Wireless haptic rendering for mobile platforms

Computer haptics has so far been performed on a personal computer (PC). Off the shelf haptic devices provide only PC interfaces and software drivers for control and communication. The new wave of high capable tablet PCs and high end smart phones introduced new platforms for haptic applications. The major problem was to communicate wirelessly to provide user convenience and support mobility which is an essential feature for these platforms. In this paper we provide a wireless layered communication protocol and a hardware setup that enables off the shelf haptic devices to communicate wirelessly with a mobile device. The layers in the protocol enable the change of any hardware components without affecting the data flow. However, the adoption of the wireless interface instead of the wired one comes with the price of speed. Haptic refresh loops require a relatively high refresh rate of 1000 Hz compared to graphics loop which require between 30 and 60 only. An interpolation algorithm was demonstrated to compensate the latency and secure a stable user experience. The introduced setup was tested against portable environments and the users could perform similar functionalities to what are available on a wired setup to a PC.

Nanotechnology based platforms for survivin targeted drug discovery

Introduction: Development of an effective, safe and targeted drug delivery system to fight cancer and other diseases is a prime focus in the area of drug discovery. The emerging field of nanotechnology has revolutionised the way cancer therapy and diagnosis is achieved primarily due to the recent advances in material engineering and drug availability. Further, the recognition of the crucial role played by anti-apoptotic proteins such as survivin, has initiated the development of therapeutics that can target this protein as an attempt to develop alternative cancer therapies. However, a key challenge faced in drug development is the efficient delivery of survivin-targeted molecules to specific areas in the body.Areas covered: This review primarily focuses on the different strategies employing nanotechnology for targeting survivin expressed in human cancers. Different nanomaterials incorporating nucleic molecules or drugs targeted at survivin are discussed and the results obtained from studies are highlighted.Expert opinion: There are extensive studies reporting different treatment regimens for cancer, however, they still result in systemic toxicity, reduced bioavailability and ineffective delivery. Novel approaches involve the use of biocompatible nanomaterials together with gene or drug molecules to target proteins such as survivin, which is overexpressed in cancerous cells. These nanoformulations allow the benefits of protecting easily degradable molecules, allow controlled release, and enhance targeted delivery and effectiveness. Hence, nanotherapy utilizing survivin targeting can be considered to play a key role in the development of personalized nanomedicine for cancer.

Electrical Stimulation of Myoblast Proliferation and Differentiation on Aligned Nanostructured Conductive Polymer Platforms

In this study, nanostructured conductive platforms synthesized from aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes and polypyrrole are investigated as myo-regenerative scaffolds. Myotube formation follows a linear path on the platforms coinciding with extent of nanotopography. In addition, electrical stimulation enhances myo-nuclear number and differentiation. These studies demonstrate that conductive polymer platforms can be used to influence muscle cell behaviour through nanostructure and electrical stimulation.

Wet-Spun Biodegradable Fibers on Conducting Platforms: Novel Architectures for Muscle Regeneration

Novel biosynthetic platforms supporting ex vivo growth of partially differentiated muscle cells in an aligned linear orientation that is consistent with the structural requirements of muscle tissue are described. These platforms consist of biodegradable polymer fibers spatially aligned on a conducting polymer substrate. Long multinucleated myotubes are formed from differentiation of adherent myoblasts, which align longitudinally to the fiber axis to form linear cell-seeded biosynthetic fiber constructs. The biodegradable polymer fibers bearing undifferentiated myoblasts can be detached from the substrate following culture. The ability to remove the muscle cell-seeded polymer fibers when required provides the means to use the biodegradable fibers as linear muscle-seeded scaffold components suitable for in vivo implantation into muscle. These fibers are shown to promote differentiation of muscle cells in a highly organized linear unbranched format in vitro and thereby potentially facilitate more stable integration into recipient tissue, providing structural support and mechanical protection for the donor cells. In addition, the conducting substrate on which the fibers are placed provides the potential to develop electrical stimulation paradigms for optimizing the ex vivo growth and synchronization of muscle cells on the biodegradable fibers prior to implantation into diseased or damaged muscle tissue.

Microfluidic platforms for biomarker analysis

Biomarkers have been described as characteristics, most often molecular, that provide information about biological states, whether normal, pathological, or therapeutically modified. They hold great potential to assist diagnosis and prognosis, monitor disease, and assess therapeutic effectiveness. While a few biomarkers are routinely utilised clinically, these only reflect a very small percentage of all biomarkers discovered. Numerous factors contribute to the slow uptake of these new biomarkers, with challenges faced throughout the biomarker development pipeline. Microfluidics offers two important opportunities to the field of biomarkers: firstly, it can address some of these developmental obstacles, and secondly, it can provide the precise and complex platform required to bridge the gap between biomarker research and the biomarker-based analytical device market. Indeed, adoption of microfluidics has provided a new avenue for advancement, promoting clinical utilisation of both biomarkers and their analytical platforms. This review will discuss biomarkers and outline microfluidic platforms developed for biomarker analysis.

Microfluidic platforms for the investigation of intercellular signalling mechanisms

Intercellular signalling has been identified as a highly complex process, responsible for orchestrating many physiological functions. While conventional methods of investigation have been useful, their limitations are impeding further development. Microfluidics offers an opportunity to overcome some of these limitations. Most notably, microfluidic systems can emulate the in-vivo environments. Further, they enable exceptionally precise control of the microenvironment, allowing complex mechanisms to be selectively isolated and studied in detail. There has thus been a growing adoption of microfluidic platforms for investigation of cell signalling mechanisms. This review provides an overview of the different signalling mechanisms and discusses the methods used to study them, with a focus on the microfluidic devices developed for this purpose.

Comparative mobile platforms security solutions

 Mobile platform security solution has become especially important for mobile computing paradigms, due to the fact that increasing amounts of private and sensitive information are being stored on the smartphones' on-device memory or MicroSD/SD cards. This paper aims to consider a comparative approach to the security aspects of the current smartphone systems, including: iOS, Android, BlackBerry (QNX), and Windows Phone.

Social media conflict: platforms for racial vilification, or acts of provocation and citizenship?

Although racism remains an issue for social media sites such as YouTube, this focus often overshadows the site’s productive capacity to generate ‘agonistic publics’ from which expressions of cultural citizenship and solidarity might emerge. This paper examines these issues through two case studies: the recent proliferation of mobile phone video recordings of racist rants on public transport, and racist interactions surrounding the performance of a Maori ‘flash mob’ haka in New Zealand that was recorded and uploaded to YouTube. We contrast these incidents as they are played out primarily through social media, with the case of Australian Football League player Adam Goodes and the broadcast media reaction to a racial slur aimed against him by a crowd member during the AFL’s Indigenous Round. We discuss the prevalence of vitriolic exchange and racial bigotry, but also, and more importantly, the productive and equally aggressive defence of more inclusive and tolerant forms of cultural identification that play out across these different media forms. Drawing on theories of cultural citizenship along with the political theory of Chantal Mouffe, we point to the capacities of YouTube as ‘platform’, and to social media practices, in facilitating ground-up antiracism and generating dynamic, contested and confronting micropublics.

Do virtual platforms impact user behavior? An experimental comparison between messages on the company's website and Facebook page.

Companies have looked for many new ways to communicate with their customers. In the current scenario, Facebook has proven to be an efficient communication tool between consumers and businesses. This study aims to understand the differences in the complaint messages sent to companies, through an experiment that measured the emotional tone and the lack of formality in each message received by the website and the Facebook page of the company. As expected, people are more informal on Facebook. However, contrary to our intuition, participants tended to display more emotions on the company website. The social norms theory and the impression management contributed to explain the phenomena found.

Depleting the curriculum: teaching digital platforms and curricular impoverishment

The paper aims at showing how curricular complexity tends to be depleted by the use of digital platforms based on the SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) standard, which was created with the main purpose of recycling content as it is supposed to be independent both from the context of learning and the supporting technology also deemed to be neutral, all surrounded by a rhetoric of innovation and “pedagogical” innovation. The starting point of the discussion is García Perez’s model of Traditional Didactics as a simple tool to show almost graphically that any ancient didactic model is far richer in terms of complexity than the linearity, in disguise most of the times but still visible under a not so sophisticated critical lens, of the interaction human-(reusable) content that is the basis of the SCORM standard. The paper also addresses some of the more common deliberate mix-ups related to those digital platforms, such as learning and teaching, content and learning object, systems of automatic teaching and learning management systems.

Rheological, mechanical and mucoadhesive properties of thermoresponsive, bioadhesive binary mixtures composed of poloxamer 407 and carbopol 974P designed as platforms for implantable drug delivery systems for use in the oral cavity

This study described the formulation and characterisation of the viscoelastic, mechanical and mucoadhesive properties of thermoresponsive, binary polymeric systems composed of poloxamer (P407) and poly(acrylic acid, C974P) that were designed for use as a drug delivery platform within the oral cavity. Monopolymeric and binary polymeric formulations were prepared containing 10, 15 and 20% (w/w) poloxamer (407) and 0.10-0.25% (w/w) poly(acrylic acid, 934P). The flow theological and viscoelastic properties of the formulations were determined using controlled stress and oscillatory rheometry, respectively, the latter as a function of temperature. The mechanical and mucoadhesive properties (namely the force required to break the bond between the formulation and a pre-hydrated mucin disc) were determined using compression and tensile analysis, respectively. Binary systems composed of 10% (w/w) P407 and C934P were elastoviscous, were easily deformed under stress and did not exhibit mucoadhesion. Formulations containing 15 or 20% (w/w) Pluronic P407 and C934P exhibited a sol-gel temperature T(sol/gel), were viscoelastic and offered high elasticity and resistance to deformation at 37 degrees C. Conversely these formulations were elastoviscous and easily deformed at temperatures below the sol-gel transition temperature. The sol-gel transition temperatures of systems containing 15% (w/w) P407 were unaffected by the presence of C934P; however, increasing the concentration of C934P decreased the T(sol/gel) in formulations containing 20%(w/w) P407. Rheological synergy between P407 and C934P at 37 degrees C was observed and was accredited to secondary interactions between these polymers, in addition to hydrophobic interactions between P407 micelles. Importantly, formulations composed of 20% (w/w) P407 and C934P exhibited pronounced mucoadhesive properties. The ease of administration (below the T(sol/gel)) in conjunction with the viscoelastic (notably high elasticity) and mucoadhesive properties (at body temperature) render the formulations composed of 20% (w/w) P407 and C934P as potentially useful platforms for mucoadhesive, controlled topical drug delivery within the oral cavity. (c) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Design of concrete platforms offshore using the three-layer shell theory

The concrete offshore platforms, which are subjected a several loading combinations and, thus, requires an analysis more generic possible, can be designed using the concepts adopted to shell elements, but the resistance must be verify in particular cross-sections to shear forces. This work about design of shell elements will be make using the three-layer shell theory. The elements are subject to combined loading of membrane and plate, totalizing eight components of internal forces, which are three membrane forces, three moments (two out-of-plane bending moments and one in-plane, or torsion, moment) and two shear forces. The design method adopted, utilizing the iterative process proposed by Lourenco & Figueiras (1993) obtained from equations of equilibrium developed by Gupta (1896) , will be compared to results of experimentally tested shell elements found in the literature using the program DIANA.