bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Machinery of Life
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

A joint effort of bioengineers at the University College London Center for Bioengineering and orthopaedic surgeons at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, the device—formally called an extendable—was 11 years in the making. The field, known officially as limb salvage, has begun helping young bone cancer patients whose prognosis, only a decade ago, would have been amputation. The Wright prosthesis—invented by French engineer Arnaud Soubeiran—and the Stanmore design both embody machines that literally stand in for Jiving tissue, which had gone bad. They practically duplicate growing cells. The Repiphysis line up of implantable, growing prostheses relies on the release of spring energy within a softening polymer for adding length to a child’s limb. The article also highlights that distinct from the Stanford degrees in biomechanical engineering, the MS and PhD programs in bioengineering will combine courses in biology, engineering, and medicine in such areas as regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, biomedical computation, cellular and molecular systems, and quantitative biology.
Nuclear Navy
Authors: Wicks Frank
Published: July 2018

This article discusses how atomic weapons had been the vision and accomplishment of physicists. The very limited space available would require a high power-density reactor and would present unprecedented heat transfer challenges. Diesel electric submarines had to surface to run air breathing engines, which needed to charge their batteries. Range and submerged time of a submarine with a reliable nuclear propulsion system would be limited only by food supply and endurance of the crew. The rumor among the first nuclear submariners was that they would surface every 4 years to reenlist. The reason that the submarine was the first application of controlled nuclear power is a tribute to the vision of another man. Back in 1953, while the Nautilus was being constructed, Rickover’s naval career appeared to be over. The Navy’s promotion process was not favorable for an engineering duty officer. Nuclear power put Rickover even farther out of the promotion mainstream.
Bad Vibrations
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on offshore drilling that is thought to be impossible. The depths are so great, and the pipes are so relatively insubstantial, that it seems a miracle anyone can get it to work. Strakes used in riser applications typically are made out of a high-strength plastic that is resistant, though not immune, to marine growth. Since such growth changes the hydrodynamic properties of the strakes, the devices are designed to ensure that they work even when encrusted with life. One company went so far as to test its wares with squares of shag carpet glued on. Fairings have the advantage of being cheaper than strakes. In addition, fairings have much lower drag than helical strakes and are much less sensitive to marine growth on their surface, which is a common problem. To accommodate shifting currents, fairings are only loosely attached to the risers; they swing around like weathervanes. Near the surface, where currents are most likely to change direction, strakes, which are onmidirectional, are often better bets. Hybrid systems—strakes on top, fairings below—are increasingly common.
One Step at a Time
Authors: Frey Daniel D. , Frey Edward M.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews that almost every engineer is involved in some way in the planning of experiments, whether they are laboratory experiments, field tests, or computer simulations. A set of techniques called Design of Experiments (DOE) has proved to be an extremely useful methodology for enhancing the effectiveness of that planning. Six Sigma quality programs have been a mechanism for promulgating DOE in industry, but new research shows that a complementary approach, based on a set of adaptive one-factor-at-a-time experiments, leads to better results under many conditions. The full-factorial DOE method, which was initially developed to study agriculture, sets up an experiment for each possible combination of the factors that need to be tested. For example, consider the development of a new clutch. One aspect of its performance is drag torque—the amount of torque the clutch transmits when it is disengaged. A performance goal is to minimize drag torque by appropriate selection of materials, geometry, and other parameters. DOE is a remarkably successful procedure, which has had a profound influence on the professional practice of engineering.
The Breaks of Progress
Authors: Wolcott Barbara
Published: July 2018

This article reviews risk analysis that involves the estimation or calculation of possible failures and then the possible consequences of those failures. Some tools involve the study of probable results of combined abnormal environments, such as fire with crush and puncture at a time when the item of concern is in a very cold environment. The record of past experiences can be both a look back at a disaster and a look forward to managing risk. With a necessarily strict approach to risk assessment as it is applied to nuclear armament, the final matrix is that of surety: safety, reliability, security, and control of human factors and access. Engineering advances will always result from dreams and aspirations of practitioners in the field. If no one attempts the unknown, the store of knowledge and experience will forever be capped at present levels.
A Catch in Time
Authors: Chiles James R.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews one principle that holds true across two centuries of human experience. Instead, little malfunctions and errors link up beforehand, over weeks and months. Usually, these are early warning signs, called precursors, that offer time for those at the scene to stop the chain of events. Catching system fractures happens in several stages. Alert employees notice early problems. They decide that the potential problem is serious and that preventing a disaster will need management support. In organizations like Southwest Airlines and Naval Reactors, some employees have shown that safety, excellence, and production can all fit together. For the rest of us who are not quite there yet, good fracture awareness—among front line employees as well as top decision makers—is an important step in that direction.
Taming The Technological Frontier
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses a technology that has been a boon to everyone. But as news of tragedies like the Columbia disaster constantly reminds that the complicated systems that drive an advanced society can malfunction dramatically and tragically in seconds. When writing about the past, judgment comes in. A piece about disasters that emphasizes the past focuses on accountability. The writer has the power of hindsight to say that obviously they should have done this, or they did not do that. Managers need to encourage employees to report things they see that are out of the ordinary, even if the employee cannot explain the problem. It is maybe just that their intuition says something does not feel right. Something might not fit a pattern, but a worker would not have all the information at his/her disposal to say why it does not fit the pattern.
Shrinking the Lab down to Size
Authors: Ehrenman Gayle
Published: July 2018

This chapter discusses a lab-on-a-chip, which is used to describe chemical analysis devices that operate on a nanoscale. A chip can perform sensitive, selective chemical analysis in one small package, rather than on multiple pieces of equipment spread across a laboratory bench. In essence, they are shrinking bench-scale biochemical and cell-based assays down to a nano size. Since the chips are working with such small volumes of fluids—a matter of picoliters, in many cases—they are able to provide complex analyses quicker and more economically than is possible using standard lab technology. The lab-on-a-chip testing also generates higher quality data, because there is less human intervention, and the testing is done in a sealed environment that’s less subject to contamination. Lab-on-a- chip technology is being touted for everything from the detection of airborne bioterrorism agents to DNA testing to drug discovery. Much of the technology is still in development, but some commercial applications are already on the market.
Water, Paper, Glass
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the inability of some fluids to mix makes for a fine focus in a tight space. Scientists and engineers at Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands are developing a fluid lens that loosely duplicates the way in which they see with their own eyes. Called the Fluid Focus lens, it focuses by adjusting the shape of the lens itself. In much the same manner, the human eye varies the shape of its own lens to bring nearby and far-off objects into view. Time will tell if fluid paper or fluid lenses will make it to the market. Already, Samsung and Varioptic have jointly demonstrated an autofocus camera module that uses liquid lenses and an integrated circuit for controlling its electrowetting. According to a press release, Samsung will be targeting its camera module marketing at mobile phone and PDA makers.
Maintaining Know-How
Authors: Johnson P. Dale
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that plant engineers are set to retire once they learn all the techniques. It seems that most organizations today are promoting the latest engineering and maintenance technologies. A problem that has existed for many years is that engineering students are taught a lot of theory, but little or none of the practicalities of maintenance and repair of equipment. The fault lies with top management of companies. For too many decades, top managements have considered maintenance to be strictly a cost center and a necessary evil that they hope will go away. When newly graduated engineers accept positions in the engineering and maintenance departments of industrial plants, they start learning the practical side of engineering and maintenance. Their employers then spend tens of thousands of dollars and a few years training them before inexperienced engineers can become profitable to their companies. The basics of plant and facility engineering and maintenance apply to all industries. All companies, for the benefit of their bottom lines, should urge colleges to implement a plant and facility engineering curriculum.
Redefining the ME
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on new technologies and skills that change the profession as it seeks to fit a wide-open global marketplace. Mechanical engineers are actively involved in analyzing the workings of muscle, developing interfaces for artificial nerves, creating virtual reality environments, building nanomachines and medical nanodiagnostics, and even creating realistic physical rules for video games. The MIT-Wharton international vehicle program is collecting case studies from component makers to determine what types of manufacturing are best suited for overseas facilities. The institute’s preliminary findings are not surprising. A manufacturer of diesel fuel injectors that runs a highly automated plant with clean rooms and tight-tolerance production may prefer to stay close to local technologists. Biomechanics, which develops prosthetics and medical devices, is already a growing field. In the future, though, new challenges will involve the mechanical aspects of artificial bone, skin, muscle, nerves, and even organs at both the cellular and tissue levels.
Crossing the Lines
Authors: Suhir Ephraim
Published: July 2018

It is important that today’s outstanding engineer must have knowledge of many sciences and disciplines. Interdisciplinary skills help an engineer to cope with the changing social, economic, and political conditions that influence technology and its development. Nanotechnology and biotechnology remind us how important it is to be knowledgeable in many areas of applied science and engineering. A nanotechnology engineer should be well familiar with physics, materials science, surface chemistry, composites, quantum mechanics, materials, and mathematics. Biotechnology merges physics, engineering, and chemistry with biology, life sciences, and medicine. The multifaceted approach helps define and resolve problems in biomedical research and in clinical medicine for improved healthcare. The most surprising discoveries have been made at the boundaries of different disciplines. Alessandro Volta’s electric battery was a meeting of chemistry and physics.
Eyes of Mars
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

Skaar has been researching methods of combining the inherent talents of both man and machine for such tasks as automatic forklift operation. A project at a bag manufacturing plant in Florida demonstrates the recent success of his lowbrow approach. Jack Forbes, project manager at the bag plant in Pensacola, has been overseeing the robotics project there and considering it for other company plants. Today, the plant has two Fanuc robots handling three production lines. It plans a third robot to better distribute the workload. The robots stand at the ends of the tuber lines, where multiple rolls of paper and plastic film are unwound, glued, folded, and separated into flattened tubes. Skaar’s appealingly practical approach to the robot vision problem appears to be less ambitious than other programs such as the European Union’s Cognitive Systems for Cognitive Assistants. This program, also known as CoSy, seeks ways of raising the intelligence of robots from their current insect-like level to that of a pre-schooler.
Wheeling and Dealing
Authors: Varrasi John
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the inventiveness of engineers that made the auto trade big business in the early 20th century. While lacking the fame and name recognition of others in the US automobile business around the time of World War I, Lloyd R. Smith’s contribution to the industry was major. The A.O. Smith frame plant stands as a vivid case study on the role of engineering and technical innovation in the emergence and growth of the automobile industry. At the start of the 20th century, the gasoline engine initially competed for popularity with the electric motor, which was used on French and English roads. The electric motor was cleaner and easier to shift. It was considered more reliable and safer. The story of the automobile is told around images and symbols of speed and power, beauty and elegance, freedom and open roads. For ASME and the mechanical engineering community, the automobile is also about technological progress and engineering achievement beginning with the 20th century and building for a100 years.
Plowshares to Swords and Back
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the military buildup of World War II that led to victory and, by an indirect route, to a richer world. The creation of the US armaments industry is breathtaking for the speed with which it developed. After the surprise attack at the close of 1941, it did not take much time for the country to respond. Shocked by a sneak attack, Americans were able to put their love affair with the car on hold to make war machines. The entire US automotive industry converted its plants to the war effort, and much of that industrial might was devoted to building airplanes. Technologies developed for the war were quickly given civilian uses. After years of rationing and the Great Depression before that, there was plenty of demand stored up. GPS today keeps watch on truck fleets, tracks stolen cars, and serves a multitude of other civilian uses that save lives, property, and money. The Predator and other unpiloted aerial vehicles are believed to represent the future of commercial air transportation.
Up to Snuff
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that companies find that “product lifecycle management” can mean steering through the regulatory tangle of their business. The automotive industry is particularly affected by changing legislation, because many automakers are now working to ensure that their vehicles comply with the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive passed by the European Union in 2000. The End-of-Life Vehicle Directive is only one of the rules and regulations in Europe. The EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive set environmental targets for the amount of hazardous materials that can be contained in electrical and electronic equipment. Sometimes an engineer can’t simply call up a CAD file for a part, because the company gets that part from a supplier and incorporates it into the final product. In these cases, it's vital to ensure that those parts meet vital standards. Ensuring that engineering products meet the plethora of existing codes and laws is a perplexing and complex task that is only going to get harder.
No Run of the Mill
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that the business of engineering has challenges of its own. Engineer-to-order (ETO) differs from make-to-stock or make-to-order businesses primarily in the amount of designing that takes place after a firm receives an order. For either of the two make-to systems, post-order engineering is insignificant. ETO firms depend heavily on engineers and designers inside the order cycle because the machine has to be imagined, then designed and detailed, before it can be built. Handling specialty is a typical ETO manufacturer. It builds lifting and turning equipment used by everyone from automakers in Toronto to stage builders in Las Vegas. Although it makes equipment mostly of a particular kind, no two orders are exactly alike. In order to make a transition from entrepreneurial, family-owned firms to professional ones, ETO companies need to make business information available to employees throughout their organizations.
The Greater Good
Authors: Varrasi John
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on engineering professionals, who started to see themselves as agents of change for the better with the start of the 20th century. A machine-tool boom ensued during the early years of the 20th century, as mechanical engineers brought their inventive skills to bear on precision machinery that cut and ground metal, pressed steel, and automated assembly tasks. At a time when engineering analysis was an imperfect science, Frederick Taylor performed exhaustive tests on engine lathes and diligently recorded data on stresses and other capacities. Taylor promoted the establishment of central planning departments to administer the standards and schedule workloads. The principle of scientific management systematized production, in the process radically changing the relationship between employer and employee. Today, ASME impresses upon engineers the need to embrace their sense of public worth, and understand that their work contributes to the greater social good.
The End of the M.E.?
Authors: Huber Peter , Mills Mark P.
Published: July 2018

This article highlights that mechanical engineers control most of the rest of our energy economy. The engineering focus will shift inexorably toward finding the most efficient means of generating electricity on-board. Trains and monster trucks both use big diesel generators. Hybrid cars on the road today burn gasoline, but it is the fuel cell that attracts the most attention from visionaries and critics of the internal combustion engine. Remarkably elegant in its basic operation, the fuel cell transforms fuel into electricity in a single step, completely bypassing the furnace, turbine, and generator. In this scenario, mechanical engineering ultimately surrenders its last major under-the-hood citadel to chemical engineers. One might say that the age of mechanical engineering was launched by James Watt's steam engine in 1763, and propelled through its second century by Nikolaus Otto’s 1876 invention of the spark-ignited petroleum engine. We are now at the dawn of the age of electrical engineering, not because we recently learned how to generate light-speed electrical power, but because we have now finally learned how to control it.
Ports Look Outward
Authors: DeGaspari John
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on seaports, shippers, and the government that are linking their efforts to maintain a critical infrastructure. The rising importance of ports, however, presents them with a particular challenge when it comes to tightening their security measures. Over the last few years, ports have struggled to protect their assets without disrupting commerce, which could result in severe economic consequences. Ports need to be protected because they are so valuable, but they have to be protected carefully because they are so valuable. Technology plays an essential role in security applications, such as access control and cargo monitoring, but he warns against having blind faith in what technology can accomplish. Security issues are having an effect on companies that operate on a global scale. Companies have to consider not just how well global supply chains work, but how susceptible they are to disruption.
Gas on the Water
Authors: Sharke Paul
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the race to bring liquefied natural gas (LNG) onto America’s continental shelf. The new LNG tanker Excelsior moored to the underwater buoy of Excelerate Energy’s Energy Bridge and, after receiving a Coast Guard go-ahead, began re-gasifying its contents and injecting them into the nation's pipeline grid. Energy Bridge tops a list of nearly a dozen offshore terminals in various stages of planning or construction. It joined an even longer list of LNG terminals in various phases of planning or construction trying to do the same thing on land. Offshore terminals will play a role in this total, as Energy Bridge is demonstrating. Placing terminals at sea eliminates some of the concern about transporting LNG near or through populated coastal regions.
Sustaining the Good Life
Authors: Hutchinson Harry
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the last century that brought unleaded gasoline, the catalytic converter, and new technologies for cleaning the smokestack emissions and effluents of industrial plants. Engineers designed and refined those technologies, which helped industry adhere to government regulations, and which went a long way toward improving the quality of air and streams. Since 1993, money has been found to equip a few hundreds of the isolated homes with solar power systems or, more recently, with installations of solar panels supplemented by wind turbines or gas generators. Investing in the technology of environmental protection and sustainability has made slow progress in general. Today, most actions to protect and preserve the environment have been forced on industry by government. The question of industry’s compliance, or non-compliance, with regulations is a political and legal issue, not a matter of engineering. Engineers have created solutions. Controls cost money, of course. So far, no one has found a way to make the investment in environmental protection technology profitable for industry.
Renewable Rechargeable. Remarkable.
Authors: Kuntz Mark T. , Dawe Justin
Published: July 2018

This article reviews that flow batteries can turn intermittent wind power from a utility manager’s burden to a green and reliable energy source. Customers and the popular press have made it exceedingly clear that they expect wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources to play an increasingly important role in generating the electricity that powers modern society. This desire is often driven by concerns about air quality, public health, and energy security, among other factors. For a utility planner, any intermittent source is not dispatchable. A dispatchable energy source can be scheduled for use at the planner’s convenience. Among renewable energy sources, hydroelectric and geothermal facilities are also dispatchable, within the natural limits of the resource availability.
Venturing to the Far Reaches
Authors: Stamatelatos Michael
Published: July 2018

This article discusses that it is a testament to the hard work and ingenuity of the engineers working in the space program that such complicated systems get launched successfully. To the people who study it professionally, risk is the probability, or frequency (probability per unit time), and the consequence (severity) of an undesired event, and the uncertainties associated with the estimated probabilities and consequences. NASA has adopted a “continuous risk management” process for all its programs and projects. This process begins with the identification and analysis of program or project risks that impact success criteria. The risk management process continues with risk analysis, planning, tracking, and control. All unacceptable risks are dealt with before a project or program can proceed. Probabilistic risk assessments (PRA) are useful in every phase of a mission life cycle, not just at design or before launch. A PRA performed in the design phase can help identify the risks associated with systems and components and with technological options.
Too Hot for Comfort
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

Electronics have grown much hotter over the past decade, making cooling a top priority in data centers. APC, better known for backup power supplies, supplies cold air from rack-size towers mounted along each row. It then monitors server temperatures, adjusting each individual air conditioner tower to achieve optimal cooling. Such localized cooling is efficient, such that users can boost server rack power to 18 kW—nearly nine times the average found by Uptime. IBM believes even the largest, most sophisticated data center managers need help with cooling. Like APC, it encloses its racks with a roof, but unlike APC it uses a cold rather than hot center aisle and exhausts the heated air into the data center. IBM also removes heat with a water-cooled heat exchanger attached to the back of a rack. In addition, IBM provides power management software that enables IT managers to adjust power and heat output. This ensures that power managers can power down based on workload, or move workload to environments that are not effectively using the power and cooling capacity that they have.
Punching Above their Weight
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

Smaller Companies are discovering that product management tools can help their small staffs get a global reach. The Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software has become an important tool for managing people and resources at enterprises of any size. At Sonnax, the adoption of a PLM solution has led to some clear changes in information management. Instead of relying on a single point-person to do the project management for the whole company, each product line sales manager has become more deeply involved in the designs of specific lines. Indeed, many startups are incorporating PLM solutions before they even have products to manage. One factor that may be pushing small- and medium-size enterprises to adopt PLM solutions is the new globalized business model. Experts see PLM as way to help the far-flung pieces of the production chain mesh together. The system can be set up to enable suppliers of components anywhere in the world to look at the documentation they need, and to determine the most relevant information: what the history was, the nature of the changes, who approved it, and so forth.
Nano-Scale Armor
Authors: Abrams Michael
Published: July 2018

This paper highlights various aspects in the development of nanoscale armors for soldiers. Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN) is dedicated to achieving such objectives through nanotechnology. Paula T. Hammond, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the institute, leads a research team that hopes to discover materials that can both detect and resist chemical weapons or biological attacks. The difficulty in using multiple polymers—and other materials—has long been that polymers tend to separate from each other. Hammond's solution is a novel use of polyelectrolytes. Eventually, molecules in a soldier's uniform will be able to neutralize specific chemicals and literally pop the cells of less-than-friendly biological agents. Hammond plans to also include a layer of nano-size molecules called dendrimers, which can react with mustard gas and deactivate it. Many of the coatings they have come up with have the added benefit of being waterproof-protecting soldiers from the elements as well as from things like E. coli.
Intelligent Safety
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

The US Department of Transportation announced that it would go beyond active and passive safety systems to mandate the first use of a truly intelligent safety system. The new standard requires automakers to equip all vehicles with electronic stability control, which automatically brakes individual wheels during skids, by September 1, 2011. According to a senior staff member, electronic stability control is probably the most significant automotive safety technology since the seat belt. Electronic stability control combines sophisticated sensors and high-octane computing to take intelligent brake control to an entirely new level. Ford Motor Co. takes Electronic steering control (ESC) one step further with roll stability control, which senses when a van or SUV begins to tilt during a turn or emergency manoeuvre. It automatically takes countermeasures to prevent the vehicle from rolling over. Code-making organizations are currently developing broadcast and message standards for such systems, but it will take many vehicles with communications capacity to make them effective.
Greenhorns, Green Choices
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article presents reasons behind growth of Princeton Power. Princeton Power derives from a patent for a proprietary technology and a class that inspired students to form their own companies. Its development so far reflects a growing interest in finding better ways to harness alternative energy sources, but at its core, the company represents the desire of four young men to try something new. Originally, Princeton Power planned to build large inverters for the power grid, but the company discovered a fast-growing market for smaller inverters that can convert the output of solar cells and wind generators into usable capacity. Princeton Power focuses on the nuts and bolts of its systems. It is exactly the type of work engineers are trained to do-focus on real problems and solve them. The company has also teamed with Gaia Power Technologies Inc. of New York, to develop controllers for battery backup systems that must interface with the electrical grid. Not only will the systems provide backup power in the event of an outage, but customers can use them to capture electricity at night, when rates are cheaper, and then use the electricity during peak hours when rates are high.
Wedge Factor
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the best method to curb greenhouse gas emissions is to tackle the problem in a few medium-size chunks. The models that researchers use to predict changes in the global climate depend upon knowledge of atmospheric science, which has become increasingly sophisticated, and expected carbon emissions from human sources. That latter part is truly unknowable. Wars and plagues might well decimate the global population, and thus reduce its contribution to the atmosphere. Some unforeseen technological breakthrough could render coal, oil, and natural gas obsolete. The European Union has had a trial with a carbon-trading market that might be a means to support efficiency and carbon-avoidance programs. One of the most important places where the new realization has taken hold is in the engineering community, which is much more open to the idea of getting on board with solutions to climate change.
Energy Squad
Authors: Winters Jeffrey
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the fact that even as energy and commodity cost increases, working efficiently has been made a bigger priority than ever for small manufacturers, wherein the power consumption is being scaled back. The share of the United States’ energy supply going to industry has dropped steadily over the past few decades. Returns on energy-saving investments are pretty good, but proposals for making those sorts of investments are often held to an incredibly high standard. The recommendations that are most often adopted, such as reducing the temperature of water used in a process or repairing leaks in lines and valves, pay back the initial investment in a couple of months. While energy costs can be cut significantly—even easily—it is an expense that many managers find easy to overlook. For most manufacturers, the cost of energy accounts for just a small percentage of their overall expenses.
Coached by Newton
Authors: Kerno Steven J.
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the best results yielded by applying the laws of motion on a record-setting pitcher. Newton’s three laws of motion, as first articulated in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), form the basis for classical Newtonian mechanics and provide the relationships between forces acting on a body and the consequent motion of the body. These laws govern the relationships of objects present in our physical universe, including the human body. According to Marshall, pitchers of all ages would be very well served by learning and applying the three laws of motion correctly, as the forces generated by the body can be very destructive if bad habits are learned and repeated. Kinesiologists study Newton’s laws with respect to human movement. According to Marshall, the laws of motion can be converted to laws of force application that explain how athletes should apply force to projectiles, including themselves. According to Marshall, the traditional pitching techniques are almost always taught with a minimal understanding of the underlying biomechanics, and frequently just copy the most popular pitchers of the era.
In One Place
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This review explores the prospects of using product lifecycle management (PLM) as an end-to-end solution. The components of PLM provide significant value, but there are no fully integrated offerings on the market that perfectly cover every aspect of product lifecycle, according to a report. In the absence of an end-to-end tracking system, one trend coming to prominence is the use of PLM as the complete system of record for all product data. Though a study concluded that PLM still has a way to go in terms of tracking product design from early inception right through sales to reclamation, it is becoming the main go-to source for a large amount of product data. Experts believe that PLM still has a way to go in terms of tracking product design from early inception right through sales to reclamation; however, it is becoming the main go-to source for a large amount of product data. Software developers are working to create tools that can incorporate ever more of the big picture and make it accessible to engineers.
Probability and Consequence
Authors: Daniel Sharp , Daniel Peters , David Mauney , Mark Tanner
Published: July 2018

This article reviews features of a new American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) standard named PCC-3-2007 Inspection Planning Using Risk-Based Methods, which aims to make method of inspection available to a wider group of industries. Petroleum and power businesses enhance efficiency by weighing their risks and keeping watch. PCC-3 provides guidance by listing the many parameters that influence the damage mechanisms as well as many parameters that can influence the rate of damage. The standard provides a table with listings of possible damage mechanisms along with their definitions, common attributes, and references. PCC-3 provides planning details to develop consequence scenarios with different associated probabilities. The framers of ASME’s standard believe that proper applications of the new PCC-3 can lead to major cost savings and allow for application of technically based engineering judgments on expenditures for large capital, inspection, and safety improvements for most industries.
Amazing Analyses
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This paper describes features of finite element analysis (FEA), which has become established in nearly all engineering fields, including bioengineering, where it plays a role in studying many parts of the body, such as nasal passages. Advanced FEA programs like Abaqus help engineers evaluate the effect of loading on impeller’s natural frequencies, modelled rotating at 10,000 rpm. FEA software simulates where structures bend or twist and indicates the distribution of stresses and displacements. The everyday FEA software integrated with computer-aided design systems is user friendly and adept at analyzing most FEA engineering problems, when properly programmed by the user. The software programs meant to model complex or unusual problems are built to allow their users to configure the software—to a certain degree—to their own unique needs.
The Sprinter's Foot
Authors: J. Piazza Stephen
Published: July 2018

This paper discusses the key findings of the assessment of an elite athlete’s body composition and reaction time to understand how fastest runners accelerate. Previously published research has shown that sprinters have longer fascicles (fiber bundles) in their calf muscles that may permit those muscles to do more work. Enhanced power generation would help a sprinter to reach top speed quickly from a standing start. In the current study, measurements of tendon lever arm were made using a well-established but indirect technique called the tendon excursion method. The ultrasound scans showed that the athlete’s Achilles tendon excursion was only about half of what the research team had earlier seen in similar measurements made in relatively nonathletic graduate student volunteers for the same joint rotation. This meant that rather than being abnormally large, the wide receiver’s Achilles tendon lever arms were substantially smaller than normal. The same strange observation was made for athlete’s right as well as the left legs. A nonathlete that was tested was found to have tendon excursions that were much larger and consistent with what researchers had measured before.
Carbon Super-Springs
Authors: Livermore Carol
Published: July 2018

This article highlights the advantages of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and their high potential in the mechanical engineering fields. It also demonstrates comparison between a CNT and normal spring use. Carbon nanotubes have the potential to store a thousand times more mechanical energy, pound for pound, than steel springs. Lab results point to a day when nanotube-powered bikes and lawn equipment could become practical. The test models have made it clear that from an energy storage standpoint, the ideal system would be composed of large numbers of long, small-diameter, single-walled CNTs arranged in well-ordered groupings and loaded in tension. The results point up the need for more work to be done to understand how interactions among carbon nanotubes can both enhance and limit the performance of CNT springs. Applications requiring long-term, low-leakage energy storage are good candidates for CNT-based elastic energy storage technology.
Animals Spinning their Wheels
Authors: Bejan Adrian
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the role of nature in the development of wheels. The natural emergence of the wheel design can be predicted by using the constructal law in two ways. First, consider the evolution of the wheels made by humans. Second, imagine the horizontal movement of a terrestrial animal as a rolling body. Nature evolved not only the design of wheel-like movement, but also the design for changing speeds. The designs developed by humans are latecomers to this long evolutionary sequence. They come from the same natural tendency to move on Earth more easily, to go with the flow. The evolutionary designs of nature have arrived at wheel-like locomotion and at changes in body movement that result in changing speeds.
Robots for Infants
Authors: Agrawal Sunil K.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the role of robots in special-needs infants. Motorized wheelchairs can help provide some measure of mobility to these special-needs infants. The pediatric crawlers support the weight of the infant’s torso to make it easier for the arms and legs to provide propulsion. The use of kick- and joystick-controlled robotic devices provides an opportunity for special-needs infants to make perceptual, cognitive and social development gains at what would be considered the appropriate age. The Mechanical Systems Laboratory at the University of Delaware has been exploring means to provide real mobility to infants and toddlers with special needs. The results have been promising: the children have intuitively figured out how to use their legs to make the robot move and how to turn the robot via the joystick.
From Whales to Fans
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses a story about a man named Fish who noticed something unusual about whale flippers and who, after nearly 30 years, turned it into a technology platform. This technology takes its inspiration from the natural design of the bumps, or tubercles, on humpback whale flippers. The 24-foot-diameter fans, based on tubercle technology, use half the number of blades and move 25% more air and consume 25% less power than fans with conventional blades turning at the same speed. After thousands of years of hiding in plain sight, tubercles are emerging as a real, if limited, technology platform. Research has shown tubercles work only on thick, tapered wings operating in a very narrow laminar-to-turbulent transition regime. Whale-inspired fans are already available, and wind and tidal power blades could be the next.
Smart and Modular
Authors: Cheng Harry H. , Ryland Graham , Ko David , Gucwa Kevin , Nestinger Stephen
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the advantages of a modular robot that can reassemble itself for different tasks. Modular robots are composed of multiple, linked modules. Although individual modules can move on their own, the greatest advantage of modular systems is their structural reconfigurability. Modules can be combined and assembled to form configurations for specific tasks and then reassembled to suit other tasks. Modular robotic systems are also very well suited for dynamic and unpredictable application areas such as search and rescue operations. Modular robots can be reconfigured to suit various situations. Quite a number of modular robotic system prototypes have been developed and studied in the past, each containing unique geometries and capabilities. In some systems, a module only has one degree of freedom. In order to exhibit practical functionality, multiple interconnected modules are required. Other modular robotic systems use more complicated modules with two or three degrees of freedom. However, in most of these systems, a single module is incapable of certain fundamental locomotive behaviors, such as turning.
Bound and Determined
Authors: Abrams Michael
Published: July 2018

This article discusses recent changes in the design of pogo stick. Entrepreneur Brian Spencer and his father, Bruce, have designed a new pogo, which they call a Vurtego. The father and the son began sketching out a bold new direction in pogoing in the late 1990s. On the suggestion of Bruce Spencer, they designed a tube using air compression rather than a spring. In the garage, Bruce Spencer cobbled together a first prototype from PVC tubing and other plastic parts, and this new pogo stick worked well. The air spring lifted Spencer well off the ground. Through a series of refinements and trials, Spencer discovered that the key factor was the compression ratio. In addition to patenting the design of their stick, the Spencers have now also patented a range of maximum compression ratios, between 2.5 to 1 and 4.5 to 1.
Challenges & Rewards for Engineers in Wind
Authors: Willey Lawrence , Budny Robert , Gupta Sandeep
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the rewards and challenges for engineers in the wind energy sector. There are many advantages that wind brings to the energy mix. Wind turbines do not produce combustion byproducts and can generate electricity for comparatively low costs, in many cases comparable to some of the lowest-cost traditional methods such as natural gas fired combined cycle power plants. However, designing and maintaining a wind turbine is a challenging task, requiring close interaction between engineers of many different disciplines. The fundamental challenge in designing a wind turbine is for it to operate reliably and safely for twenty years or more, produce as much power as possible, and with the lowest possible initial and lifecycle costs. Meeting various requirements requires the participation of aerodynamicists, structural analysts, materials engineers, process engineers, and controls engineers, each of whose design decisions affect those of other members of the rotor, turbine, and wind power plant design teams.
Rebuilding Ourselves
Authors: Karnik Rohit , Langer Robert S.
Published: July 2018

This study explores the application of nanotechnology in the treatment of diseases and creating artificial organs. Nanotechnology enables new types of therapies that do not use drugs. This would enable physicians to treat infections and tumors that resist medication and are difficult to remove surgically. Nanoparticles could also be used as diagnostics. Nanomaterials promise a combination of approaches that may overcome some of these limitations on drug delivery. Researchers believe that nanotechnology can also help us alter natural designs. If tissue engineering represents the promise of the future, then nanomedicine is the emerging reality of the present. Nanotherapeutics to treat pain and infectious diseases are under development as well. Nanotechnology is well suited for delivering medications. Experts have tested that rationally designed nanocarriers can take advantage of size and shape. Nanomedicine is rapidly moving into the mainstream and is poised to increasingly influence the treatment of diseases such as cancer.
Enery management in Mobile Hydraulics
Authors: Alleyne Andrew , Deppen Timothy , Meyer Jonathan , Stelson Kim
Published: July 2018

This paper explores research into hydraulic hybrids that span a wide range of applications from heavy-duty vehicles, such as city buses, to small passenger vehicles. This case study also highlights the importance of having a well-designed energy management strategy if one is to maximize benefit of the hybrid powertrain. There is potential for hydraulic hybrid vehicles to offer a cost-effective solution to the need for increased efficiency in transportation systems. The high-power density of fluid power makes it a natural choice for energy storage in urban driving environments where there are frequent starts/stops and large acceleration/braking power demands. Because the opportunities and challenges of fluid power are different than those of electrical power, unique control strategies are needed and a summary of common energy management strategies (EMS) design methods for hydraulic hybrids has been presented.