Category: Engineering
Liquid crystal transducer enables remote accelerometer telemetry
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in EngineeringWhat the study found A hybrid vibration-sensing system was presented in which a charge-mode piezoelectric accelerometer was combined with an optical fiber interface through a liquid crystal-based electrical-to-optical transducer. The authors report that this setup allows the accelerometer output to be sent remotely as an optical signal. Why the authors say this matters The study…
Rigidity of many origami structures can be controlled by facet planarity
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in EngineeringWhat the study found The study found that the rigidity of many origami structures can be controlled by making selected facets planar or allowing them to relax. The authors also report that geometry, topology, and facet-selection rules affect how many degrees of freedom these structures have and when rigidity changes occur. Why the authors say…
Digital defocus interference enables automated microscopy focusing
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in EngineeringWhat the study found The study found that the digitally summed Fourier spectrum of two images acquired with two-angle illumination shows interference-like fringe modulation when a sample is out of focus. The authors report that these digital fringes correlate directly with defocus through a physics-based relation. Why the authors say this matters The authors conclude…
Sociotechnical barriers hinder digital engineering transformation
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in EngineeringWhat the study found Digital engineering transformation is often hindered by sociotechnical barriers, not just technical ones. The study identifies people, technology, processes, culture, infrastructure, and goals as the main dimensions of these barriers. Why the authors say this matters The authors say their mapping can help stakeholders in digital engineering transformation understand how barriers…
Bioinspired principles guide underwater soft robot design
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in EngineeringWhat the study found The study identifies four biological principles that guide the design of underwater soft robots: locomotion, compliant morphologies and materials, distributed sensing, and adaptive control. It also describes a bidirectional loop from biology to robotics and back, in which robots can be used as physical models to investigate biological mechanisms. Why the…
ASM-SSIF improved MR and CT image fusion quality
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in EngineeringWhat the study found The study found that a new method for combining magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography (CT) images improved the overall quality of the fused images. The authors report that the ASM-SSIF approach performed better than existing methods, including on real-world medical datasets with pre-registration errors. Why the authors say this matters…
PTFE membrane showed lower thermal stress than Nafion
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in EngineeringWhat the study found Using PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene, a heat-resistant plastic) membrane instead of Nafion in a fuel cell reduced thermal stress by 44% in the study's simulation. Why the authors say this matters The abstract says membranes are necessary for fuel-cell chemical reactions, and that temperature changes generate thermal stress that affects membrane performance. The…
Large-firm restrictions were linked to mixed financial effects for Korean IT service firms
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in EngineeringWhat the study found The study found that, in the three years after the 2013 restriction on large firms' participation in public informatization projects, Korean small and medium IT service firms had positive total assets and sales but negative operating profit and net profit. The negative effects were reported as more pronounced for medium-sized firms.…
Optimized GMR-bobbing coil settings improved crack detection
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in EngineeringWhat the study found The optimized Giant magneto-resistive (GMR) Bobbing coil probe detected all axial and hole defects in a 60 mm carbon steel pipe under the reported best conditions. The study identified 6 GMR sensors, 2 mm lift-off, and 10 mm coil height as the optimum settings. Why the authors say this matters The…
SVM and Wishart classifiers performed almost identically
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in EngineeringWhat the study found Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Wishart classifiers produced almost the same classification accuracy for land-cover mapping over metropolitan Hyderabad. The reported accuracies were 91.08% for SVM and 91.07% for the Wishart classifier. Why the authors say this matters The authors state that quantitative assessment of land use and land cover is…
