Delving into the intricacies of waste management, researchers in China explore the application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technology for the identification and classification of recyclable waste and discuss their work in AIP Advances.
In Applied Physics Letters, researchers report achieving self-sustaining and long-term levitation of millimeter-sized droplets of several different liquids without any external forces. To get the droplets to levitate, they use solutocapillary convection, which occurs when a surface tension gradient is formed by nonuniform distribution of vapor molecules from the droplet at the pool surface.
In Physics of Fluids, an interdisciplinary team presents a study of the dynamics of buoyant spheres at the air-water interface. Their work reveals complex hydrodynamics involved in forming horizontal air cavities and the transition between floating and skipping. One of the team’s key findings is that as the pulling force and speed of the spheres increase, their behavior becomes more irregular. They also discovered larger pulling angles result in different air-cavity lengths, larger skipping distances, and earlier water exit behavior.
In Physics of Fluids, Vega et al. researched human tears at the micron level to reveal new ways of customizing artificial tears to address individual symptoms of dry eye disease. The detailed insights they gained about the composition and behavior of tears could also apply to the study of ocular pathogens as well as other biological fluids. The authors collected healthy human tears and tested 10 different formulations of artificial tears and applied microrheology methods using dynamic light scattering.
Modern mosquito bed nets also come with insecticidal compounds embedded into the fibers that keep mosquito populations down. In recent years, however, insecticide-resistant mosquitoes have curtailed the nets' effectiveness.
Investigating viruses with spillover potential could give us a head start on the next pandemic and minimize its severity; one such virus is RshTT200, discovered in Cambodian bats in 2010. During ACA’s 73rd annual meeting, July 7-11, Samantha Zepeda from the University of Washington will present her team’s investigation into RshTT200. The team used cryo-electron microscopy to solve the spike protein structure. Once the spike proteins were understood, they built harmless, nonreplicating pseudoviruses expressing the spike proteins to investigate how RshTT200 accesses human cells.
FLASH is a targeted radiation therapy that kills tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue and delivers a short, intense burst of radiation in a single appointment. Corie Ralston from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will present her team’s research using X-ray footprinting mass spectrometry to investigate the mechanisms that make FLASH a powerful cancer killer at ACA’s 73rd annual meeting, July 7-11.
Researchers in Germany have studied the kinetic and thermodynamic processes of sugar crystallization in the making of fondant. In Physics of Fluids, they combine a controlled kneading machine with light microscopy to precisely observe the process of fondant creation and link it to theoretical physics models.
Certain conditions can make the increased heart rate associated with exercise dangerous: Researchers found that an elevated heart rate can induce a stroke in patients with highly blocked carotid arteries. Contrastingly, for healthy patients and those with only slightly blocked arteries, exercise is beneficial for maintaining healthy blood flow. In healthy patients, an elevated heart rate increases and stabilizes the drag force blood exerts on the vessel wall, reducing stenosis risk. But for patients already experiencing stenosis, it may not be as beneficial.
In Physics of Fluids, researchers develop a model to explore the forces and flow structures created by penguin wings underwater. Penguin can adjust swimming posture by active wing feathering, pitching, and flapping and their dense, short feathers can also lock air between the skin and water to reduce friction and turbulence. The hydrodynamic model takes in information about the flapping and feathering of the wings and, using the immersed boundary method, solves for the motion of the wing and the thrust, lift, and lateral forces.
Inhaled microplastics can pose serious health risks, so understanding how they travel in the respiratory system is essential for prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases. In Physics of Fluids, researchers develop a computational fluid dynamics model to analyze microplastic transport and deposition in the upper airway. The team explored the movement of microplastics with different shapes and sizes and under slow and fast breathing conditions. Microplastics tended to collect in hot spots in the nasal cavity and oropharynx, or back of the throat.
Biomicrofluidics is pleased to announce Sumin Lee as the winner of its 2022 Best Paper award. An expert panel of judges selected Lee for her significant contribution as an emerging author in microfluidics and nanofluidics.
Insects use odor plumes — which travel like smoke and form when the wind blows odor molecules from their source — to track down sources such as flowers or pheromones. But wind tunnels are typically unable to replicate realistic outdoor wind conditions. In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, University of Nevada at Reno researchers decided to explore microscale wind conditions in various outdoor environments to better understand what flying insects might experience while tracking odor plumes.
Holograms are often displayed in science fiction as colorful, life-sized projections. But what seems like the technology of the future is actually the technology of the present. In Applied Physics Reviews, by AIP Publishing, researchers developed an acoustic metasurface-based holography technique that uses a deep learning algorithm to generate and iteratively improve a hologram of the Mona Lisa.
Tracing volatile organic compounds is important for public safety and all “smell” related issues. To this end, in Applied Physics Reviews, Liu et al. introduce a fluid mechanics-based chamber design for an electronic nose that consistently detects VOCs at low concentrations. The strategy, which includes using a shuntlike device to control the behavior of fluid flow, is a step forward in e-nose technology development.
In APL Bioengineering, researchers design a novel algorithm for controlling implanted insulin pumps that accounts for the unique characteristics of individual patients. Their model, tested using an FDA-approved diabetes computer simulation, proves intraperitoneal (within the abdominal cavity) insulin delivery is fast and closely mimics natural physiological insulin delivery. They developed a model that can account for individual patient differences and validated a pump control algorithm that does not require meal announcement.
In Physics of Fluids, researchers conduct a series of experiments that explore how changing key parts of the gummy-making process affects the final product, as well as how the candies behave in different storage temperatures. The group adjusted a variety of inputs while making the gummies, from the glucose syrup-to-sucrose ratio to starch and gelatin concentrations, to understand how these changes affected features like candy texture, moisture content, and pH. They used these results to identify the most shelf-stable combination for gummy candies.
The Journal of Mathematical Physics has selected Tom Hutchcroft for the 2022 JMP Young Researcher Award. Hutchcroft’s winning publication, “Sharp hierarchical upper bounds on the critical two-point function for long-range percolation on ℤd,” demonstrated that hierarchical percolation models provide good quality estimates when compared to Euclidean models. A panel of expert judges selected Hutchcroft for the $3,000 prize, which recognizes JMP authors within eight years of receiving their doctorate. His paper will be highlighted on the journal’s website.
To reach the stratosphere, Daniel Bowman of Sandia National Laboratories and his collaborators build relatively simple, solar-powered balloons that span 6 to 7 meters across. After releasing the balloons, they track their routes using GPS and use them to collect data and detect low-frequency sound with microbarometers. Rarely disturbed by planes or turbulence, the microphones on the balloons pick up a variety of sounds unheard anywhere else. Bowman will present his findings using these hot air balloons to eavesdrop on stratospheric sounds at the upcoming 184th ASA Meeting.
Acoustic monitoring is the go-to solution for locating a leak in a large urban pipe network, as the sounds from leaks are unique and travel far in water, but even this method struggles in complex systems. To tackle the problem, Pranav Agrawal and Sriram Narasimhan from UCLA developed algorithms that operate on acoustic signals collected via hydrophones mounted on fire hydrants. In doing so, the team can avoid costly excavation and reposition the devices as needed. Combined with novel probabilistic and machine-learning techniques to analyze the signals and pinpoint leaks, this technology could support water conservation efforts.
Scientists can harness sound on other worlds to learn about properties that might otherwise require a lot of expensive equipment, like the chemical composition of rocks, how atmospheric temperature changes, or the roughness of the ground. Extraterrestrial sounds could also be used in the search for life. Timothy G. Leighton from the University of Southampton has designed a software program that produces extraterrestrial environmental sounds and predicts how human voices might change in distant worlds. He will demonstrate his work at the upcoming 184th ASA Meeting.
Chaos congratulates Yuzuru Kato, Thomas Lilienkamp, and Tiemo Pedergnana for winning the journal’s 2022 Edward N. Lorenz Early Career Awards. Kato was recognized for introducing a definition of a phase function for quantum rhythmic systems, Lilienkamp was commended for developing a low-energy and safer approach to defibrillation, and Pedergnana was selected for work to better understand if and how an exact potential, which greatly simplifies analysis of the Langevin equation, can be found for a given system. The winners will split a $2,000 honorarium and are invited to contribute a perspective article to the journal.
At the 184th ASA Meeting, Colin Malloy of Ocean Network Canada will present his method to transform ocean data into captivating, solo percussion songs. He employs sound from hydrophones and introduces elements inspired by ocean-related data such as temperature, acidity, and oxygenation. For example, in his piece, Oil & Water, Malloy represents the impact of oil production on the oceans. He plays an eerily catchy melody on steel drums and inserts noise to represent oil production over the past 120 years.
The University of Arizona’s Husain Alqattan is the recipient of the APL Photonics 2022 Future Luminary Award for his work in utilizing pulse shaping and waveform synthesis to control electron motion and open the door for ultrafast electronics that process data at unprecedented speeds. The winning paper, “Attosecond light field synthesis,” was published in the April 2022 issue of APL Photonics. The award recognizes early-career researchers with the potential to become luminaries in the field of photonics.
At the 184th ASA Meeting, Yolanda Holt of East Carolina University will describe aspects of the systematic variation between African American English and white American English speech production in children. Holt and her team examined final consonant cluster in 4- and 5-year-olds and using instrumental acoustic phonetic analysis, they discovered that the variation in final consonant production in AAE is likely not a wholesale elimination of word endings but is perhaps a difference in aspects of articulation. Professional understanding of the difference between typical variation and errors is the first step for accurately identifying speech and language disorder.
Spread across 106 acres in southcentral Utah, the Pando aspen grove resembles a forest but is actually a single organism with more than 47,000 genetically identical aspen stems connected at the root. As an artist-in-residence for the nonprofit group Friends of Pando, Jeff Rice used a variety of microphones to record Pando’s leaves, birds, and weather. As part of the 184th ASA Meeting, Rice and Lance Oditt will describe their work to reveal a unique acoustic portrait of this botanical wonder.
By understanding how insects perceive sound and using 3D-printing technology to create custom materials, it is possible to develop miniature, bio-inspired microphones.
With optoacoustic tomography emerging as an effective breast cancer screening method, Seonyeong Park of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her team wanted to determine its reliability in patients with darker skin. They simulated a range of skin colors and tumor locations using digital breasts to make rapid and cost-effective evaluations, and the results confirmed that tumors could be harder to locate in individuals with darker skin. Park has developed a virtual framework that allows for more comprehensive investigations and can serve as a tool for evaluating and optimizing new OAT imaging systems in their early stages of development.
At the 184th ASA Meeting, Georgia Zellou and Michelle Cohn of the University of California, Davis will describe experiments to investigate how speech and comprehension change when humans communicate with AI. They examined how people adjust their voice when communicating with an AI system compared to talking with another human and, on the listening side, how what a device sounds like impacts how well listeners will understand it.
In Physics of Fluids, University of Huddersfield researchers explore the role of uneven coffee extraction using a simple mathematical model. They split the coffee into two regions to examine whether uneven flow does in fact make weaker espresso. One of the regions in the model system hosted more tightly packed coffee than the other, which caused an initial disparity in flow resistance. The extraction of coffee decreased the flow resistance further. Understanding the origin of uneven extraction and avoiding or preventing it could enable better brews and substantial financial savings by using coffee more efficiently.
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