Archive for November, 2007

Haptic touchpad

Friday, November 30th, 2007

Drivers have control over a large number of functions in automobiles, such as air temperature, GPS systems and sounds systems. But there is limited space for buttons and knobs to control everything.

Michael Peshkin, a mechanical engineer at Northwestern University and colleagues, want to replace buttons, switches and knobs with large haptic touchpads arranged across the dashboard, which alter the amount of friction experienced by a finger as it's dragged across their surface.

The pads are connected to piezoelectric sensors that send vibrations through each touchpad to a finger. This translates into a sensation of friction which can be increased or reduced according to the frequency of the signal.

The device would be used in conjuction with a visual display unit on the dashboard, says Peshkin. By changing the sense of friction, he suggests it should possible to create the sensation of drawing a finger across a button or array of buttons, knobs or thumbwheels. The user can then press or toggle these to enter information. Peshkin says a haptic touchpad could even be mounted on the car door to allow a driver to enter a code to gain access.

Read the full patent application for a haptic touchpad.

Justin Mullins

Surveillance camera checks

Friday, November 30th, 2007
In large scale security systems, such as citywide CCTV networks, one of the largest costs is in inspecting each camera to determine whether it needs maintenance. So Svetha Venkatesh, a computer scientist at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, and colleagues have come up with a way to automate the process of inspection.

When a camera is installed and is working perfectly, it takes a set of reference images which are then stored. The camera's future output can be automatically checked by computer against these reference images. Any discrepancies that are not the result of variables, such as the weather, can then trigger a manual inspection to determine what maintenance might be needed.

Read the full surveillance camera check patent application.

Justin Mullins.

Acoustic battery checker

Friday, November 30th, 2007
Before a car battery fails, its fluid levels and condition can only be checked by visual inspection, says the German engineering company Siemens. So it has developed a way of monitoring fluid levels remotely.

They say that the acoustic properties of the battery change as the level of liquid electrolyte fall. So the trick to spotting a failing battery is to send acoustic pulses regularly through the battery and listen for the response. In that way it should be straight forward to spot low levels of electrolyte and warn the driver that a top up is needed.

Read the full acoustic batter checker patent application

Investigational Medication to be Studied in Children with Autism

Friday, November 30th, 2007
Children with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of five and 17 years are needed to participate in a research study looking at how a medicine called fluoxetine works to relieve the repetitive behavior and other symptoms associated with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)

Is The Beauty Of A Sculpture In The Brain Of The Beholder?

Friday, November 30th, 2007
Is there an objective biological basis for the experience of beauty in art? Or is aesthetic experience entirely subjective? This question has been addressed in a new article by Cinzia Di Dio, Emiliano Macaluso and Giacomo Rizzolatti. The researchers used fMRI scans to study the neural activity in subjects with no knowledge of art criticism, who were shown images of Classical and Renaissance sculptures.

‘Spit’ filter

Thursday, November 29th, 2007
After email became a popular means of communication, it didn't take long for marketers to start bombarding people with unwanted and unsolicited messages. Today, this unwanted email, or "spam", is the bane of many users' inboxes, even though numerous programs and techniques are available for combating it.

Now that internet phone calls are becoming popular, brace yourselves for another problem – internet telephony spam, or "spit". But the German industrial giant Siemens is ahead of the game and has come up with a way to filter out unwanted spit.

The technique has long been used in the battle against email spam, albeit with mixed results.
The idea is to keep a list of known spitters and, when an incoming call is received, have the receiving computer search for the caller's name or number on the spit list. If the computer finds a match, the call is rejected.

This all sounds sensible enough, but if that's all it took to combat unsolicited email, we would surely have killed it off years ago.

Read the full spit filter patent application.

Everything Your Mind Can Conceive, You Can Achieve

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

Omega 3 Fatty Acids and ADD – ADHD and Bipolar Disorder In Children

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

A study conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital which was published in the European Neuropsychopharmacology journal in early 2007 has concluded that omega 3 fatty acids are very effective in treating children suffering from mood conditions such as ADD, ADHD and bipolar disorder. The same research showed that the essential Omega 3 fatty acids in the form of nutritional supplements help reduces manic symptoms in youths.

OmegaBrite, a very omega 3 rich supplement, was administered regularly for eight weeks to 20 boys and girls, age 6 to 17, suffering from bipolar disorder. 10 of them showed a very fast reduction of symptoms associated to this condition, without showing any side effects. The Young Mania Rating Scale scores (YMRS), which is the standard rating scale for children with bipolar disorder, was reduced with up to 30% after only two months of taking omega 3 supplements.

When compared to other adjutants in the treatment of these mood disorders, such as lithium, carbamazepine or olanzapine, the omega 3’s efficiency is far greater. OmegaBrite is very rich in EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), an important omega 3 fatty acid.

This is just one of the most recent studies focused on understanding how the omega 3 fatty acids can be used to treat mental and mood disorders.

Until now the pharmaceutical industry was not interested in finding alternatives to administering amphetamine and amphetamine-like drugs to children suffering from ADHD. The research showed that ADHD symptoms were reduced by 80% within the first two or three months of administering omega 3 supplements to suffering children.

The psychiatric industry only recently began paying attention to the positive effects omega 3 fatty acids play on the human brain and their possible use in treating or ameliorating a series of mental conditions. Other disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease or depression can be caused by the lack of omega 3 fatty acids from the body and taking fish oil supplements on a regular basis can help treat these conditions.

Another benefit omega 3 supplements have when compared to traditional drugs used to treat these patients is that taking these fatty acids has no side effects whatsoever. The necessary amounts of omega 3 can be obtained either through supplements, or by changing your diet to include more omega 3 rich aliments (especially fatty fish and some green leaf vegetables).

Jean Helmet is a content editor who focuses on a wide array of niche health topics. Her latest website - Natural High Dha Fish Oil focuses on omega 3 as a whole, and in particular, a natural product our editors personally use with excellent health results known as - Dha Esters

Be sure to check out our Omega 3 Dha Esters, it is the natural supplement we use and recommend to friends and family, and have done for over 3 years.

No Tags

Omega 3 Beef – Our Dedicated Guide

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

The human body requires the omega 3 fatty acids in order to maintain proper health. They help protect the heart, the brain, retinal health, as well as protect from as series of diseases. There are three essential omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. DHA, docoahexaenoic acid, is useful in ameliorating medical conditions such as Macular Degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease. EPA, or eicosapentoic acid, plays an important role in reducing inflammatory diseases. ALA, or the alpha-linolenic acid, is also very useful for protecting human health.

Beef can also be a rich source of omega 3 if it is grass fed. Because grass has higher levels of omega 3 acids, grass fed beef offers more health benefits than grain fed beef. Grains which are given to animals are richer in omega 6 fatty acids.

The modern American diet has a deficit in omega 3 fatty acids, while it provides very high amounts of omega 6. The imbalance between omega 3 and omega 6 in the human body is responsible for a series of medical problems, such as diabetes, cancer, ADHD, and heart diseases. A proper balance between these two types of fatty acids is 2 parts omega 6 to 1 part omega 3. However, in most countries, this ratio is dangerously high, reaching even 50:1.

Studies have shown that the ratio between the omega 6 and the omega 3 in grass fed beef compared to grain feed beef is 2:1 compared to 4:1. That is why consuming grass fed beef is preferred to grain fed beef. Not only that, it provides you with the necessary amounts of essential fatty acids, grass fed beef has lower calories than grain fed ones.

The amount of grass fed beef is still reduced in the United States; as most farmers chose to grain feed the cattle. However, more and more people appeal to grass feeding their animals because of the benefits this has on the properties of meat. Grass beef also has other benefits: the meat has more vitamins and minerals than grain feed beef, as well as CLA (Conjugated Linolenic Acid). CLA is a fat which plays an important role in reducing the risk of cancer, obesity and diabetes.

The red meat of grass beef is a lot healthier than that of cattle grown in barns with grains. The milk produced by grass fed cows will also have higher concentrations of omega 3 fatty acids.

Jean Helmet is a content editor who focuses on a wide array of niche health topics. Her latest website - Natural High Dha Fish Oil focuses on omega 3 as a whole, and in particular, a natural product our editors personally use with excellent health results known as - Dha Esters

Be sure to check out our Omega 3 Dha Esters, it is the natural supplement we use and recommend to friends and family, and have done for over 3 years.

No Tags

Our Guide To Omega 3 Cod Liver Oil

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

Fish oil is one of the richest natural sources of essential omega 3 fatty acids. The body needs them to properly function and to fight diseases, but it cannot produce them naturally. A major problem is that the diet of most western countries does not contain the necessary amount of omega 3 fatty acids.

Fish and vegetable oils have the largest amounts of unsaturated fatty acids. If you cannot increase the amount of fish in your diet, you can take fish oil supplements to obtain the omega 3 acids. Cod liver oil is preferred because it has a high concentration of DHA and EPA, essential fatty acids which cannot be naturally produced by the human body.

Alongside fish oil, great omega 3 sources are vegetable oils, such as canola, soybean or sunflower. However, specialists recommend a limited use of vegetable oils for getting the necessary amounts of omega 3 because they also contain omega 6 fatty acids.

One of the most convenient ways to obtain these fatty acids is to buy fish oil supplements. Cod liver oil contains the proper quantities of DHA and EPA and large amounts of vitamin A and D. The risk of cardiovascular diseases (such as the risk for sudden cardiac arrest) is greatly reduced by consuming omega 3 cod liver oil.

Other medical conditions ameliorated by omega 3 cod liver oil include high cholesterol and obesity. Medical studies have concluded that the necessary amount of DHA and EPA fatty acids is 1.5 grams daily. Fish consumption can help you obtain the necessary fatty acids, but because fish can get poisoned with heavy metals (especially mercury), medics alert against consuming fish very often.

A very good alternative to adding more fish to your diet is taking up to 3 cod liver oil supplements 2 or 3 times per day. When purchasing these supplements, be sure they are made by a reputed producer and they are obtained through “molecular distillation”, a process used to remove all toxins from the fish.

Be careful not to exceed the amount of cod liver oil supplements recommended by your doctor because cod liver oil also contains large doses of vitamin A and D: most cod liver oil supplements contain between 4000 and 500 vitamin D units. This amount is far greater than the daily required quantity and can lead to vitamin poisoning.

Jean Helmet is a content editor who focuses on a wide array of niche health topics. Her latest website - Natural High Dha Fish Oil focuses on omega 3 as a whole, and in particular, a natural product our editors personally use with excellent health results known as - Dha Esters

Be sure to check out our Omega 3 Dha Esters, it is the natural supplement we use and recommend to friends and family, and have done for over 3 years.

No Tags