We have developed a finger-shaped sensor array (BioTac ) that provides simultaneous information about contact forces, microvibrations and thermal fluxes, mimicking the full cutaneous sensory capabilities of the human finger. For many tasks, such as identifying objects or maintaining stable grasp, these sensory modalities are synergistic. For example, information about the material composition o...

In some Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) deployments, nodes may be used for different purposes (sensing, data pre-processing, actuation, etc.). Even if such a network is organised into clusters, this creates heterogeneity in terms of energy capability, which needs to be managed and balanced in order to ensure proper sensing capability with maximised lifespan. In this paper, we present Routing base...

Characterizing both spatial and temporal soil moisture (θ) dynamics at site scales is difficult with existing technologies. To address this shortcoming, we developed a distributed soil moisture sensing system that employs a distributed temperature sensing system to monitor thermal response at 2 m intervals along the length of a buried cable which is subjected to heat pulses. The cable temperatu...

Pd doped WO3 fibers were synthesized by electro-spinning. The sol gel method was employed to prepare peroxopolytungstic acid (P-PTA). Palladium chloride and Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) was dissolved in the sol Pd:WO3 = 10% molar ratio. The prepared sol was loaded into a syringe connected to a high voltage of 18.3 kV and electrospun fibers were collected on the alumina substrates. Scanning elect...

A distinct subset of sensory neurons are thought to directly sense changes in thermal energy through their termini in the skin. Very little is known about the molecules that mediate thermoreception by these neurons. Vanilloid Receptor 1 (VR1), a member of the TRP family of channels, is activated by noxious heat. Here we describe the cloning and characterization of TRPM8, a distant relative of V...

Organic dyes are useful tools for sensing cellular activities but unfavorable in single-molecule imaging, whereas quantum dots (QDs) are widely applied in single-molecule imaging but with few sensing applications. Here, to visualize cellular activities by monitoring the response of a single probe in living cells, we propose a bottom-up approach to generate nanoprobes where four organic dyes are...

The ability to respond to adverse environments effectively along with the ability to reproduce are sine qua non conditions for all sustainable cellular forms of life. Given the availability of an appropriate sensing modality, the ubiquity and immediacy of the stress response could form the basis for a new approach for rapid biological testing. We have found that measuring the dielectric permitt...

Laser-Based Additive Manufacturing (LBAM) is a promising manufacturing technology that can be widely applied to part preparation, surface modification, and Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF). A large number of parameters govern the LBAM process. These parameters are sensitive to the environmental variations, and they also influence each other. This paper introduces the research work in RCAM on im...

Temperature is one of the most important environmental stimuli to record and amplify. While traditional thermoelectric materials are attractive for temperature/heat flow sensing applications, their sensitivity is limited by their low Seebeck coefficient (∼100 μV K-1). Here we take advantage of the large ionic thermoelectric Seebeck coefficient found in polymer electrolytes (∼10,000 μV K-1) to i...

Remote sensing-derived wheat crop yield-climate models were developed to highlight the impact of temperature variation during thermo-sensitive periods (anthesis and grain-filling; TSP) of wheat crop development. Specific questions addressed are: can the impact of temperature variation occurring during the TSP on wheat crop yield be detected using remote sensing data and what is the impact? Do c...