tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10876570916024462682024-02-20T11:23:35.060-08:00Section of Education and BiologyInformation About The Basics of Biology Education For Future ReferenceAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06616393010265265321noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1087657091602446268.post-89139823196368525142012-04-24T14:21:00.000-07:002012-07-10T14:22:09.890-07:00How Can We Power Up Exoskeleton Rehabilitator Medical Devices If Batteries Are the Weak Link?<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is probably impossible to know everything that can go wrong before you start. Nevertheless, there are inherent challenges to technology in just about any innovation, along with the fact that there are limits to the current state of the technology when trying to devise additional applications. Let me give you a case in point. Not long ago, I was talking to a gentleman who wishes to create exoskeletons to help train the motor skills, muscles, and brain of cerebral palsy victims.<br /><br />Now then, if you know anything about this, you've probably seen the equipment in the clinics which are used for therapy. Generally it consists of some sort of apparatus to hold the individual, a very slow-moving treadmill, all hooked up to a bunch of computer equipment and analytical displays. However in this case it would be different, the exoskeleton would maintain its balance and you could walk down the sidewalk with it, for miles if you wanted, all while helping the person learn to walk, and allowing their brain to work around the damaged area to control their muscles. Well, that's the idea anyway.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />Of course, there are limitations to the battery power. You probably know this if you've been out and about using your iPad, or iPhone, and after a while the battery goes dead, and that's all she wrote. Battery power is challenged and limited in capacity. Adding more battery power to these exoskeletons also increases the weight, cost, and viability of the whole concept.<br /><br />On June 19, 2012 there was an article in the Wall Street Journal titled; "Fighting Form: Military Takes On Battery Fatigue" by Keith Johnson. The article discussed solar recharging, fast recharging stations, and Kinetic Solutions such as using the motion of the soldier to charge the batteries as they walk, not too unlike a shakable flash-light scheme.<br /><br />Okay so, you can see this is a real problem, not a made up future challenge for this innovative concept. So what's the answer? Well, one answer might be to incorporate liquid batteries into the skin of the suit itself, allowing fluid to help balance and stabilize the entire system. In essence most of the exoskeleton would actually become a battery with hollowed out panels and parts. With the proper baffling system, such an exoskeleton would be even more stable than one without this type of battery strategy.<br /><br />Some might say that's getting pretty tricky, but actually this technology already exists, and perhaps there are some military applications down the road as well. Nevertheless, this just goes to show you that there is always a solution to any a problem. And every innovator needs to realize this, while they proceed with caution, but refuse to ever give up. Please consider all this and think on it.<br /><br /><br />Article Source: Lance Winslow<br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06616393010265265321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1087657091602446268.post-89935615840526487722012-04-23T14:18:00.000-07:002012-07-10T14:22:41.821-07:00Can We Do Brain Motor Skills Training While You Sleep Using Exoskeleton Technology?<div style="text-align: justify;">
When someone has a stroke and brain damage it often affects their mobility, and this is because if the stroke hits a certain part of the brain which is used for walking, then the person has to learn how to walk all over again. Luckily the human brain can adapt and use other parts to do this task, but still it's almost as if they have to start all over. And what about kids with cerebral palsy, combat veterans with brain damage, or accident victims? Not long ago, I was discussing this with an acquaintance - the potential for using exoskeleton technology to help retrain, or the case of cerebral palsy - teach the brain to walk.<br />
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The gentleman who brought this to my attention suggested that we should use the latest technology in exoskeletons used by the military in their research. What we would do is strap people in and the exoskeleton would walk them around, rather than them being in a wheelchair, and as they were doing this it would be like training the muscles, reflexes, and the brain on how to move properly to walk.</div>
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There are treadmills with body harnesses to help people do the same thing in therapy clinics, the only difference would be that a fully mobile exoskeleton with balancing algorithms could go anywhere without being attached.<br />
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Now then, here is another idea; what if we can do this while people were sleeping? What if we could train their brains to do this activity even while they were unconscious? Could that work? Theoretically, it would make sense that it could work, as we know other animals such as dogs, cats, and even horses move their legs while they are dreaming. Dolphins, while one side of their brain shuts down still swim leaving one eye open.<br />
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This may be possible due to our genetics and so it would be interesting to try. After all, the brain wouldn't be working on anything else at the time, and we'd be working at the subconscious level, and if you think about it when you are walking, you aren't thinking about how you're doing it, your brain already knows how, it just does it on autopilot. For instance, if you were out jogging a marathon, your body is motivating itself while you are running, but your mind is worried about overcoming the fatigue, how much further you have to go, or perhaps even talking to a friend who is doing the event with you.<br />
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It seems, we could devise a technology to accomplish this task rather easily, and although I am not completely 100% sure it would be feasible, I'm pretty sure it would work, and if it did, imagine after a few weeks people that couldn't walk, getting up out of the bed, and walking around as if was magic? Please consider all this and think on it.<br />
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Article Source: Lance Winslow<br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06616393010265265321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1087657091602446268.post-28737850960622310002012-04-22T14:16:00.000-07:002012-07-10T14:16:55.202-07:00Should We Integrate a Working Organic Human Brain Into a Future Long-Term Spacecraft?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Long term space flight could be too overwhelming for the human body in its present form. There is space radiation, challenges with bone loss, and the body has evolved for 1G or one Earth Gravity Unit, not near weightlessness. Humans also seem to need food, and oxygen and all sorts of other things, that turns out to be a big challenge, even sending people close by to places like the Moon or Mars for instance. Okay so, let's talk shall we?<br /><br />Not long, ago I was discussing all this with an acquaintance from a purely futuristic standpoint, even Sci Fi theory if you will. We postulated that we might take a human brain and put it into an exoskeleton, and it would fly the spacecraft. He suggested that perhaps the human brain ought to be part of the spacecraft instead? He also wonders if we might find handicapped people who are paralyzed and can't their current bodies anyway to volunteer for the mission at hand.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />Okay, but we have to decide if we want a thinking spaceship or just one which has an organic autopilot and control system? If the latter, it wouldn't take a whole human brain to do that. Maybe we don't need a full brain, rather just brain cells, the number needed to control the device, or even a UAV here on earth.<br /><br />Of course, may we wouldn't want a human brain and all, but to use the brain which is more adapted towards spatial thought and thinking, something like a bird which thinks in 3-D, or a dolphin which lives in a 3-D environment they can travel within under its own power. A human pilot on the ground would have this sort of a brain, and therefore think slightly differently. But human brain cells may be the wrong type of brain to use for this. Do we dare modify humans in some way, do we dare build a new species to travel to space as our ambassadors? What's the solution?<br /><br />These are tough issues for those coming from a religious context, and yet, we must ask these questions if we are too explore the stars and boldly go, especially using our current technologies. Should we incorporate cybernetics, robotics, and computers to integrate with flesh and blood? Should we send humans as they are to cope, live or die, as maybe the case? What's more human, what's the answer? Questions, more questions than answers indeed. So, please consider all this and think on it.<br /><br /><br />Article Source: Lance Winslow<br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06616393010265265321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1087657091602446268.post-72810414562666039532012-04-21T14:14:00.000-07:002012-07-10T14:14:46.573-07:00Why Not Duplicate a Human Brain Completely Identical and then Hook It Up to the Actual?<div style="text-align: justify;">
There has been a lot of talk about uploading a brain to a substrate, and many futurists now predict that by 2035, or 2045 human sciences will have accomplish this task. Indeed, as the coordinator for a think tank, I hesitate to make any predictions of when, but it appears to me that eventually it will occur. If you have a few moments I would like to talk about how this might actually come into fruition, and pose another question that I have yet to find asked.<br /><br />You see, if we are going to upload the brain to a substrate, we are going to have to create a neural network to download all the thoughts of the brain. This will not be so easy because the brain is so complex, and one rather well-known philosopher once said; "the human brain is as complex as the universe." That may be so, but luckily with our supercomputers, artificial intelligence, and computer science work, we are going to someday reach that computational ability.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />Okay so, here's my question; Why Not Duplicate a Human Brain Completely Identical and then Hook It Up to the Actual? Consider if you will that the first computer brain platform might be a computer set up as a neural network, which has duplicated and replicated the exact neural network of a given human mind. Once the human mind has a way to transfer the data into ones and zeros, and into that substrate, who is to say that the brain won't automatically copy itself onto the secondary platform - merely by providing stimulation of all parts of both through a sequencing method?<br /><br />What if we took a brain, and hooked it up to another organic brain, and what if that brain was perfectly symmetrical in all aspects? Would the first brain encode itself onto the second provided that no other information was stored there as of yet - and this has applications for future stem-cell brain growth and transplanting.<br /><br />Okay another question; If you hooked up two human brains to each other, both already in use, would you get a dual sense of self such as a schizophrenic situation, or would they merge together as one consciousness? The reality is we don't know the answers to all these questions, but we think we might.<br /><br />It might be nice to have an add-on brain, and perhaps an add on substrate could be placed somewhere inside the body cavity in an enclosure. This would increase the storage capacity perhaps, or the organic brain would start duplicating itself onto the storage device or add on substrate. In any case, these are some additional questions we need to be asking, so I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.<br /><br /><br />Article Source: Lance Winslow<br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06616393010265265321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1087657091602446268.post-28936267485555978522012-04-20T14:09:00.000-07:002012-07-10T14:11:57.319-07:00Vermicomposting: A Solution to Eradicate Garbage in Your Surroundings<div style="text-align: justify;">
Everyone of us must learn how to extend our care to our Mother nature. I really wanted to help Mother Earth by way of having an information drive campaign not to burn our garbage, as there are so many ways to make those useful by way of recycling them. For the biodegradables, vermicomposting is best suggested, as we generate income from it, plus we help minimize the bulk dump of garbage anywhere. Let us put trash into cash, at the same time, we save lives in the present and future generations.<br /><br />Vermicomposting. Vermi means "worms", composting means the decomposition of the biodegradables. When I learned vermicomposting in 2007, I really had a hard time with it in the beginning, but later on, with the help of my students, we made a good start. Patience and proper management are the best tools in this work.</div>
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />The process is so easy. Prepare a soil bed, place all the biodegradable materials like leaves, vegetable and fruit peelings, paper, twigs and others. Place the worms in the soil bed with the biodegradable materials except left overs as these are harmful to the worms and these are inviting to the ants and ants are the enemies of worms. Worms must be taken cared of as without them, vermicomposting would not be possible. With the presence of worms, rate of decomposition is faster. In three months time, the worms were multiplied eight times the number of worms placed in the soil bed.<br /><br />The decomposed materials with the worms' waste called "vermicast", are now the end product called "worm fertilizers".<br /><br />This worm fertilizer is a good and natural fertilizer for the plants and is recommended for farmers to use, in lieu of the chemical fertilizers which can be harmful to one's health.<br /><br />We generate income out from it since this worm fertilizer can be sold in the market and at the same time, we help cleanliness and save mother earth.<br /><br />Encourage your children, and all of the family members to be an enthusiast in vermicomposting. Earn money while at home, at the same time, you help our Mother Earth. If you also love raising flowers and any other ornamental plants, you need not buy any fertilizers buy so doing, and the dry leaves of your plants can be used in vermicomposting. An appeal to everyone, help support in saving mother earth. Join the vermicomposting now, and be part of the movement!<br /><br /><br />Article Source: Evelyn E. Alfeche<br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06616393010265265321noreply@blogger.com0