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A prototype confirmation landmine detector, based on electrical impedance tomography (EIT), which can operate under realistic environmental conditions, has been developed. Laboratory and field experiments demonstrated that it is possible to reliably reconstruct, on the scale of the electrode spacing (ES) (in width and depth), conductivity perturbations due to a shallow buried antitank mine or a similar object in a variety of soils (black earth, clay, sand) down to depths equal to the dimensions of the object (1-1.5 ES, equivalent to 14-21 cm for a 64-electrode 1 m x 1 m array). These represent the first EIT images of real landmines computed from measured data. Occasional problems were encountered with the electrical contact in very dry soils, with excessive insertion pressure being required for reliable electrode contact. However, poor contacts could be detected, and the offending probe was either reinserted or compensation was applied. A matched filter detection algorithm based on a replica of the object of interest was developed and shown to effectively reduce the false alarm rate of the detector. EIT is especially suited for wet lands and underwater, where other mine detectors perform poorly. Experiments in a water-and sediment-filled tank have demonstrated that detection of minelike objects in such an environment with a submerged array is feasible. These experiments represent the first EIT measurements of targets using an electrode array submerged underwater. EIT may also have an application in locating intact mines in the berms formed by mine-clearing equipment. The EIT sensor head could be made cheaply enough to be disposable and remotely inserted to improve safety. Index Terms--Conductivity measurement, impedance imaging, impedance tomography, object detection, soil, underwater object detection.

The effects of sex hormones in the modulation of cystic fibrosis conductance regulator (CFTR) gene expression and functional activity were analyzed in rat fetal lung epithelium. Analysis of fetal rat lung epithelial cells (FTRLEs) indicated the role of 17beta-estradiol (E2) in reducing the functional activity of CFTR. On the other hand, 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) increased CFTR activity in FTRLEs. However, the levels of CFTR messenger RNA were not altered by DHT and E2 in FTRLE.

Byline: Stephane Gagnon Within the next ten years, radical innovation in electric vehicles (EVs) will cause profound changes in the way automakers develop their products. The prevailing lean product development approach (LPDA), based on concurrent engineering (CE), may well be modified substantially to fit with EV's high technology content, high innovation rate and high uncertainty context. In addition, the fact that a large part of EV's technologies must come from outside the auto industry is another challenge in itself. Our literature review leads us to conclude: first, that strategy formulation should be driven by the emergence of a dominant design; second, we find that organisational change efforts will have to be focused more directly upon the management of knowledge; third, we finally argue that capabilities development will occur only if a number of adjustments are made to the LPDA, especially regarding suppliers, leaders, people and tools.

Cardiography is an indispensable element of health care. However, the accessibility of at-home cardiac monitoring is limited by device complexity, accuracy, and cost. We have developed a real-time algorithm for heart rate monitoring and beat detection implemented in a custom-built, affordable system. These measurements were processed from seismocardiography (SCG) and gyrocardiography (GCG) signals recorded at the sternum, with concurrent electrocardiography (ECG) used as a reference. Our system demonstrated the feasibility of non-invasive electro-mechanical cardiac monitoring on supine, stationary subjects at a cost of $100, and with the SCG–GCG and ECG algorithms decoupled as standalone measurements. Testing was performed on 25 subjects in the supine position when relaxed, and when recovering from physical exercise, to record 23,984 cardiac cycles at heart rates in the range of 36–140 bpm. The correlation between the two measurements had r2 coefficients of 0.9783 and 0.9982 for normal (averaged) and instantaneous (beat identification) heart rates, respectively. At a sampling frequency of 250 Hz, the average computational time required was 0.088 s per measurement cycle, indicating the maximum refresh rate. A combined SCG and GCG measurement was found to improve accuracy due to fundamentally different noise rejection criteria in the mutually orthogonal signals. The speed, accuracy, and simplicity of our system validated its potential as a real-time, non-invasive, and affordable solution for outpatient cardiac monitoring in situations with negligible motion artifact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]