Wearable wireless tactile display for virtual interactions with soft bodies.

We describe here a wearable, wireless, compact, and lightweight tactile display, able to mechanically stimulate the fingertip of users, so as to simulate contact with soft bodies in virtual environments. The device was based on dielectric elastomer actuators, as high-performance electromechanically active polymers. The actuator was arranged at the user's fingertip, integrated within a plastic case, which also hosted a compact high-voltage circuitry. A custom-made wireless control unit was arranged on the forearm and connected to the display via low-voltage leads. We present the structure of the device and a characterization of it, in terms of electromechanical response and stress relaxation. Furthermore, we present results of a psychophysical test aimed at assessing the ability of the system to generate different levels of force that can be perceived by users.The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology, within the framework of “ESNAM – European Scientific Network for Artificial Muscles” (COST Action MP1003). Gabriele Frediani also acknowledges support from the European Commission, within the framework of the project “CEEDS: The Collective Experience of Empathic Data Systems” (FP7-ICT-2009.8.4, Grant 258749) and “Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Pisa,” within the framework of the project “POLOPTEL” (Grant 167/09

An overview of temperature issues in microwave-assisted pyrolysis

Microwave-assisted pyrolysis is a promising thermochemical technique to convert waste polymers and biomass into raw chemicals and fuels. However, this process involves several issues related to the interactions between materials and microwaves. Consequently, the control of temperature during microwave-assisted pyrolysis is a hard task both for measurement and uniformity during the overall pyrolytic run. In this review, we introduce some of the main theoretical aspects of the microwaves–materials interactions alongside the issues related to microwave pyrolytic processability of materials

Gender, difference and urban change: implications for the promotion of well-being?

Time poverty methodologies are a response to the failure of income-based measures of poverty to reflect gendered aspects of well-being. However, national time use surveys normally fail to examine issues around women and men's qualitative evaluation of their time uses, or the extent of their control over their own time. The result could be distorted policy responses which lose sight of the original intentions of time poverty as a tool to reveal gendered elements of well-being. This paper draws on the findings of a qualitative survey to asses a rural health promotion programme in Kyrgyzstan to demonstrate this point