News by Subject Technology & Engineering

By studying the phenomenon of contagious yawning, the researchers learned that people's reactions in virtual reality can be quite different from what they are in actual reality. They found that contagious yawning happens in VR, but people's tendency to suppress yawns when they have company or feel they're being watched don't apply in the VR environment. Further, when people immersed in VR are aware of an actual person in the room, they do stifle their yawns. Actual reality supersedes virtual reality.

The methodical approach of wells design, developed at the Oil and Gas Wells Drilling Department, will allow to obtain more accurate information about the field and predict problems that may arise during the operation on the well.

A team including researchers from Osaka University looked to nature for inspiration in designing more effective wireless sensor networks. First, they recorded the vocal interplay of neighboring tree frog calls, which they found allowed tradeoff time for individual communication, though this is interspersed with more random collective silence and choruses. They mathematically modeled these patterns and effectively applied their model toward the control of a wireless sensor network.

Researchers from Osaka University, in collaboration with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Grenoble Alpes University, succeeded in efficiently controlling the direction of a nano-sized magnet by heating at high speed. The researchers also discovered that nano-magnets amplify microwave signals. These achievements will contribute to reducing power consumption for magnetoresistive random access memory and artificial intelligence devices, helping us move towards a super-smart society.

Researchers have developed an intelligent system for 'tuning' powered prosthetic knees, allowing patients to walk comfortably with the prosthetic device in minutes, rather than the hours necessary if the device is tuned by a trained clinical practitioner. The system is the first to rely solely on reinforcement learning to tune the robotic prosthesis.

Research shows that drones can be more effective and safer in crash mapping of vehicular highway accidents than conventional methods. Drones using new imaging technology developed at Purdue University allows highway safety officers to capture and print 3D composites of crash sites and reduce mapping time and improve traffic flow following a crash by 60 percent.