Soft Robotic Sensing, Proprioception via Cable and Microfluidic Transmission

Current challenges in soft robotics include sensing and state awareness. Modern soft robotic systems require many more sensors than traditional robots to estimate pose and contact forces. Existing soft sensors include resistive, conductive, optical, and capacitive sensing, with each sensor requiring electronic circuitry and connection to a dedicated line to a data acquisition system, creating a rapidly increasing burden as the number of sensors increases. We demonstrate a network of fiber-based displacement sensors to measure robot state (bend, twist, elongation) and two microfluidic pressure sensors to measure overall and local pressures. These passive sensors transmit information from a soft robot to a nearby display assembly, where a digital camera records displacement and pressure data. We present a configuration in which one camera tracks 11 sensors consisting of nine fiber-based displacement sensors and two microfluidic pressure sensors, eliminating the need for an array of electronic sensors throughout the robot. Finally, we present a Cephalopod-chromatophore-inspired color cell pressure sensor. While these techniques can be used in a variety of soft robot devices, we present fiber and fluid sensing on an elastomeric finger. These techniques are widely suitable for state estimation in the soft robotics field and will allow future progress toward robust, low-cost, real-time control of soft robots. This increased state awareness is necessary for robots to interact with humans, potentially the greatest benefit of the emerging soft robotics field.

Hydrocavitation piezoelectric ocean wave energy harvesting

The possibility to convert the ocean wave energy into electrical energy by piezoelectric layers has excited the imagination of ocean wave energy conversion designers for decades owing to its relative robustness (no mechanical parts are needed), the capability to cover large areas and its relative low cost. Unfortunately, the very poor efficiency featured by piezoelectric layers in application of ocean waves has prevented its application even as energy harvester. Here, the possibility to induce hydrocavitation and then working with more higher local pressures for substantial efficiency enhancement is discussed. Utilizing a simplified geometrical and physical model and the linear and potential theory, a first theoretical estimation for the energy enhancement driven by hydrocavitation was calculated. It was found that the power could be enhanced several orders of magnitude which, although still rather low, however, the enhanced electric outputs can be used now as energy harvesters. Additional R&D is encouraged in order to explore the possibilities to harness hydrocavitation to enhance piezoelectric converters.

Environmental management of sport events: a focus on European professional football

PurposeThe relation between sport and sustainability is a topic that has recently raised a lot of interest among both academics and practitioners. However, in the academic literature, very few studies have investigated which solutions are implemented in football, despite its popularity, to reduce the environmental impact of its events. This study contributes to filling this gap by exploring how stadium managers tackle environmental issues for football events.Design/methodology/approachThe authors have analyzed 94 sustainability reports of major sports events and conducted 6 case studies in 6 different major league stadiums around Europe in the framework of research supported by UEFA and three EU National Football Associations.FindingsThe heterogeneity of practices and goals at both the governance and operational level denote that stadium managers pursue environmental objectives mainly voluntarily and under local pressures. Efforts toward environmental improvement appear to depend on an economic and efficiency rationale, which translates into the adoption of technologies and operational practices characterized by short-term economic returns (i.e. energy and resources savings). As a result, operational practices outnumber governance-level practices.Practical implicationsThe analysis clearly highlights that the fragmentation of operational practices derives from a lack of maturity of governance structures, especially when multiple actors have different – yet mutually influencing – responsibilities on the infrastructures or the planning and staging of football events.Originality/valueBuilding on the notion of the holistic approach to environmental sustainability in sport management the research differentiated environmental practices according to the operational and governance dimensions. While operational practices tackle environmental aspects directly associated with football events (e.g. waste, energy consumption, water usage, etc.), governance-level practices relate to the systemic allocation of environmental roles and responsibilities within the management structure underlying football events.

Páramo Lakes of Colombia: An Overview of Their Geographical Distribution and Physicochemical Characteristics

The páramo lakes, Colombia, situated in the neotropical region, are of great value both as natural heritage and as water source to the most populated areas of the Andes, but are threatened by expanding agriculture, livestock, mining, and landscape fragmentation. Nonetheless, a general assessment of the lakes’ distribution and biogeochemical characteristics was lacking. We made a complete inventory of the Colombian páramo lakes and characterized their morphometry and water chemistry based on a survey of 51 lakes in the Eastern Cordillera. There are 3250 lakes distributed across 28 páramo complexes in Colombia, mainly located between 3600 and 4400 m a.s.l. The lakes are usually small (<10 ha) and shallow (<10 m). Most of them are slightly acidic (average pH~6), with high nutrient (total phosphorus ~0.6 mg/L, total nitrogen ~1 mg/L) and total organic carbon (~6 mg/L) concentrations and low oxygen (~3.5 mg/L) at the bottom. Water chemistry varies according to two main independent gradients related to watershed bedrock geology and trophic state. Global change pressures may be challenging the preservation of these unique ecosystems. Increasing the protection of more lake watersheds should reduce these potential impacts by mitigating negative synergies with local pressures.

Elementary, Atomic-Level Friction Processes in Systems with Metallic Inclusions—Systematic Simulations for a Wide Range of Local Pressures

In this work, simulations of friction at the atomic level were performed to evaluate the influence of inclusions coming from metallic nanoadditives in the friction pair. The simple 2D model was applied considering appropriate values of Lennard–Jones potential parameters for given sets of interacting atoms. The real sliding pairs were replaced by effective equivalents consisting of several atoms. The calculations were based on the pseudo-static approximation. The simplicity of the model enabled to repeat the fast calculations in a very wide range of local pressures and for several types of atomic tribopairs. The performed simulations demonstrated a strong dependence of the coefficient of friction (COF) on the atomic environment of the atoms constituting a tribopair. It was confirmed theoretically that the Mo-Fe pair is characterized by lower atomic COF than Fe-Fe, Cu-Fe, and Ag-Fe pairs. This points to the great applicational potential of metallic molybdenum coating applications in tribological systems. Moreover, it was demonstrated that, although Cu-Cu and Ag-Ag pairs are characterized by relatively high COF, they lower the friction as inclusions in Fe surfaces.

Fingerprinting shock-induced deformations via diffraction

During the various stages of shock loading, many transient modes of deformation can activate and deactivate to affect the final state of a material. In order to fundamentally understand and optimize a shock response, researchers seek the ability to probe these modes in real-time and measure the microstructural evolutions with nanoscale resolution. Neither post-mortem analysis on recovered samples nor continuum-based methods during shock testing meet both requirements. High-speed diffraction offers a solution, but the interpretation of diffractograms suffers numerous debates and uncertainties. By atomistically simulating the shock, X-ray diffraction, and electron diffraction of three representative BCC and FCC metallic systems, we systematically isolated the characteristic fingerprints of salient deformation modes, such as dislocation slip (stacking faults), deformation twinning, and phase transformation as observed in experimental diffractograms. This study demonstrates how to use simulated diffractograms to connect the contributions from concurrent deformation modes to the evolutions of both 1D line profiles and 2D patterns for diffractograms from single crystals. Harnessing these fingerprints alongside information on local pressures and plasticity contributions facilitate the interpretation of shock experiments with cutting-edge resolution in both space and time.

A global map of human pressures on tropical coral reefs

As human activities on the world’s oceans intensify, mapping human pressures is essential to develop appropriate conservation strategies and prioritize investments with limited resources. Here, we map non-climatic pressures on coral reefs using the latest quantitative data layers on fishing, nitrogen and sediment pollution, coastal and industrial development, and tourism. Across 54,596 coral reef pixels worldwide, we identify the top-ranked local pressure and estimate a cumulative pressure index mapped at 0.05-degree (∼5 km) resolution. Fishing was the most common top-ranked pressure followed by water pollution (nutrients and sediments), although there is substantial variation by regions. We also find that local pressures are similar inside and outside a proposed global portfolio of coral reef climate refugia. We provide the best available information to inform critical conservation strategies and ensure local pressures are effectively managed to increase the likelihood of the persistence of coral reefs to climate change.

Heterogeneity of Intestinal Tissue Eosinophils: Potential Considerations for Next-Generation Eosinophil-Targeting Strategies

Eosinophils are implicated in the pathophysiology of a spectrum of eosinophil-associated diseases, including gastrointestinal eosinophilic diseases (EGIDs). Biologics that target the IL-5 pathway and are intended to ablate eosinophils have proved beneficial in severe eosinophilic asthma and may offer promise in treating some endotypes of EGIDs. However, destructive effector functions of eosinophils are only one side of the coin; eosinophils also play important roles in immune and tissue homeostasis. A growing body of data suggest tissue eosinophils represent a plastic and heterogeneous population of functional sub-phenotypes, shaped by environmental (systemic and local) pressures, which may differentially impact disease outcomes. This may be particularly relevant to the GI tract, wherein the highest density of eosinophils reside in the steady state, resident immune cells are exposed to an especially broad range of external and internal environmental pressures, and greater eosinophil longevity may uniquely enrich for co-expression of eosinophil sub-phenotypes. Here we review the growing evidence for functional sub-phenotypes of intestinal tissue eosinophils, with emphasis on the multifactorial pressures that shape and diversify eosinophil identity and potential targets to inform next-generation eosinophil-targeting strategies designed to restrain inflammatory eosinophil functions while sustaining homeostatic roles.