A conference is currently underway on the topic of Energy Harvesting from sources such as vibration, wind, sun and others.
The Energy Harvesting Journal has a good commentary on the conference with extracts from experts in the field.
Active Vibration Isolation Floor
TMC have released an actively vibration isolated floor system that uses piezoelectric actuators. The platform is available in two options to isolate 3 or 6 degrees of freedom.
For more information see the TMC web site.
Land mine detection using laser vibrometer
Raytheon has won a $US19m contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a vehicle mounted land mine detection system that uses a laser radar vibration sensor.
For more information read the news release on the Raytheon web site.
Ig Nobel Prize for the Sound of Potato Chips
The 2008 Ig Nobel prizes were awarded recently which included an award to Massimiliano Zampini (University of Trento, Italy) and Charles Spence (Oxford University, UK) for conducting listening tests with people and found that by electronically modifying the sound that a potato chip makes when chewed can make the person think it is crisper and fresher.
Their work was published in the Journal of Sensory Studies.
Hearing loss associated with smoking and obesity
In one of the largest hearing loss studies ever conducted, the results show there is a strong correlation between hearing loss and smoking, and that it is dose-related. There was also a strong correlation between body-mass-index and hearing loss. On the upside, the results from the study show that moderate alcohol consumption had an ‘inverse correlation’ with hearing loss, meaning that some drinking seems to decrease the likelihood of age related hearing loss.
Read the entire journal paper here.
Bone conduction MP3 player
Finis have released an MP3 player for use by swimmers that uses bone conduction to transmit sound instead of conventional loudspeakers.
For details see the Finis Inc. web site.
A frog with selective ultrasonic hearing
A collaboration between several research groups has found that a particular frog from China has the ability to ‘tune’ its hearing to a particular frequency range by opening and closing its Eustachian tubes. The researchers claim that this frog is the only known animal that can actively select the frequency range of interest.
Read the full news article on Medical News Today.
VA One 2008 – full spectrum vibroacoustic software
ESI Group have released the latest version of the software VA One 2008.0, which can be used for vibro-acoustic predictions across the full frequency spectrum seamlessly.
The software uses unique mathematics to combine low-, mid-, and high- frequency predictions. The software combines finite elements, boundary elements and statistical energy analysis in one model.
For more information about the VA One software, see the ESI Group web site.
Brain function alterations from hand-vibration
Researchers have found using Functional MRI scans that the brain function is altered in patients with Hand-Vibration syndrome compared with a control group. The results were presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. 18-20 September 18-20, 2008. Chicago, USA.
Read the full article on the Orthosupersite.
US federal court blocks active sonar testing
A federal appeals court in the USA (9th Circuit Court of Appeals) has rejected the Bush administration request to exempt the US Navy training activities using active sonar from environmental laws. This decision follows from a lower court that set conditions in an effort to protect whales and dolphins from the active sonar.
Read more on the LA times web site.