Neuro-electronic technology in medicine and beyond

This dissertation looks at the technology and social issues involved with interfacing electronics directly to the human nervous system, in particular the methods for both reading and stimulating nerves. The development and use of cochlea implants is discussed, and is compared with recent developments in artificial vision. The final sections consider a future for non-medicinal applications of neuro-electronic technology. Social attitudes towards use for both medicinal and non-medicinal purposes are discussed, and the viability of use in the latter case assessed

Implementation of conceptual validation of product mock ups with augmented reality

La implementación de ayudas informáticas en el diseño de productos es prácticamente una demanda en el diseño del siglo XXI, ya que su uso permite un aumento de la calidad y la creatividad de los entregables de un proceso de diseño. Pero esta implementación debe estar guiada por un proceso académico, en el cual se implementen tecnologías y metodologías de trabajo. El presente artículo muestra los resultados de una implementación de técnicas de realidad virtual y aumentada para validar el diseño de productos en cursos de movilidad eléctrica dentro del pregrado en Ingeniería de Diseño de Producto en la Universidad EAFIT.The implementation of computational aids in product design is a demand in the design processes on century XXI, that because they allow an increase in quality and creativity of the deliverables of a design process. But this implementation should be guided to an academic process, where technologies methodologies work along. This article presents the results of an implementation of virtual reality techniques to validate and increased product design courses within the undergraduate electrical mobility in Product Design Engineering at that university

Augmented reality to aid retention in an African university of technology engineering program

Whenever complex threshold concepts are covered facilitators need to take extra care that students retain the new knowledge for future application. The problem encountered was that certain concepts, like digital logic gates with its layers of information are harder to retain. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the students’ perceptions on the possible use of a custom design Quick Response code and Augmented Reality application in an Electrical Engineering subject. Evaluation was done on Logic Design III a 2nd year subject where the threshold concepts should have been imprinted. An exploratory design is implemented with data collected using an online survey tool. The results were promising as 88.89% of students felt that they will remember the content better with the use of the application and 83.33% were positive about adopting the technology in class. The paper shows that technology like Quick Response code and Augmented Reality in the classroom is not only beneficial for improving retention but is also welcomed by studentsLuwes, N.; Van Heerden, L. (2020). Augmented reality to aid retention in an African university of technology engineering program. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):535-543. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11103OCS53554330-05-202

Transparent Perfect Mirror

A mirror that reflects light fully and yet is transparent appears paradoxical. Current so-called transparent or "one-way" mirrors are not perfectly reflective and thus can be distinguished from a standard mirror. Constructing a transparent "perfect" mirror has profound implications for security, privacy, and camouflage. However, such a hypothetical device cannot be implemented in a passive structure. We demonstrate here a transparent perfect mirror in a non-Hermitian configuration: an active optical cavity where a certain prelasing gain extinguishes Poynting's vector at the device entrance. At this threshold, all vestiges of the cavity's structural resonances are eliminated and the device presents spectrally flat unity-reflectivity, thus, becoming indistinguishable from a perfect mirror when probed optically across the gain bandwidth. Nevertheless, the device is rendered transparent by virtue of persisting amplified transmission resonances. We confirm these predictions in two photonic realizations: a compact integrated active waveguide and a macroscopic all-optical-fiber system.Comment: The paper is highlighted in Nature Photonics: http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v11/n6/full/nphoton.2017.90.html The supplementary data is available in: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acsphotonics.7b0005

Electro-kinetic technology as a low-cost method for dewatering food by-product

Increasing volumes of food waste, intense environmental awareness, and stringent legislation have imposed increased demands upon conventional food waste management. Food byproducts that were once considered to be without value are now being utilized as reusable materials, fuels, and energy in order to reduce waste. One major barrier to the valorization of food by-products is their high moisture content. This has brought about the necessity of dewatering food waste for any potential re-use for certain disposal options. A laboratory system for experimentally characterizing electro-kinetic dewatering of food by-products was evaluated. The bench scale system, which is an augmented filter press, was used to investigate the dewatering at constant voltage. Five food by-products (brewer’s spent grain, cauliflower trimmings, mango peel, orange peel, and melon peel) were studied. The results indicated that electro-kinetic dewatering combined with mechanical dewatering can reduce the percentage of moisture from 78% to 71% for brewer’s spent grain, from 77% to 68% for orange peel, from 80% to 73% for mango peel, from 91% to 74% for melon peel, and from 92% to 80% for cauliflower trimmings. The total moisture reduction showed a correlation with electrical conductivity (R2¼0.89). The energy consumption of every sample was evaluated and was found to be up to 60 times more economical compared to thermal processing