A high-performance magnetic levitation haptic interface has been developed to enable the user to interact dynamically with simulated environments by holding a levitated structure and directly feeling its computed force and motion responses. The haptic device consists of a levitated body with six degrees of freedom and motion ranges of 5 mm and 3.5 degrees in all directions. The current device c...

A new two step on-axis digital holography (DH) is proposed without any assumptions, phase shifting, or complicated optical components. A dual-channel Mach-Zehnder interferometer was employed. Using that setup, the object field can be reconstructed requiring only two step measurements. To eliminate position difference between two charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras, a matched filter algorithm wa...

This paper reports a microfabricated piezoelectric MEMS inertial energy harvester that can scavenge high-frequency mechanical vibrations in all three dimensions with an active inner volume of only 55 mm. The device can generate 0.1 to 10.5 μW from out-of-plane vibrations (365-465 Hz), and 0.1 to 3.2 μW from in-plane vibrations (680-930 Hz) at 0.5 g acceleration input. The reported harvester is ...

Biplanar arrays of N rectangular permanent magnet (PM) blocks can be used to generate high quality N-pole fields in close proximity to the array axis. In applications featuring small-diameter charged particle beams, N-poles of adequate quality can be realized at relatively low cost using small volumes of PM material. In this paper we report on recent measurements performed on planar PM multiple...

We fabricated high-quality c axis-oriented epitaxial MgB2 thin films using a pulsed laser deposition technique. The thin films grown on (1 i 0 2) Al2O3 substrates have a transition temperature of 39 kelvin. The critical current density in zero field is approximately 6 x 10(6) amperes per cubic centimeter at 5 kelvin and approximately 3 x 10(5) amperes per cubic centimeter at 35 kelvin, which su...

This paper introduces Eureka (see video), a new parallel mechanism providing five motions: three translations plus two rotations. This device is able to reach high tilting angles ( about a first given axis and a whole revolution about the following axis). This is due to actuation redundancy and to the specific traveling plate. Kinematic models are derived. Due to its particular shape the forwar...

Brief information about modern methods for determining the bending stresses of extended sections underground main pipelines without access to pipeline generatrix is given. The necessity modernizing based on configuration axis from soil surface with subsequent calculation obtained data substantiated. A mathematical model that allows calculate optimal parameters surveying a arbitrary and depth, w...

OBJECTIVES Footwear-generated biomechanical manipulations (e.g., wedge insoles) have been shown to reduce the magnitude of adduction moment about the knee. The theory behind wedged insoles is that a more laterally shifted location of the center of pressure reduces the distance between the ground reaction force and the center of the knee joint, thereby reducing adduction moment during gait. Howe...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Technical skills assessment is considered an important part of surgical training. Subjective assessment is not appropriate for training feedback, and there is now increased demand for objective assessment of surgical performance. Economy of movement has been proposed as an excellent alternative for this purpose. The investigators describe a readily available method to e...

The force-free helical reactor (FFHR) is a helical-type fusion reactor whose design is being studied at the National Institute for Fusion Science. The FFHR will use three sets of superconducting coils to confine the plasma. It is not a fusion plasma experimental device, and the magnetic field configuration will be optimized for burning plasma. This paper introduces a conceptual design for a dc ...