The lifetime of the emerging Wireless visual sensor network (WVSN) is seriously dependent on the energy shored in the battery of its sensor nodes as well as the compression and resource allocation scheme. In this paper, the energy harvesting technology was adopted to provide almost perpetual operation of the WVSN and compressed-sensing-based encoding was used to decrease the power consumption o...

The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding (LHCB) proteins are the apoproteins of the light-harvesting complex of photosystem II. In the present study, we observed that downregulation of any of the six LHCB genes resulted in abscisic acid (ABA)-insensitive phenotypes in seed germination and post-germination growth, demonstrating that LHCB proteins are positively involved in these developmenta...

This paper presents the design of a novel low power electrostatic energy harvesting integrated circuit in AMI 0.7たm high voltage CMOS process. To increase the output power extracted from a variable capacitor acting as a mechanical to electrical energy converter, a novel controller unit is proposed to synchronize the operation of the energy harvesting circuit (EHC) with the motion of the capacit...

Energy management in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is of paramount importance for the remotely deployed energy stringent sensor nodes. These nodes are typically powered by attached batteries. Several battery-driven energy conservation schemes are proposed to ensure energy efficient network operation. The constraints associated to the limited battery capacity shifted the research trend towards...

Steering agricultural machinery during the harvest in fields is a tedious task for drivers. Automated guidance of the machinery will not only reduce driver fatigue but also increase productivity and safety of the harvesting operation. The existing mechanical solutions for row navigation on the sugar beet fields do not provide sufficient accuracy during the harvesting process. The next important...

We will describe a second phase of breast reconstruction on a young girl suffering from Poland syndrome. She has the breast, pectoralis major and minor muscle aplasia on the right side. She has no other deformities. The best result is achieved by combining latissimus dorsi flap and a silicone implant, and even better aesthetic result is accomplished with endoscopically assisted latissimus dorsi...

A vibration-driven electret generator has been developed for energy harvesting applications. By using parylene as the spring material, a low-resonant-frequency MEMS generator is realized. Large inplane amplitude of 0.8 mm at the resonant frequency as low as 37 Hz has been achieved. With our early prototype, output power of 0.28 μW has been obtained. We also demonstrate electret-powered operatio...

In this paper, we propose a technique to extend the network lifetime of a wireless sensor network, whereby each sensor node decides its individual network involvement based on its own energy resources and the information contained in each packet. The information content is ascertained through a system of rules describing prospective events in the sensed environment, and how important such event...

Piezoelectric micromachined circular diaphragm energy harvesters for pulsed pressure sources have been fabricated and characterized. These devices utilize silicon carbide (SiC) as the structural material and aluminum nitride (AlN) as the active piezoelectric element to enable operation within harsh environments. In particular, the SiC/AlN energy harvesting device yields an output power density ...

In this study, an energy harvesting chip was developed to scavenge energy from artificial light to charge a wireless sensor node. The chip core is a miniature transformer with a nano-ferrofluid magnetic core. The chip embedded transformer can convert harvested energy from its solar cell to variable voltage output for driving multiple loads. This chip system yields a simple, small, and more impo...