Book review: Studying mobile media: cultural technologies, mobile communication, and the iPhone, by Hjorth, Larissa, Burgess, Jean and Richardson, Ingrid (eds), Routledge, New York, 2012

A review of a series of articles exploring the role of online networked mobile devices, such as the iPhone, in changing communication, with multidisciplinary relevance. The articles examine the smartphone as a cultural object, a platform for specific uses as a multi-purpose input device and its evolution from a personal communication device to a multimedia tool with implications for politics and social change.

Multipoint haptic mediator interface for robotic teleoperation

Despite recent advances in artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics, teleoperation can provide distinct benefits in applications requiring real-time human judgement and intuition. However, as robotic systems are increasingly becoming sophisticated and are performing more complex tasks, realizing these benefits requires new approaches to teleoperation. This paper introduces a novel haptic mediator interface for teleoperating mobile robotic platforms that have a variety of manipulators and functions. Identical master-slave bilateral teleoperation of the robotic manipulators is achieved by representing them in virtual reality and by allowing the operator to interact with them using a multipoint haptic device. The operator is also able to command motions to the mobile platform by using a novel haptic interaction metaphor rather than a separate dedicated input device. The presented interaction techniques enable the operator to perform a wide range of control functions and achieve functionality similar to that of conventional teleoperation schemes that use a single haptic interface. The mediator interface is presented, and important considerations such as workspace mapping and scaling are discussed. © 2015 IEEE.

Extending haptic device capability for 3D virtual grasping

This paper presents an investigation into the workspace constraints observed through the use of multiple single point haptic interfaces, which lead to the design of a novel grasping device that improves upon current commercial haptic interfaces. The presented device is desktop based, and has been designed to maximise the haptic workspace while offering the ability to grasp and manipulate virtual objects, which is a function that current commercial interfaces are limited in providing. The performance of the commercial haptic interface in producing sustained effective operation and increased workspace with the attached haptic gripper is evaluated, and the improvement of both has been determined.
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A low-cost intelligent gas sensing device for military applications

The field of electronic noses and gas sensing has been developing rapidly since the introduction of the silicon based sensors. There are numerous systems that can detect and indicate the level of a specific gas. We introduce here a system that is low power, small and cheap enough to be used in mobile robotic platforms while still being accurate and reliable enough for confident use. The design is based around a small circuit board mounted in a plastic case with holes to allow the sensors to protrude through the top and allow the natural flow of gas evenly across them. The main control board consists of a microcontroller PCB with surface mount components for low cost and power consumption. The firmware of the device is based on an algorithm that uses an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) which receives input from an array of gas sensors. The various sensors feeding the ANN allow the microcontroller to determine the gas type and quantity. The Testing of the device involves the training of the ANN with a number of different target gases to determine the weightings for the ANN. Accuracy and reliability of the ANN is validated through testing in a specific gas filled environment.

Neural net device for IED gas identification

Most of the embedded systems that detect gases today are for specific types and indicate the levels of the gas present with their standard sensors. We introduce here an adaptable system that can detect and distinguish the type of gas in a volatile environment such as searching for Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). This is achieved with a small device mounted on a mobile robot through the use of an algorithm that is an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The input layer to the ANN is an array of environmental and gas sensors. The small device, comprising of a multilayer circuit board with sensors in a rugged lightweight case, mounts on the mobile robot and communicates the gaseous data to the robot.

The ANN is implemented in the hardware of a FPGA with the control of the ANN being achieved through the configurable processor and memory. Calibration and testing of the device involves the training of device and the ANN with specific target gases. The Accuracy of the device is validated through lab testing against high-end gas test instruments with known concentrations of gases.

Power penalty assessment of OXADM device model - analytical analysis

This OXADM are located in the nodes, which have more than two switching directions in ring networks. The function of OXADM is to flexibility switch the wavelengths among the different input and output ports. Because of the OXADM's imperfect performance, the insertion loss and crosstalk are induced in the system. Analytical modeling method is using to analyze the OXADM structure in crosstalk or power leakage that lead to the power penalty. To overcome this problem, power penalty is needed to be supplied. The insertion of this power penalty depends on few parameters. The parameters that we going to investigate here will be in term of number of operating wavelengths and number of input/output ports as well as the Q factor. The variation of this parameters will affects the amount of the desired power penalty. Simulation results in higher crosstalk or higher power penalty needed as the number of OXADM increases. As the sum of the wavelength and the number of input/output for each OXADM increases, the power penalty will increased as well. Investigation on the maximum Q factors is 6 to get the minimum power penalty at the lowest BER for most of the combination of the sum of the wavelength and the number of input/output for each OXADM.

Design and analysis of an antenna for wireless energy harvesting in head-mountable DBS device

This paper presents design and simulation of a circular meander dipole antenna at the industrial, scientific, and medical band of 915 MHz for energy scavenging in a passive head-mountable deep brain stimulation device. The interaction of the proposed antenna with a rat body is modeled and discussed. In the antenna, the radiating layer is meandered, and a FR-4 substrate is used to limit the radius and height of the antenna to 14 mm and 1.60 mm, respectively. The resonance frequency of the designed antenna is 915 MHz and the bandwidth of 15 MHz at a return loss of -10 dB in free space. To model the interaction of the antenna with a rat body, two aspects including functional and biological are considered. The functional aspect includes input impedance, resonance frequency, gain pattern, radiation efficiency of the antenna, and the biological aspect involves electric field distribution, and SAR value. A complete rat model is used in the finite difference time domain based EM simulation software XFdtd. The simulated results demonstrate that the specific absorption rate distributions occur within the skull in the rat model, and their values are higher than the standard regulated values for the antenna receiving power of 1W.

RF rectifiers for EM power harvesting in a deep brain stimulating device

A passive deep brain stimulation (DBS) device can be equipped with a rectenna, consisting of an antenna and a rectifier, to harvest energy from electromagnetic fields for its operation. This paper presents optimization of radio frequency rectifier circuits for wireless energy harvesting in a passive head-mountable DBS device. The aim is to achieve a compact size, high conversion efficiency, and high output voltage rectifier. Four different rectifiers based on the Delon doubler, Greinacher voltage tripler, Delon voltage quadrupler, and 2-stage charge pumped architectures are designed, simulated, fabricated, and evaluated. The design and simulation are conducted using Agilent Genesys at operating frequency of 915 MHz. A dielectric substrate of FR-4 with thickness of 1.6 mm, and surface mount devices (SMD) components are used to fabricate the designed rectifiers. The performance of the fabricated rectifiers is evaluated using a 915 MHz radio frequency (RF) energy source. The maximum measured conversion efficiency of the Delon doubler, Greinacher tripler, Delon quadrupler, and 2-stage charge pumped rectifiers are 78, 75, 73, and 76 % at -5 dBm input power and for load resistances of 5-15 kΩ. The conversion efficiency of the rectifiers decreases significantly with the increase in the input power level. The Delon doubler rectifier provides the highest efficiency at both -5 and 5 dBm input power levels, whereas the Delon quadrupler rectifier gives the lowest efficiency for the same inputs. By considering both efficiency and DC output voltage, the charge pump rectifier outperforms the other three rectifiers. Accordingly, the optimised 2-stage charge pumped rectifier is used together with an antenna to harvest energy in our DBS device.

Radio frequency energy harvesting from a feeding source in a passive deep brain stimulation device for murine preclinical research

This paper presents the development of an energy harvesting circuit for use with a head-mountable deep brain stimulation (DBS) device. It consists of a circular planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) and a Schottky diode-based Cockcroft-Walton 4-voltage rectifier. The PIFA has the volume of π × 10(2) × 1.5 mm(3), resonance frequency of 915 MHz, and bandwidth of 16 MHz (909-925 MHz) at a return loss of -10 dB. The rectifier offers maximum efficiency of 78% for the input power of -5 dBm at a 5 kΩ load resistance. The developed rectenna operates efficiently at 915 MHz for the input power within -15 dBm to +5 dBm. For operating a DBS device, the DC voltage of 2 V is recorded from the rectenna terminal at a distance of 55 cm away from a 26.77 dBm transmitter in free space. An in-vitro test of the DBS device is presented.

A miniature neural recording device

This paper presents a portable neural recording device for use with laboratory animals. It can detect and record neural signals from the cortical region of the brain during pre-clinical trials. The device utilizes simplified circuitry to perform signal detection, filtering, sampling, and storage. It includes analog and digital components each implemented on a separate small printed circuit board. The two printed circuit boards are then attached to one another to form the device. It is capable of uninterrupted operation for over 2 hours on a single coin battery. A bench-testing of the device was performed with pre-recorded neural signal which then injected to the input of the device to give validation of efficient operation of the device. Its amplification and filtration features have been analyzed. An overall 56 dB amplification and filtration in the frequency range of 300 Hz to 4 KHz was achieved. Sampling and storage at a reduced power and computational load is demonstrated with uninterrupted storage of the neural signal. A comparison of the input and reconstructed neural signals shows minimal variation error.

Using national input-output data for embodied energy analysis of individual residential buildings

Embodied energy (EE) analysis has become an important area of energy research, in attempting to trace the direct and indirect energy requirements of products and services throughout their supply chain. Typically, input-output (I-O) models have been used to calculate EE because they are considered to be comprehensive in their analysis. However, a major deficiency of using I-O models is that they have inherent errors and therefore cannot be reliably applied to individual cases. Thus, there is a need for the ability to disaggregate an I-O model into its most important 'energy paths', for the purpose of integrating case-specific data. This paper presents a new hybrid method for conducting EE analyses for individual buildings, which retains the completeness of the I-O model. This new method is demonstrated by application to an Australian residential building. Only 52% of the energy paths derived from the I-O model were substituted using case-specific data. This indicates that previous system boundaries for EE studies of individual residential buildings are less than optimal. It is envisaged that the proposed method will provide construction professionals with more accurate and reliable data for conducting life cycle energy analysis of buildings. Furthermore, by analysing the unmodified energy paths, further data collection can be prioritized effectively.

Comparison of multifactor productivity indicators for real estate sectors using the OECD input-output database

"Research on the international comparison of productivity has gained significant interest throughout several previous decades. Relatively little work has however been done in the real estate sector. This paper aims to develop a new productivity measurement framework for the international comparison of the real estate sector based on the newly-published OECD input-output database. Three multifactor productivity indicators are formulated using the ratio of the sectoral final demand to value added, the intermediate output to intermediate input and the total output to total input effect respectively in the input-output table. Historical analyses and comparisons are also carried out to indicate the differences of productivities of the real estate sectors in seven selected countries. Findings can improve the understanding of how technological, organisational and policy influences combine to affect productivity growth and aid the policy makers, real estate agencies and researchers in evaluating the competitive ability of the real estate sector."

Validation of the use of input-output data for embodied energy analysis of the Australian construction industry

This paper evaluates a recently developed hybrid method for the embodied energy analysis of the Australian construction industry. It was found that the truncation associated with process analysis can be up to 80%, whilst the use of input-output analysis alone does not always provide a perfect model for replacing process data. There is also a considerable lack in the quantity and possibly quality of process data currently available. These findings suggest that current best-practice methods are sufficiently accurate for most typical applications, but this is heavily dependant upon data quality and availability. The hybrid method evaluated can be used for the optimisation of embodied energy and for identifying opportunities for improvements in energy efficiency.

Economic indicator comparisons of international real estate sectors using the OECD input-output database

With its growing share in national economies, the real estate sector has been considered a vital contributor of economic development. Research efforts are needed in order to gain a better comprehension of the national specificities of the real estate sector and to identify its role in economic development. Due to limited comparable data, the economic indicators of real estate sectors are hard to compare between different countries. This paper aims to explore the quantitative interdependence amongst the real estate sector and other industries in developed economies using input-output analysis, and to investigate their significant linkages. Based on the recently published Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) input-output database at constant prices, the analysis focuses on the real estate's escalating role in terms ofshares in gross output, value added and gross national product. With emphasis on the relative role of manufacturing, construction and services inputs, this paper also highlights the strengths of the push and pull of the real estate sector.

Economic performance analysis of the Australian property sector using input-output tables

The property sector has played an important role with its growing contribution in the national income and employment in the Australian economy. There is an increasing research need in measuring and analysing the economic performance of the Australian property sector at a country level and input-output tables are considered as an appropriate tool. This paper aims to analyse and measure the performance and sectoral linkages of the Australian property sector using the five latest input-output tables compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Findings suggested that the Australian residential property sector had played a more important role than the commercial sector in the economy. The backward linkage of the residential property sector showed a decreasing economic pull, while that of commercial property presented an upward pattern. Moreover. the Australian property sector showed a medium economic push to the national economy over the examined period. Findings can aid policy makers, the property sector and researchers in evaluating the competitive ability of the property sector in Australia.