Engineeringtalk Blog » 2008» June

Jun25th

Diabetes

Posted by Dave Wilson.

Diabetes, a disease characterised by abnormally high blood sugar resulting from insufficient levels of the hormone insulin, is one of the fastest growing health problems in the world.

The good news is that insulin has been available since the early part of the last century, and those that suffer from the condition can easily be treated. But there’s plenty of room for improving the treatment process, and engineers worldwide are working on a plethora of systems to do just that.

Today, diabetics must measure their blood sugar level by pricking a finger, putting a small amount of blood on a strip and then placing the strip into a device which displays the result. Soon, however, that procedure might be a thing of the past thanks to researchers at Georgetown University who are developing a new biosensor device for blood glucose monitoring.

Instead of pricking the skin with a needle, their plaster-sized biosensor blasts the skin with a micron sized micro-heater that makes a tiny pore in it, through which fluid can rise. The biosensor then reads the glucose levels in the fluid through tiny electrodes coated with a substance that reacts to the glucose.

While it’s certainly a step in the right direction, a new four-year ?6m EU funded project co-ordinated by diabetes care company Novo Nordisk aims to go one step further by developing a system that can actually predict the blood glucose levels of a diabetic hours ahead.

The system, which will be based on existing wireless body monitoring technology from UK-based Toumaz Technology, will also comprise a plaster like device, this time containing a number of wireless sensors to monitor vital signs such as temperature and blood pressure.

Readings from the sensors will be wirelessly transmitted to a hand-held mobile device where the data will be merged with information on food intake. An advanced algorithm will then analyse the data to predict blood glucose levels.

But measuring blood sugar levels is only half the story. Once that’s been done, insulin must be delivered into the body. While not all types of diabetes sufferers require insulin injections, those that do must undergo another painful process.

The good news for those folks, however, is that yet another miniature device - this time an insulin-delivery pump - has recently been developed by Debiotech and STMicroelectronics. Like the other devices, it can also be mounted on a disposable skin patch where it provides continuous insulin infusion.

And it’s also closer to market than either the Georgetown or the Novo Nordisk systems. The so-called Nanopump, which relies on microfluidic Micro-Electro-Mechanical System technology, has successfully passed initial testing stages and is now ready to enter volume manufacturing.

Given such exciting developments, it’s easy to envisage a future when a universal skin patch that combines the best attributes of all these measurement and delivery systems would enable diabetics to live their lives free from the worry of ever having to take a blood sample or make an insulin injection again.
This comment was originally published in the Engineeringtalk Newsletter

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Jun18th

I've always been a big fan of Dr

Posted by Dave Wilson.

I’ve always been a big fan of Dr. Who. In fact, I’m not ashamed to admit that I was one of the very first folk to hide behind the sofa as William Hartnell made his iconic entrance through the doors of the Big Blue Police Box way back on that winter night in 1963.

A lot of stuff has changed since then. While I’m now considerably older, through some odd happenstance, Dr. Who appears to have become a lot younger. And his ‘companions’ seem to be a lot more attractive.

But that’s not all that’s new. The system of broadcasting and receiving television signals has also undergone a sea change too. The old analogue TV transmitters that sent out that first show have now been replaced by much fancier digital ones that can beam out many more channels at much higher quality.

Sadly though, while the new technology has delivered crisper moving pictures and stereophonic sound, the value of the shows has declined considerably. While Dr Who may have improved, it’s the exception to the rule.

Quality, it would appear, has been replaced by quantity. Witless talk shows, home renovation programmes, endless news programmes and phone-in competitions have become the staple diet of the new millennium.

Yet the price of receiving such nonsense rises each year. It used to be that Ten Shillings would buy you a TV license. Now, it costs every householder in the UK GBP140 if they use any television receiving equipment at all.

So imagine how tickled I was to discover that the BBC has decided to make episodes of Dr Who available over the Internet. All thanks to its very own iPlayer, a little piece of software that will allow you to catch up with programmes from the past seven days that you’ve missed or want to watch again.

It all seems too good to be true. Surely, if you can watch programmes for free on your PC, then why shell out all those notes for a TV license?

But before I ripped up my TV license, I thought I’d better check with TV Licensing to figure out whether or not I would still need one to watch my favourite programme when the BBC reruns it over the Internet.

And from what I can gather, it would appear not. The TV licensing web site clearly states that you ONLY need a TV Licence to use a TV set, digital box, DVD or video recorder, PC, laptop or mobile phone if you are ‘watching or recording television programmes AS they are being shown on TV’. It doesn’t say anything about watching them AFTER they have been shown on TV.

So what will this hold for the future, when the revenue from the license payers dwindles to nothing, as we all watch reruns over the Internet? Is it possible that the quality of the programmes could decline even further?

If that is indeed to be the future of broadcasting, I might just buy a Big Blue Police Box and fix it up a little so that I can travel back to 1963 and watch some decent TV again. Just don’t keep asking me who that attractive young girl is that’s travelling with me.
This comment was originally published in the Engineeringtalk Newsletter

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Jun11th

Everyone is familiar with the mobile phone top-up card

Posted by Dave Wilson.

Everyone is familiar with the mobile phone top-up card. Widely available from supermarkets across the UK, they provide users with an effortless way to top up their credit simply by tapping a number from the back of the card into their phone.

But attempt to copy that highly successful business model and the result can be a downright disaster.

The folks at isubscribe should know. They obviously saw an opportunity to sell discount subscriptions to magazines via the same route. So consumers who purchase an isubscribe gift card at a local store can redeem their subscription to a magazine of their choice simply by entering the number on the card into the required field at the isubscribe web site.

Surely, the easiest way to subscribe to all your favourite magazines? And a perfect gift for Birthday’s, Anniversaries and Christmas? Well, not quite. Because what sounds like a great idea in practice is actually a nightmare for the consumer.

To see why, let’s cast our minds back to the day that my friend presented me with a ?25 isubscribe card that she had been given for a birthday present. Could I, she asked, redeem the card for a yearly subscription to ‘Company’ magazine using the power of my PC?

The web site itself was easy enough to find. And once there, I went though the usual slog of entering all the necessary personal details on screen.

Then it came time to make the payment. Sure enough, there was a nice radio button that I could click on to indicate that I would be paying by means of the aforementioned isubscribe card. But when it came to entering the specific number that the system required, that was a little trickier.

You see, the card itself actually has no less than Four Very Long Numbers printed on the back of it. And nowhere on the site was I able to tell which number it was that I was supposed to enter.

So I tried all of them. But each time, a screen would pop up indicating that incorrect details had been entered. So I tried all the numbers again. And again. And again. It was a lengthy process. In fact, it took me over half an hour. But the system was having none of it.

I gave up, retiring to my favourite arm chair with a nice glass of Richebourg Domaine de la Romanee Conti.

The next day, I phoned the isubscribe Customer Service Line to figure out what was going wrong. Once connected, a polite young lady apologised profusely for the fact that the company had printed incorrect subscription numbers on some of their cards, a fact that had caused more than a little confusion among its customers.

The good news is that my pal is now receiving ‘The Engineer’ every fortnight. I can’t say she quite likes it as much as ‘Company’ magazine, but I do. And it certainly was easier to subscribe to.
This comment was originally published in the Engineeringtalk Newsletter

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Jun4th

The small Start Up Company had invested a considerable sum of money developing its new widget

Posted by Dave Wilson.

The small Start Up Company had invested a considerable sum of money developing its new widget. And to protect the profit that it was almost certain to make out of the product, the Chairman had quite sensibly taken out a patent in every country in the Known World. (more…)

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Archive for June, 2008

Diabetes

I've always been a big fan of Dr

Everyone is familiar with the mobile phone top-up card

The small Start Up Company had invested a considerable sum of money developing its new widget

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