A simple Schiff base (RC) has been explored as a smart example of fluorescent material for the selective detection, differentiation and bioimaging of methanol. The nucleophilic attack of methanol on the cyclic control unit of RC leads to its opening and formation of a highly fluorescent moiety, RO. The RC displays a good sensitivity for MeOH with a detection limit of 0.042 wt% in water.

An innovative processing strategy for fabricating soft structures that possess electric- and humidity-driven active/passive actuation capabilities along with touch- and humidity-sensing properties is reported. The intrinsically multifunctional material comprises an active thin layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly-(styrene sulfonate) in a double-layered structure with a silicone elasto...

Magnetorheological (MR) materials and shear thickening fluids are both smart material and their combination could offer both MR and ST effects. This study looks at the properties and behaviour of magnetorheological shear thickening fluid (MRSTF) in particular whilst applied as a semi-active energy absorber. A device with two forms of varying vibration control has been created and measured. The ...

Today’s lectures are often talks following a straight line of slides. In many lectures the process of content teaching is not as efficient as it could be. Technologies, such as smart-phones and wireless communication, enable a new level of interaction between lecturer, content and audience. We describe how current lecture material can be semantically enhanced, to interactively assist the audien...

In this paper we propose a complete architecture of an automatic computer based educational system which exploits tools and methodologies taken from various Artificial Intelligence areas. We use a smart description of knowledge (concerning both the didactic domain knowledge and the student model) and inference mechanisms to achieve an efficient and reliable planning of the student course. Final...

This paper presents a wireless diaphragm actuator and focuses on a lumped parameter grey-box model capable of simulating actuation displacement. Here, modelling aims to provide further insight into this smart material actuator and help facilitate design into new implantable applications. Model parameters were calibrated to a prototype actuator using experimental data and a genetic algorithm opt...

Calculating surface and volume integrals is a useful operation for space-approximating networks. For example a sensor network might estimate crowd size by integrating the density of people in an area, or estimate the severity of a pollutant spill by calculating the area of the affected region. More exotically, a smart material might integrate force to find the weight it is supporting, or a bio-...

This study proposes effective interface by using face-detection information, which comes from input image of the camera installed on a smart phone, and also by using movement information from reliable characteristics of the object. To do this, augmented reality interface has been constructed by putting the virtual object onto the camera image of the real space. The gamer and the virtual object,...

The development of innovative adaptive structures on UAVs (and UUVs), such as morphing wings, can potentially reduce system complexity by eliminating control surfaces and their auxiliary equipment. This technology has the potential of allowing a UAV to adapt to different mission requirements or executing a particular mission more effectively. The first part of the paper deals with a review of m...

A peer-verified method is presented for the determination of percent moisture and fat in meat products by microwave drying and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The method involves determining the moisture content of meat samples by microwave drying and using the dried sample to determine the fat content by NMR analysis. Both the submitting and peer laboratories analyzed 5 meat product...