August 28, 2006, 9:47 PM CT

Video Game For Stroke Rehabilitation

Engineers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, have modified a popular home video game system to assist stroke patients with hand exercises, producing a technology costing less than $600 that may one day rival systems 10 times as expensive.

The Rutgers hand rehabilitation system is an example of virtual rehabilitation, which combines virtual reality computer-generated interactive visual environments in which users control actions in a lifelike way with traditional therapy techniques. Virtual rehabilitation gives therapists new tools to do their jobs more effectively and engages patients who may otherwise lack interest or motivation to complete normal exercise regimens.

The Rutgers engineers are describing their work at the fifth International Workshop on Virtual Rehabilitation taking place Aug. 29 and Aug. 30 in New York City.

"Virtual reality is showing significant promise for promoting faster and more complete rehabilitation, but the cost of many systems is still prohibitive for widespread deployment in outpatient clinics or patients' homes," said Grigore Burdea, professor of electrical and computer engineering and a noted inventor of virtual rehabilitation technology. "While it's essential to keep pursuing breakthrough technologies that will initially be costly, it's just as important that we find ways to make innovative treatments accessible to the many patients who need them".........

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August 27, 2006, 8:47 AM CT

Hand-carved Kenyan iPod stand

Do you appreciate handmade arts and crafts? Are you the owner of a computer, a PDA, or, an iPod? Are you an Apple Computer fan? If so, SafariPod probably has a product that will make you smile. today, and every day. You see, SafariPod is the real thing: a true handmade crafts house. Not a single item here ever touches a machine of any type. Each art object here is not only useful and beautiful, it demonstrates the unique artistry of a specific Kenyan craftsman. the man who made it just for you with his bare hands.

SafariPod craftsmen make each object sold here to his own design. We determine the need for a specific type of product. say, an iPod stand. Then, we tell the artist what we need the object to do, and he then develops a design to his own taste and standard. Each of our artists have been sculpting native wildlife pieces for a number of years.........

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August 27, 2006, 8:10 AM CT

The Most Incredible Knife

The Most Incredible Knife.

Make sure you have a big pocket.

1. 2.5" 60% Serrated locking blade

2. Nail file, nail cleaner

3. Corkscrew

4. Adjustable pliers with wire crimper and cutter

5. Removable screwdriver bit adapter

6. 2.5" Blade for Official World Scout Knife

7. Spring-loaded, locking needle-nose pliers with wire cutter

8. Removable screwdriver bit holder

9. Phillips head screwdriver bit 0

10. Phillips head screwdriver bit 1

11. Phillips head screwdriver bit 2

12. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.5 mm x 3.5 mm

13. Flat head screwdriver bit 0.6 mm x 4.0 mm

14. Flat head screwdriver bit 1.0 mm x 6.5 mm........

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August 22, 2006, 7:58 PM CT

carbon fiber to make tiny video displays

Engineers who develop microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) like to make their tiny machines out of silicon because it is cheap, plentiful and can be worked on with the tools already developed for making microelectronic circuits. There is just one problem: Silicon breaks too easily.

For decades, researchers have been trying to make video displays using tiny mirrors mounted on silicon oscillators. But silicon won't oscillate fast enough and bend far enough.

"You need something incredibly stiff to oscillate at a resonant frequency of 60,000 times a second (the line-scanning rate of most video displays), but it also needs to bend a lot for adequate image size," explained Shahyaan Desai, a Cornell graduate student who has been working for more than three years to create a practical MEMS video display device.

So Desai and his Cornell colleagues have turned to carbon fiber, the same material used to reinforce auto and aircraft body parts, bicycle frames and fishing rods.

"Carbon fiber is twice as stiff as silicon but 10 times more flexible," said Desai.

He is first author of a paper with Michael Thompson, Cornell associate professor of materials science and engineering, and Anil Netravali, Cornell professor of fiber science, on using carbon fibers in MEMS, published in the recent issue of the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering.........

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August 21, 2006, 4:58 AM CT

Report on iPod Manufacturing

Like a number of of you, we were concerned by reports in the press a few weeks ago alleging poor working and living conditions at a manufacturing facility in China where iPods are assembled. Our Supplier Code of Conduct mandates that suppliers of Apple products follow specific rules designed to safeguard human rights, worker health and safety, and the environment. We take any deviation from these rules very seriously.

In response to the allegations, we immediately dispatched an audit team comprised of members from our human resources, legal and operations groups to carry out a thorough investigation of the conditions at the manufacturing site. The audit covered the areas of labor standards, working and living environment, compensation, overtime and worker therapy. The team interviewed over 100 randomly selected employees representing a cross-section of line workers (83%), supervisors (9%), executives (5%), and other support personnel (3%) including security guards and custodians. They visited and inspected factory floors, dormitories, dining halls, and recreation areas. The team also evaluated thousands of documents including personnel files, payroll data, time cards, and security logs. In total, the audit spanned over 1200 person-hours and covered over one million square feet of facilities.........

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August 18, 2006, 7:11 AM CT

TV is an effective 'painkiller' for kids

TV really does act like a painkiller when it comes to kids, reveals a small study published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The research team assessed 69 children between the ages of 7 and 12, who were randomly divided into three groups to have a blood sample taken.

One group was given no distraction while the sample was being taken. In the second group mothers attempted to actively distract their children by talking to them, soothing, and/or caressing them.

And in the third group, the children were allowed to watch TV cartoons while the procedure was being carried out.

None of the children was given any form of anaesthesia, and after the samples had been taken, all the children and their mothers then rated their pain scores.

The children recording the highest pain scores were in the group for whom no distraction had been provided. These scores were around three times as high as those recorded by children allowed to watch the TV cartoons.

Middling scores were recorded by those children whose mothers had attempted to actively distract them while the sample was taken.

Although on average, the mothers rated pain scores higher than their children had done, and particularly for their own attempts at distracting their offspring, they nevertheless recorded the lowest pain scores for children who had been allowed to watch TV cartoons.........

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August 17, 2006, 11:42 PM CT

Some video games promote sociability

Hang in there, parents. There is some hopeful news on the video-gaming front.

Researchers have found that some of the large and hugely popular online video games although condemned by many as time-gobbling, people-isolating.

monsters actually have socially redeeming qualities.

In theory, anyway.

After examining the form and function of what's known in the trade as.

MMOs massively multiplayer online video games an interdisciplinary team of.

researchers concludes that some games "promote sociability and new worldviews".

The researchers, Constance Steinkuehler and Dmitri Williams, claim that MMOs function not like solitary dungeon cells, but more like virtual coffee shops or pubs where something called "social bridging" takes place. They even liken playing such games as "Asheron's Call" and "Lineage" to dropping in at "Cheers," the fictional TV bar "where everybody knows your name".

"By providing places for social interaction and relationships beyond the workplace and home, MMOs have the capacity to function much like the hangouts of old," they said. And they take it one step further by suggesting that the lack of real-world hangouts "is what is driving the MMO phenomenon" in the first place.........

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August 14, 2006, 6:45 AM CT

Automatic Crib Rocker

If you have a baby then you know, how tough it is to make him/her sleep at times, sing lullabies, walking him outside to make him doze off, keep rocking his crib and so on.! So, here is the solution for all the restless parents to keep the baby-blues away, Lullabub Crib Rocker. The automatic crib rocker is comprised of four modules that are placed under each leg of a crib.

The remote-controlled rocking system gently creates motion automatically in a harmonic rhythm to naturally soothe and settle babies to sleep. It can even recreate the rocking motions of a mother's womb, a mother's heartbeat, a drive in the car or a boat on the water......amazing.No! The Lullabub sells for $229.........

Posted by: Ryan      Permalink         Source

August 12, 2006, 3:28 PM CT

Sharpest Manmade Thing

A field ion microscope (FIM) image of a very sharp tungsten needle. The small round features are individual atoms. The lighter colored elongated features are traces captured as atoms moved during the imaging process (approximately 1 second).

Reported by: Rezeq et al., Journal of Chemical Physics, 28 May 2006.........

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August 12, 2006, 2:37 PM CT

Art On The Moon

The only piece of art on the moon (depending, we suppose, on one's definition of art) is a 3?-tall aluminum sculpture titled "Fallen Astronaut".

It was created by Belgian artist Paul Van Hoeydonck and installed by Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott, along with a plaque bearing the names of the 14 astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the service of space exploration.........

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