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This paper concerns continuous nondisturbing estimation of blood pressure using mechanical plethysmography in connection with standard electrocardiography (ECG). The plethysmography is given by a novel magnetoelastic skin curvature sensor (SC-sensor) applied on the neck over the carotid artery. The sensor consists of a magnetoelastic bilayer partly enclosed by a coil. Bending the bilayer causes large changes of magnetic permeability which can be measured by the coil. The SC-sensor signal and the ECG signal are adaptively processed in order to estimate blood pressure according to a specifically established theoretical model. The model uses estimated vessel radius changes and pulse transit time as parameters. The results show cross correlation coefficients in the range 0.8 up to 0.9 between reference and estimated values of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and systolic/diastolic blood pressure change, whereas the estimation error was below 4 + 7 mmHg at rest and increased with the stress level. Limitations of the model applicability are given by a hysteretic behavior of both model parameters due to inert changes in artery stiffness. The SC-sensor and the ECG electrodes cause minimal inconvenience to the patient and offer an approach for a continuous nondisturbing monitoring of blood pressure changes, as being relevant for sleep monitoring or biomechanic feedback.Index Terms-Blood pressure, electrocardiography, magnetoelastic amorphous ribbons, mechanical plethysmography, physiological sensors, skin curvature sensor.

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The Magnetic Flux leakage (MFL) method is a well-established branch of electromagnetic Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), extensively used for evaluating defects both on the surface and far-surface of pipeline structures. However the conventional techniques are not capable of estimating their approximate size, location and orientation, hence an additional transducer is required to provide the extra information needed. This research is aimed at solving the inevitable problem of granular bond separation which occurs during manufacturing, leaving pipeline structures with miniature cracks. It reports on a quantitative approach based on the Pulsed Magnetic Flux Leakage (PMFL) method, for the detection and characterization of the signals produced by tangentially oriented rectangular surface and far-surface hairline cracks. This was achieved through visualization and 3D imaging of the leakage field. The investigation compared finite element numerical simulation with experimental data. Experiments were carried out using a 10mm thick low carbon steel plate containing artificial hairline cracks with various depth sizes, and different features were extracted from the transient signal. The influence of sensor lift-off and pulse width variation on the magnetic field distribution which affects the detection capability of various hairline cracks located at different depths in the specimen is explored. The findings show that the proposed technique can be used to classify both surface and far-surface hairline cracks and can form the basis for an enhanced hairline crack detection and characterization for pipeline health monitoring.

The study of finger kinematics has developed into an important research area. Various hand tracking systems are currently available; however, they all have limited functionality. Generally, the most commonly adopted sensors are limited to measurements with one degree of freedom, i.e., flexion/extension of fingers. More advanced measurements including finger abduction, adduction, and circumduction are much more difficult to achieve. To overcome these limitations, we propose a two-axis 3D printed optical sensor with a compact configuration for tracking finger motion. Based on Malus’ law, this sensor detects the angular changes by analyzing the attenuation of light transmitted through polarizing film. The sensor consists of two orthogonal axes each containing two pathways. The two readings from each axis are fused using a weighted average approach, enabling a measurement range up to 180∘ and an improvement in sensitivity. The sensor demonstrates high accuracy (±0.3∘), high repeatability, and low hysteresis error. Attaching the sensor to the index finger’s metacarpophalangeal joint, real-time movements consisting of flexion/extension, abduction/adduction and circumduction have been successfully recorded. The proposed two-axis sensor has demonstrated its capability for measuring finger movements with two degrees of freedom and can be potentially used to monitor other types of body motion.

Effects of alignment, pH, surfactant, and solvent on heat transfer nanofluids containing Fe2O3 and CuO nanoparticles J. Appl. Phys. 111, 064308 (2012) Size effect on the structural, magnetic, and magnetotransport properties of electron doped manganite La0.15Ca0. Curie temperature for this series is found to be in the range of 618-766 K. Room temperature resistivity increases gradually from 7.5 Â 10 8 X cm (x ¼ 0.0) to 3.47 Â 10 9 X cm (x ¼ 0.5). Additionally, dielectric measurements are carried out at room temperature in a frequency range of 100 Hz to 3 MHz. With improvement in the values of the above-mentioned properties, the synthesized materials could be suitable for potential application in some magnetic and microwave devices.