An Inexpensive Microprint Reader

An inexpensive semi-automated sequence reader for the Apple II computer

We describe a relatively inexpensive digitizing pad, available from Houston Instruments, for which we have written software which allows the direct reading of DNA (or RNA) sequencing gel autoradiographs. This eliminates several sources of error in nucleic acid sequencing, and renders computer analysis less cumbersome.

An inexpensive blackbody model

A blackbody is a fundamental concept in thermography. A perfect model of blackbody is characterized by emissivity =1 which is difficult to be obtained. There are black body simulators which are being used for calibration of infrared devices. Commercial solutions of blackbody simulators are based on mathematical models of cavity or surface blackbodies and their emissivity is closer to unity e.g....

Probabilistic DCS: An RFID reader-to-reader anti-collision protocol

The wide adoption of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for applications requiring a large number of tags and readers makes critical the reader-to-reader collision problem. Various anticollision protocols have been proposed, but the majority require considerable additional resources and costs. Distributed Color System (DCS) is a state-of-the-art protocol based on time division, without notew...

An inexpensive, accurate ''injection gun''.

An Inexpensive Light Stage Dome

This article describes a process for constructing a real-world 1 m-diameter icosahedral dome frame with equipment mounting points at the vertices. Such frames, called Light Stage domes, are important tools for computer graphics and vision measurements and relighting applications. Typical domes have 2 m diameter and are constructed from bolted steel parts. The new half-size dome is inexpensive, ...