inhomogeneous incompressible turbulent flow, the model that is linear in the Reynolds stresses should include two model coefficients. A functional form [...]
by M. Schönhof et al. arXiv.org E-print Archive, 27 Nov 2006 In this paper, a minimalist, completely distributed freeway traffic information system is introduced. It involves an autonomous, vehicle-based jam front detection, the information transmission via inter-vehicle communication, and the forecast of the spatial position of jam fronts by reconstructing the spatiotemporal traffic situation based [...]
by Y. Salissou et al. arXiv.org E-print Archive, 27 Nov 2006 Sound absorbing materials are usually defined by five parameters: open porosity, static airflow resistivity, tortuosity, and two characteristic lengths. In recent decades, different methods have been developed in order to characterize these parameters. These methods may be divided following three approaches: i) inverse, ii) [...]
by J. Kozlowska et al. arXiv.org E-print Archive, 26 Nov 2006 In this paper nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation for heat and mass transport in nanoscale was proposed and solved. It was shown that for ultra-short laser pulses nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation is reduced to nonlinear d`Alembert equation. The implicit solution of the d`Alembert equation for ultrashort laser [...]
by E.A. Rietman et al. arXiv.org E-print Archive, 27 Nov 2006 We describe the use of quasiperiodic oscillators for computation and control of robots. We also describe their relationship to central pattern generators in simple organisms and develop a group theory for describing the dynamics of these systems. Read more
by L. Ellaby The Birmingham News, 27 Nov 2006 Alabama is facing a shortage of engineers as Baby Boomers retire and new jobs in biotechnology and manufacturing emerge, state education officials say. Education leaders are meeting Tuesday to discuss ways to reverse that trend, possibly by launching engineering academies at high schools throughout the state. [...]