Wireless adiabatic power transfer

We propose a technique for efficient mid-range wireless power transfer between two coils, by adapting the process of adiabatic passage for a coherently driven two-state quantum system to the realm of wireless energy transfer. The proposed technique is shown to be robust to noise, resonant constraints, and other interferences that exist in the neighborhood of the coils.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

A Glucose Fuel Cell for Implantable Brain–Machine Interfaces

We have developed an implantable fuel cell that generates power through glucose oxidation, producing steady-state power and up to peak power. The fuel cell is manufactured using a novel approach, employing semiconductor fabrication techniques, and is therefore well suited for manufacture together with integrated circuits on a single silicon wafer. Thus, it can help enable implantable microelectronic systems with long-lifetime power sources that harvest energy from their surrounds. The fuel reactions are mediated by robust, solid state catalysts. Glucose is oxidized at the nanostructured surface of an activated platinum anode. Oxygen is reduced to water at the surface of a self-assembled network of single-walled carbon nanotubes, embedded in a Nafion film that forms the cathode and is exposed to the biological environment. The catalytic electrodes are separated by a Nafion membrane. The availability of fuel cell reactants, oxygen and glucose, only as a mixture in the physiologic environment, has traditionally posed a design challenge: Net current production requires oxidation and reduction to occur separately and selectively at the anode and cathode, respectively, to prevent electrochemical short circuits. Our fuel cell is configured in a half-open geometry that shields the anode while exposing the cathode, resulting in an oxygen gradient that strongly favors oxygen reduction at the cathode. Glucose reaches the shielded anode by diffusing through the nanotube mesh, which does not catalyze glucose oxidation, and the Nafion layers, which are permeable to small neutral and cationic species. We demonstrate computationally that the natural recirculation of cerebrospinal fluid around the human brain theoretically permits glucose energy harvesting at a rate on the order of at least 1 mW with no adverse physiologic effects. Low-power brain–machine interfaces can thus potentially benefit from having their implanted units powered or recharged by glucose fuel cells

Mining the Ecosystem to Improve Type Inference For Dynamically Typed Languages

Dynamically typed languages lack information about the types of variables in the source code. Developers care about this information as it supports program comprehension. Ba- sic type inference techniques are helpful, but may yield many false positives or negatives. We propose to mine information from the software ecosys- tem on how frequently given types are inferred unambigu- ously to improve the quality of type inference for a single system. This paper presents an approach to augment existing type inference techniques by supplementing the informa- tion available in the source code of a project with data from other projects written in the same language. For all available projects, we track how often messages are sent to instance variables throughout the source code. Predictions for the type of a variable are made based on the messages sent to it. The evaluation of a proof-of-concept prototype shows that this approach works well for types that are sufficiently popular, like those from the standard librarie, and tends to create false positives for unpopular or domain specific types. The false positives are, in most cases, fairly easily identifiable. Also, the evaluation data shows a substantial increase in the number of correctly inferred types when compared to the non-augmented type inference

Wireless actuation of micromechanical resonators

The wireless transfer of power is of fundamental and technical interest, with applications ranging from the remote operation of consumer electronics and implanted biomedical devices and sensors to the actuation of devices for which hard-wired power sources are neither desirable nor practical. In particular, biomedical devices that are implanted in the body or brain require small-footprint power receiving elements for wireless charging, which can be accomplished by micromechanical resonators. Moreover, for fundamental experiments, the ultralow-power wireless operation of micromechanical resonators in the microwave range can enable the performance of low-temperature studies of mechanical systems in the quantum regime, where the heat carried by the electrical wires in standard actuation techniques is detrimental to maintaining the resonator in a quantum state. Here we demonstrate the successful actuation of micron-sized silicon-based piezoelectric resonators with resonance frequencies ranging from 36 to 120 MHz at power levels of nanowatts and distances of ~3 feet, including comprehensive polarization, distance and power dependence measurements. Our unprecedented demonstration of the wireless actuation of micromechanical resonators via electric-field coupling down to nanowatt levels may enable a multitude of applications that require the wireless control of sensors and actuators based on micromechanical resonators, which was inaccessible until now.http://nano.bu.edu/Papers_files/micronano201636.pdfPublished versio

Otoscopic signs of otitis media

BACKGROUND: Lack of agreed-upon diagnostic criteria for acute otitis media (AOM) has led to inconsistencies in clinical care, misleading research results, and misguided educational efforts. The objective of this study was to examine findings that expert otoscopists use when diagnosing AOM. METHODS: A group of experienced otoscopists examined 783 children presenting for primary care. In addition, endoscopic still images of the tympanic membranes (TMs) were obtained. A random sample of 135 of these images was sent for review to a group of 7 independent physicians who were expert otoscopists. We examined the findings that both groups of observers used to distinguish between AOM, otitis media with effusion (OME), and no effusion. RESULTS: Among both groups of observers, bulging of the TM was the finding judged best to differentiate AOM from OME: 96% of ears and 93% of ear image evaluations assigned a diagnosis of AOM by members of the 2 groups were reported as showing bulging of the TM, compared with 0% and 3%, respectively, of ears and ear image evaluations assigned a diagnosis of OME. Opacification of the TM was the finding that best differentiated OME from no effusion. CONCLUSIONS: We describe findings that are used by experienced otoscopists to diagnose AOM and OME. The findings point to the advisability under most circumstances of restricting antimicrobial treatment for AOM to children who have TM bulging, and they call into question clinical trials of the treatment of AOM in which TM bulging has not been a required element for participation. Copyright © 2011 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins