ATOMIC FORCES INTERPRETED

Dynamic atomic force microscopes can gather information on the nanoscale. But interpreting the microscope’s findings is another matter.

Now, virtual simulation tools housed on computer clusters at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., can help scientists and engineers to interpret the raw data they’ve collected with dynamic atomic force microscopes.

The microscopes use a tiny, vibrating probe to yield information about materials and surfaces at a scale of billionths of a meter. The forces between atoms change the probe’s vibration pattern and those changes allow engineers to interpret what’s happening at that incredibly small scale, said Arvind Raman, a Purdue professor of mechanical engineering.

But specialized software is needed to interpret how atomic forces affect the probe’s vibration timing. That’s why researchers who would otherwise have to purchase or create their own software to interpret data are turning to online tools, Raman said.

“These are the first Web-based simulation tools for atomic force microscopy available online,” Raman said. “There are a dozen or so research groups around the world with the capability of doing accurate simulations the way we do for dynamic atomic force microscopy, but there are hundreds of researchers who need these tools.”

The online simulation tools are funded by the Network for Computational Nanotechnology and the National Science Foundation. They’re provided through the nanoHub, which is operated by Purdue’s Network for Computational Nanotechnology.

MANIPULATING BY GESTURE

Imagine controlling your cursor by calling out to your computer or pointing your finger. You could manipulate objects on screen by voice and gesture rather than by a keyboard or a mouse. And it’s the object of research now under way at the University of Buffalo. Venu Govindaraju, director of the university’s Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors, leads the research.

According to Govindaraju, a professor of computer science and engineering at the school, “The whole human-computer interaction would be very natural.”

The research grew from work that Govindaraju and others have done in developing a smart room.

“Suppose I’m in a room and I point to a switch and I say, ‘Turn on that light,’ ” Govindaraju said. “Even if there is more than one light switch in the room, a smart room would be able to tell—through the vocal command and by the direction I’m pointing—which light to turn on.”

Smart rooms and other efforts to get computers to recognize speech and gestures are part of a broader initiative known as ubiquitous or pervasive computing, Govindaraju said.

The research goes beyond applications like that on Apple’s iPhone, which allows users to manipulate objects on their phone by closing, opening, or moving their fingers while touching the screen.

The university research would allow computers to recognize hand gestures, such as waving and pointing, at a distance. Users need not touch the screen, Govindaraju said.

The research does build on the technology behind the Wii gaming console, from Nintendo. The console recognizes the movements of the user’s hand holding a game controller and makes corresponding moves within the video game.

No controller would be needed if the University of Buffalo’s work is eventually realized, Govindaraju said.

SIGN FLOW

Out of a manufacturing plant in Brookings, S.D., roll the electronic screens that may show fans the score, replay videos, advertise new business offerings, tout the stars appearing in Vegas nightspots, or help drivers navigate highways.

Engineers at Daktronics of Brookings, S.D., which
makes digital billboards (above), and the like, call on
computational fluid dynamics software from Blue Ridge
Numerics Inc. in the early stage of product design
(below) to ensure products that can withstand weather
and can be read in direct sunlight.

Daktronics, which is the manufacturer, supplies electronic scoreboards, computer-programmable displays, digital billboards, and large-screen video displays and control systems. Those displays are created with help from computational fluid dynamics software, according to Shannon Mutschelknaus, a thermal product development engineer at Daktronics.

The engineering software helps the Daktronics engineers design products that can withstand all types of weather, dissipate heat generated by light-emitting diodes, and be read even when directly opposite the sun, Mutschelknaus said.

To analyze such factors early in the design process, engineers use the CFD software CFdesign from Blue Ridge Numerics Inc. of Charlottesville, Va. 

Before a scoreboard or display is produced, the software gives engineers a picture of how designs will perform.

“We use it to thoroughly understand complex electronics cooling situations and make comparisons among different designs before we start to build,” Mutschelknaus said.

IS ASYMMETRY UNINVITING?

Long legs are attractive. That’s the finding of a study conducted at Brunel University in London that found a correlation between attractiveness and bodily characteristics like height, breast size, long legs, broad shoulders, and a curvy figure.

William Brown, a professor in the university’s school of social sciences and school of engineering and design, led the study, which also looked at the degree of asymmetry between the left and right sides of the body. This asymmetry is widely believed to be an indirect measure of the quality of development in many species, including humans, Brown said.

And, indeed, the study found symmetry in humans to be an attractive quality to other humans.
The Brunel team used a 3-D optical body scanner to measure human-body proportions, said Jinsheng Kang, also of Brunel’s school of engineering and design, who participated in the study. The 3-D body scanner extracts hundreds of measurements, including volume, in six seconds. It relies on some of the same software that engineers use in their own handheld and 3-D scanners, Kang added.

The researchers found an explanation for the correlation between bodily shape and attractiveness. Body proportions that signify symmetry, such as shape and stature, unknowingly advertise your good development or health and, therefore, the degree to which you are a desirable reproductive partner, Brown said.

“Because bodily asymmetries are too subtle to be seen with the naked eye, evolution has instead engineered more conspicuous signals and displays, such as broad shoulders, curvy waistlines, or smooth dance moves to indicate mate quality,” Brown said.

This research explains the correlation between bodily shape and attractiveness: Your body proportions, shape, and stature are signals that conspicuously advertise your good development or health and, therefore, the degree to which you are a desirable reproductive partner, Brown said. In many species, fewer departures from perfect symmetry are associated with better development, health, and reproductive success, he added.

NONFLICKERING ROCK

The images of rocks, clouds, marble, and other objects that serve as background images and details for 3-D video games are usually made by hand and can be costly to generate.

Now, Alex Goldberg, a recent graduate of the University of California, San Diego, has developed a software code that he said generates video-game quality 3-D images quickly, and the images are free of the stretch marks, flickering, and other effects that can sometimes accompany hand-detailed 3-D images.

The stretched-out graphics in the top image disappear when the new algorithms from the University of California, San Diego are used to generate images for a 3-D video game. The stretched-out graphics in the top image disappear when the new algorithms from the University of California, San Diego are used to generate images for a 3-D video game. An image in a game, as below, can appear with increased realism.

Goldberg presented a paper detailing his code at Siggraph 2008, the computer graphics conference sponsored by the Association for Computer Machinery, which was held in Los Angeles in August. Computer science professors Matthias Zwicker of UC San Diego and Frédo Durand of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology helped Goldberg with the project.

“People are looking for ways to get rid of these distortions, preferably without having to pay artists to generate background and to detail images by hand,” Goldberg said. “As a game developer myself, I know firsthand that stretched-out and flickering backgrounds and details are no longer acceptable in 3-D video games.”

The code marks an improvement over Perlin noise, the hand-detailing technique in which small computer programs create many layers that are piled on top of each other. The layers are then manipulated—like layers of paint on a canvas—to develop detailed and realistic textures, such as rocks, soil, clouds, water, and marble that become background images for 3-D video games, Zwicker said.

 Using the new algorithms, an image in a video game can appear with increased realism.

Goldberg’s approach eliminates the need to store the textures as huge images that take up valuable memory, Zwicker added. Instead, the computer program generates textures on the fly every time an image is rendered.

Goldberg, who now works at PixelActive Inc., a San Diego video game studio, plans to provide his code for download soon.

BRIEFLY NOTED

Flow Science Inc. of Santa Fe, N.M., has released version 9.3 of its Flow 3-D computational fluid dynamics software. /// Autodesk Inc. of San Rafael, Calif., has released Inventor Plastic Features Technology Preview via the developer’s Autodesk Labs site. The new test feature simplifies the design of plastic products by allowing Inventor users to automatically create thin-walled plastic parts and features, such as grilles, rests, bosses, snaps, lips, grooves, and fillets, according to the developer. /// The developer of 3-D handheld laser scanners, Creaform of Levis, Quebec, has released VIUscan, a self-positioning, handheld, high-resolution, portable 3-D color scanner. /// RuleStream Corp. of Wakefield, Mass., will integrate AutoCAD software into its existing software programs. RuleStream makes standards-based engineering tools to help discrete manufacturers capture, manage, and reuse engineering knowledge. The integration will allow AutoCAD software users to make use of knowledge management techniques, according to a RuleStream statement. /// Systat Software Inc. of San Jose, Calif., which makes scientific software products, has released SigmaPlot 11, a scientific graphing and data analysis program. /// CAD Schroer Group of Moers, Germany, has released version 3.1 of its Medusa4 Design Automation Suite. This version introduces many productivity tools in the areas of drafting, 3-D, and plant design, according to the developer. /// Geomate Co. of San Jose, Calif., has released version six of its tolerance analysis software, ToleranceCalc. The software is integrated within Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD Mechanical applications. /// Synergis Software of Quakertown, Pa., is now shipping Adept 8, the company’s document management and workflow software. /// A provider of 3-D software components for technical applications, Spatial Corp. of Broomfield, Colo., has released version 19 of its geometric modeling kernel and multi-CAD interoperability component 3-D ACIS Modeler and 3-D InterOp Suite, respectively.