The role of fingerprints in the coding of tactile information probed with a biomimetic sensor

In humans, the tactile perception of fine textures (spatial scale <200 micrometers) is mediated by skin vibrations generated as the finger scans the surface. To establish the relationship between texture characteristics and subcutaneous vibrations, a biomimetic tactile sensor has been designed whose dimensions match those of the fingertip. When the sensor surface is patterned with parallel ridges mimicking the fingerprints, the spectrum of vibrations elicited by randomly textured substrates is dominated by one frequency set by the ratio of the scanning speed to the interridge distance. For human touch, this frequency falls within the optimal range of sensitivity of Pacinian afferents, which mediate the coding of fine textures. Thus, fingerprints may perform spectral selection and amplification of tactile information that facilitate its processing by specific mechanoreceptors.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, article + supporting materia

Artificial Roughness Encoding with a Bio-inspired MEMS- based Tactile Sensor Array

A compliant 2×2 tactile sensor array was developed and investigated for roughness encoding. State of the art cross shape 3D MEMS sensors were integrated with polymeric packaging providing in total 16 sensitive elements to external mechanical stimuli in an area of about 20 mm2, similarly to the SA1 innervation density in humans. Experimental analysis of the bio-inspired tactile sensor array was performed by using ridged surfaces, with spatial periods from 2.6 mm to 4.1 mm, which were indented with regulated 1N normal force and stroked at constant sliding velocity from 15 mm/s to 48 mm/s. A repeatable and expected frequency shift of the sensor outputs depending on the applied stimulus and on its scanning velocity was observed between 3.66 Hz and 18.46 Hz with an overall maximum error of 1.7%. The tactile sensor could also perform contact imaging during static stimulus indentation. The experiments demonstrated the suitability of this approach for the design of a roughness encoding tactile sensor for an artificial fingerpad

Charge Density Distribution, Electrostatic Properties and Sensitivity of the Highly Energetic Molecule 2,4,6-Trinitro-1,3,5-triazine: A Theoretical Study

Ab initio and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out on the energetic propellant molecule 2,4,6-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (TNTA) to understand its bond topology and its energetic properties using the theory of atoms in molecules (AIM). The DFT method predicts that the electron density ρ bcp (r) at the bond critical points of ring C-N bonds is ∼ 2.34 e Å -3 and the corresponding Laplacian ∇ 2 ρ bcp(r) is ∼ -24.4 e Å -5 ; whereas these values are found to be very small in the -NO2 group attached to C-N bonds [ρ bcp(r): ∼ 1.73 e Å -3 and Δ 2 ρ bcp (r): ∼ -14.5 e Å -5 ]. The negative Laplacian values of C-NO 2 bonds are significantly lower which indicates that the charges of these bonds are highly depleted. The C-NO2 bonds exhibit low bond order (∼ 0.8), as well as low (∼ 56.4 kcal/mol) bond dissociation energy. As we reported in our earlier studies, we found high bond charge depletion for these bonds, which are considered the weakest bonds in the molecule. The frontier orbital energies exhibit a wide band gap, which is larger than those of existing molecules TATB, TNT and TNB. The impact sensitivity (H 50 %) (4.2 m) and oxygen balance (2.77%) were calculated and compared with related structures. Large negative electrostatic potential regions were found near the nitro groups where reaction is expected to occur. The relation between charge depletion ∇ 2 ρ bcp(r) and the electrostatic potential at the bond midpoints V mid reveals the sensitive areas of the molecule

A framework for resource discovery in pervasive computing for mobile aware task execution

Aimed to provide computation ubiquitously, pervasive computing is perceived as a means to provide a user the transparency of anywhere, anyplace, anytime computing. Pervasive computing is characterized by execution of high-level user tasks in heterogeneous environments that use invisible and ubiquitously distributed computational devices. Resource discovery is an integral part of pervasive computing. Due to the limited computing capacities of the mobile entities in the pervasive space it becomes important for these entities to discover equivalent peers to execute complex tasks. Also requirements of tasks in pervasive space are diverse ranging from static resources like printers to dynamically varying resources like network bandwidth. This requires seamless aggregation of resources/services required for the execution of the task. This is further complicated by frequent associations and disassociation of mobile elements with hotspots which are highly variable in performance and availability. We believe that predicting variability of resources would make the task mobile aware rather than mobility oblivious. We propose a framework for estimation of future resource requirements, which would allow the mobile applications to adapt to wearing (due to disassociations and reassociations) of resources. We also show through case analysis that proactive systems benefit from our architecture

CID-miRNA: a web server for prediction of novel miRNA precursors in human genome

microRNAs (miRNA) are a class of non-protein coding functional RNAs that are thought to regulate expression of target genes by direct interaction with mRNAs. miRNAs have been identified through both experimental and computational methods in a variety of eukaryotic organisms. Though these approaches have been partially successful, there is a need to develop more tools for detection of these RNAs as they are also thought to be present in abundance in many genomes. In this report we describe a tool and a web server, named CID-miRNA, for identification of miRNA precursors in a given DNA sequence, utilising secondary structure-based filtering systems and an algorithm based on stochastic context free grammar trained on human miRNAs. CID-miRNA analyses a given sequence using a web interface, for presence of putative miRNA precursors and the generated output lists all the potential regions that can form miRNA-like structures. It can also scan large genomic sequences for the presence of potential miRNA precursors in its stand-alone form

Bilateral simultaneous acute angle closure caused by sulphonamide derivatives: A case series

The sulphonamide group of drugs is implicated in bilateral acute angle closure (AAC) due to an idiosyncratic response. We report a series of three cases with bilateral AAC caused by different sulphonamide derivatives, their presentation and management