And what was once imagined in a laboratory now has the opportunity to make a very real impact on our daily lives. In recent years, traditional traffic management practices such as pressure sensors, infrared radar and video cameras have become insufficient at coping with increased congestion on the nation's roadways. A traffic sensing technique developed by researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering uses a novel microphone array to detect sound waves generated by road vehicles. The sound waves detected are then digitized and processed by an on-site computer. Key data is gathered, reflecting the road traffic conditions, such as speed, direction and density of vehicles on the road thus allowing for optimization of existing roadways.
Biological warfare is a growing concern throughout the international security community.
Unfortunately, existing methods of detecting these chemical weapons may register a false alarm by also detecting certain benign chemicals. The new approach will detect the lethal substances with far greater specificity. Lauric acid and its derivatives have been shown to be antimicrobial, inhibiting bacteria and viruses. Coconut oil is a major source of lauric acid. Palm and to some extent coconut oils are known to contain substantial levels of antioxidants.