Pressure Sensitive Skin for Prosthetic Hands:2D Contact Location Determination Using Output Connections from a Single Side

The human hand is a vital component of our interaction with the environment, containing a large number of sensory receptors. The loss of a hand is, therefore, a serious and debilitating injury. Surveys have shown that 98% of users of upper limb prostheses desire to feel the level of force they apply through their prosthetic hands. Developments in tactile sensors have yielded many functional electronic skins. However, their complexity remains a barrier to their use in commercial prosthetic hands. This paper introduces a new design of a simple, flexible pressure sensor using carbon fibre tows as both the sensor and the electrodes. The design results in a dynamic pressure range of 0.35 to 280 kPa in a 25-by-25 mm prototype.</p

Bio-nanotechnology application in wastewater treatment

The nanoparticles have received high interest in the field of medicine and water purification, however, the nanomaterials produced by chemical and physical methods are considered hazardous, expensive, and leave behind harmful substances to the environment. This chapter aimed to focus on green-synthesized nanoparticles and their medical applications. Moreover, the chapter highlighted the applicability of the metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) in the inactivation of microbial cells due to their high surface and small particle size. Modifying nanomaterials produced by green-methods is safe, inexpensive, and easy. Therefore, the control and modification of nanoparticles and their properties were also discussed

Demonstration of a remotely piloted atmospheric measurement and charge release platform for geoengineering

Electric charge is always present in the lower atmosphere. If droplets or aerosols become charged, their behaviour changes, influencing collision, evaporation and deposition. Artificial charge release is an unexplored potential geoengineering technique for modifying fogs, clouds and rainfall. Central to evaluating these processes experimentally in the atmosphere is establishing an effective method for charge delivery. A small charge-delivering Remotely Piloted Aircraft has been specially developed for this, which is electrically propelled. It carries controllable bipolar charge emitters (nominal emission current ±5 µA) beneath each wing, with optical cloud and meteorological sensors integrated into the airframe. Meteorological and droplet measurements are demonstrated to 2 km altitude by comparison with a radiosonde, including within cloud, and successful charge emission aloft verified by using programmed flight paths above an upwards-facing surface electric field mill. This technological approach is readily scalable to provide non-polluting fleets of charge-releasing aircraft, identifying and targeting droplet regions with their own sensors. Beyond geoengineering, agricultural and biological aerosol applications, safe ionic propulsion of future electric aircraft also requires detailed investigation of charge effects on natural atmospheric droplet systems

Joint EANM/SNMMI procedure guideline for the use of 177Lu-labeled PSMA-targeted radioligand-therapy (177Lu-PSMA-RLT)

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is expressed by the majority of clinically significant prostate adenocarcinomas, and patients with target-positive disease can easily be identified by PSMA PET imaging. Promising results with PSMA-targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy have already been obtained in early-phase studies using various combinations of targeting molecules and radiolabels. Definitive evidence of the safety and efficacy of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 in combination with standard-of-care has been demonstrated in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, whose disease had progressed after or during at least one taxane regimen and at least one novel androgen-axis drug. Preliminary data suggest that 177Lu-PSMA-radioligand therapy (RLT) also has high potential in additional clinical situations. Hence, the radiopharmaceuticals [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 and [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-I&amp;T are currently being evaluated in ongoing phase 3 trials. The purpose of this guideline is to assist nuclear medicine personnel, to select patients with highest potential to benefit from 177Lu-PSMA-RLT, to perform the procedure in accordance with current best practice, and to prepare for possible side effects and their clinical management. We also provide expert advice, to identify those clinical situations which may justify the off-label use of [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 or other emerging ligands on an individual patient basis

Vacuum-annealing induces sub-surface redox-states in surfactant-structured α-Fe₂O₃ photoanodes prepared by ink-jet printing

Transparent nano-structured hematite (α-Fe2O3) films of approximately 550 nm thickness on tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) have been obtained conveniently by ink-jet printing of a Fe(NO3)3/Brij® O10 precursor ink and subsequent annealing at 500 °C in air. When illuminated with a blue LED (λ = 455 nm, ca. 100 mW cm−2), the hematite films exhibited photocurrents of up to 70 μA cm−2 at 0.4 V vs. SCE in 0.1 M NaOH electrolyte. Thermal annealing in vacuum at 500 °C for 2 h increased photocurrents more than three times to 230 μA cm−2 in agreement with previous literature reports for pure hematite materials. These results suggest that a simple ink-jetting process with surfactants is viable. The effects of vacuum-annealing on the photoelectrical properties of α-Fe2O3 films are discussed in terms of a sub-surface state templating hypothesis based on data gathered from photo-transients, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, X-ray diffraction, photocurrent spectra, and cyclic voltammetry