Ronald Baker, a doctor in Spokane, Washington, received a patent (4
781 200) in 1990 for a device for detecting fetal heartbeats. But this protype
used ceramic transducers, which are rather bulky and heavy, to convert the
heartbeat into electrical signals. Allan Zuckerwar, an acoustical instrumentation
specialist at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, helped
Baker to create a more compact instrument that can be worn like a belt without
disturbing the wearer’s sleep. The project took three years and cost some
$140 000.

Zuckerwar replaced the ceramic transducers with paper-thin piezopolymer
pressure ones made of polyvinylidene difluoride, a plastic he had previously
used to monitor pressure on aircraft wings. Each monitor uses seven hexagonal
pieces of polymer, 3 centimetres across and 100 micrometres thick. A tiny
signal processor is programmed with sophisticated algorithms to separate
the faint signals from the transducers from the background. Normally a fetus’s
heartbeat increases sharply after it moves. But this does not happen if
the fetus has too little oxygen.

Baker’s device could incorporate several different ways of indicating
hypoxia. One is for an alarm to sound. Or the monitor could be plugged into
a modem to forward its signals over the phone lines to a technician trained
to interpret them.

Baker believes the monitor could be on sale for as little as $200 to
$300, eventually reducing to about $50. The ultrasound test for hypoxia
costs about $200 and can only be done at medical centres.

The US Food and Drug Administration has already accepted the principle
of Baker’s noninvasive monitor, but he says that tests on volunteers mean
that it will not be on sale for about three years.

With this in mind, GEC-Marconi of Stanmore in Middlesex last week demonstrated
its road pricing technology, known as ‘Timezone’, in London to representatives
of government departments, local authorities and transport bodies.

The aim of the scheme is to relieve congestion by making it cheaper
for motorists either to drive into town at off-peak times or to travel in
on public transport. This should reduce the volume of traffic at peak times.

The potential benefits are large, especially if city authorities direct
the fees they collect from drivers into improving public transport and local
infrastructure. The motorists who remain on the road will suffer fewer delays
and encounter less congestion. Buses will be able to run more punctually,
encouraging still more motorists to use them.

For the test in Richmond, GEC-Marconi is to fit about 100 vehicles belonging
to council staff with small meters. These meters will communicate by radio
with beacons to be erected at strategic points within a defined central
area in the borough.

Drivers participating in the trial will slot ‘smart cards’ worth a certain
number of credit units into the meters; the credits are gradually deducted
during journeys. Smart cards are electronic devices, the size of credit
cards, that contain processing and memory chips so that they can store information.

GEC-Marconi will issue the selected drivers with smart cards which are
pre-charged with credits; these credits will be consumed by the drivers
as they motor through the Timezone test area at predefined rates depending
on the times and length of the journey. For example, the highest rate might
be charged for the time they spend driving through congested areas at peak
times. Weekend driving or off-peak driving on weekdays may be free.

Paul Kimber, manager of the Micro Systems and Sensors Division at GEC-Marconi,
explained that the beacons transmit radio signals to the meters in passing
cars. The signals indicate which zone the driver is passing through, and
credits are deducted accordingly. The meter displays how much longer the
driver has in the zone at the current charging rate and what zone the car
is in. A readout of credit level is also available.

Drivers using the system are notified by the meter when the credits
on the smart card are about to run out. They can then top them up at a variety
of outlets, including shops and garages. If the credits run out during a
journey, the meter itself sends out radio signals to special beacons equipped
with TV cameras to indicate that the driver is in default. The beacons photograph
the offending car as it passes so that fines can be charged.

The cameras will also photograph cars without meters. Signs placed around
the perimeter of a metered zone will warn visiting motorists to purchase
daily permits that will place them temporarily within the scheme.

Kimber said that one of the most important requirements in developing
the system was to avoid infringing civil liberties. Other trial schemes
with electronic metering have encountered resistance because drivers would
be charged after passing through the metered area. Readouts with their bills
would indicate where they had driven and when.

This raised fears that an individual’s movements could be traced without
their knowledge. Timezone gets round this by charging drivers in advance.
‘It would remain anonymous with no central account for individual driver
and no tracing of individual vehicle movements,’ says Kimber.

Cambridgeshire County Council approved a road-pricing scheme last autumn
and plans to initiate a full trial in 18 months’ time. It has picked a consortium
of companies to develop technology originating from the University of Newcastle
(see ‘Pricing cars off city streets’, New ÐÓ°ÉÔ­´´, 2 March 1991).

The prototype was developed by Gerling Laboratories of Modesto, California,
and Thermo Energy Corporation of Palo Alto. It uses the same magnetrons
to generate the microwave energy as those used in the common home microwave
oven. Magnetrons use electric and magnetic fields to accelerate electrons
in a helical path. The moving electrons emit microwaves which resonate in
tuned cavities to produce microwaves of a particular wavelength.

Just as in microwave ovens, the microwaves excite water molecules and
heat the water so that it evaporates. Unlike conventional dryers, the air
sucked into the microwave dryer is not heated, except at the very end of
the drying cycle, when electrical heaters warm the air briefly. If microwaves
were used to complete the cycle, there is a danger of arcing between metal
buttons and zips.

Temperatures inside the prototype do not exceed 38 °C and can be
lowered to 32 °C to dry delicate fabrics . Conventional electric or
gas dryers heat fabrics to about 66 °C.

The Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, which is funded
by a consortium of American power companies, paid for the 20-month project.
Previous attempts to develop a microwave dryer have foundered.

According to John Kesselring, senior project manager of the institute,
the microwave dryer should consume at least 25 per cent less electricity
than a conventional dryer for the same load. This is significant, because
about 70 per cent of all dryers in the US are powered by electricity and
some 3.5 million electric dryers will be installed this year.

Kesselring is optimistic that the dryer will be commercialised in about
three years. In the meantime, the prototype will be tested. The US Food
and Drug Administration has to approve the sale of the dryer due to the
potential danger from emitted microwaves. Because the dryer will be shielded,
like microwave ovens, Kesselring anticipates no problem.

Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
working with dermatologists at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, have adapted
the imaging technology to detect the onset of melanoma, a type of cancer
that can be treated if detected early enough. The work was initiated by
Robert Selzer of JPL’s biomedical image processing laboratory in collaboration
with Kenneth Arndt, head of the department of dermatology at Beth Israel.

Some patients at risk of developing melanoma have so many lesions on
their skin that it is difficult for dermatologists to detect and track all
changes and thus evaluate treatment. Under the system, photos of patients
taken at intervals are scanned into a personal computer and then analysed
by imaging software to indicate changes.

‘It is relatively easy to use,’ says Arndt, ‘taking only a few minutes
for results. It could also be applied to other premalignant conditions.’

Photos of patients taken at intervals are sent to the biomedical image
processing laboratory where they are scanned into a personal computer. To
match two photos of a patient’s skin, 8 to 10 prominent moles or lesions
on, say, the patient’s back are identified on the computer screen image
and their ‘coordinates’ are determined.

All the coordinate information is then processed using an algorithm
known as a ‘rubber-sheet’ transformation. This geometrically stretches the
later photo to match the first. The earlier photo is then subtracted from
the later one resulting in an image that shows a positive intensity for
new or larger spots and a negative intensity for contracting or disappearing
spots. The positive and negative intensities and those spots that do not
change are displayed in different colours on the combined computer image.

So far the research has only used black-and-white photos. Selzer hopes
to use fine-grained colour slides in future so that the computer can determine
the nature of the lesions as well as their changes in size.

Selzer believes the system could easily be made available to other institutions.
His equipment, which is based on a normal personal computer, could be duplicated
for less than $18 000. Arndt has approached the American Cancer Society
for funding to acquire a system for the Beth Israel Hospital. The work to
date has been funded by NASA and the National Institutes of Health.

The evidence is both glaring and subtle. Every American beyond infancy
is aware of-and apparently accepts-the dominance of Japan in sales of consumer
electronic goods in the US. But few Americans are aware of the portent that
this represents; in one key area of technology, computer science, Japanese
citizens receive nearly half of the growing proportion of US patents issued
to foreigners.

In response, the US has managed to effect a humbling decline in the
‘Not Invented Here’ (NIH) syndrome-the long-held and strong aversion on
the part of corporate researchers and engineers to any technology not invented
by their company. This new openness to ‘outside’ advances is taking advantage
of significant and relatively recent federal legislation aimed at speeding
the transfer of technology from universities and federal laboratories to
industry.

First came the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. This stimulated universities whose
research was paid for by federal grants to license the commercial rights
to the technology to industry. Then came the Federal Technology Transfer
Act of 1986. ‘Technology transfer officers’ at each federal laboratory can
now negotiate licence agreements with industry without obtaining the approval
of a remote higher authority. The 1986 act also requires that the inventors,
that is, the federal employees, be enriched to the extent of 15 per cent
of any royalties. Three years later, the act was extended to cover federal
laboratories operated on a contract basis by industry.

To take advantage of this bounty from government, a growing number of
American manufacturers are establishing technology transfer facilities.
Those assigned to these groups are usually veteran technologists, long-time
employees who know their employers’ goals and who are good at liaising with
people.

One such ‘technology scout’ is Merrill Brenner, of Air Products Chemicals,
a major producer of industrial gases and chemicals with headquarters in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. When Brenner forwards information to someone in
his company about what he considers a relevant development, about three-quarters
of his recipients respond within a month or two. If they don’t respond,
he resubmits.

If Brenner still doesn’t receive any reaction, he finds, as he put it,
‘an informal occasion such as a chance meeting in the hallway or company
cafeteria’ to ask the recipient what they think of the forwarded item. And
if repeated attempts to solicit a response fail, Brenner simply deletes
the name of that colleague from the action list in his computer, and the
NIH syndrome persists.

Technology scouts like Brenner are usually supported by generous travel
budgets that permit them to visit federal and university laboratories and
attend the proliferating ‘technology transfer’ conferences. To an increasing
extent these scouts are venturing outside America.

Brenner occasionally stimulates transfer of his own company’s technology.
Another responsibility is to liaise with the research and development consortia
which his company takes part in. Before 1984, the law forbade competitors
from participating in such cooperative research. Then, largely in reaction
to Japan’s now-faltering Fifth Generation Computer Project, the National
Cooperative Research Act was enacted by the US Congress.

Although many of the 150 research consortia currently existing are simply
standards-setting organisations, most are dedicated to generating useful
technology. It may be too soon to expect much from them, but many feel that
have underachieved. One reason for this could be the understandable reluctance
of participating corporations to assign their best researchers to the cooperative
effort. Another reason might be the assignment of people who as liaison
officers who were ‘turkeys’ and who would often fail to attend meetings.
But companies that assigned energetic scouts as liaison officers benefited
handsomely.

There are some rigorous opponents of the entire consortium concept.
TJ Rodgers, for example, founder and chief executive officer of Cypress
Semiconductor of San Jose, California, has denounced the consortia at Congressional
committee meetings as ‘anti-competitive’.

Compared especially with their Japanese competitors, American corporations
have a long way to go in overcoming the NIH factor, even though there has
been ‘a vast improvement’, according to Edward Mansfield, a professor of
economics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Mansfield headed
an intensive study of how American and Japanese corporations generated and
used technology. The results showed that both utilised home-grown technology
about equally well. But the Japanese implemented outside technology far
faster and at less cost.

Mansfield noted other important differences between American and Japanese
corporations. While the Japanese spend about two-thirds of their research
and development funds on process development, with only a third on product
development, with the Americans, the proportion is reversed. In addition,
the Americans spend lavishly on marketing new products, including on market
research, while the Japanese favour spending on quality control.

Another factor is a lower ‘hurdle rate’, the minimum projected rate
of return that would justify an investment in new technology. In the US,
hurdle rates typically vary from 25 to 30 per cent. In Japan hurdle rates
are between 20 and 25 per cent, in part because of lower interest rates.
According to Mansfield, some American executives inflate their hurdle rates,
irrationally so. For all these reasons, Mansfield is concerned that the
Japanese will continue to ‘ . . . beat the hell out of us’.

Mel Mandell writes on science matters from New York.

A team of Californian researchers has reinvented the cathode-ray tube, the heart of every computer screen and TV except portable ones. They have come up with a flat screen that relies on thousands of tiny electron emitters rather than the usual single electron gun.

Cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) have a hot filament called a cathode which emits electrons. A so-called electron gun then accelerates and steers the electrons, using electric fields, towards the fluorescent screen at the front of the tube where they create the image on the outside of the tube.

The problem with CRTs is that they are large and heavy and use high voltages to accelerate the beams. They also emit radiation from the front of the screen which is believed to cause health problems. For 20 years, Capp Spindt and colleagues at the Stanford Research Institute in California, now known as SRI International, have been developing flat arrays of tiny cathodes.

The company Coloray was set up in 1989 in Fremont, California, to develop the technology and Robert Duboc, the company’s vice-president, says they have demonstrated very small displays in both colour and monochrome.

The cathodes in their field emission display are tiny cones manufactured using methods developed in the semiconductor industry. Each cone is about one micrometre across and its small size means that electrons can tunnel out of the tip encouraged simply by an electric field – without heating. The array of cone cathodes is mounted on a glass base plate and a second glass plate, coated with fluorescent dots, is held about 0.1 millimetres away from the array by supporting pillars. The space between the plates is a vacuum.

The outer plate also carries a transparent conductor so that an electric field can be applied between the cathodes and this plate. This field accelerates the electrons emitted from the tiny cones to excite the fluorescent dots.

Circuits at the edge of the display and beneath the bottom plate control the field applied at each dot so that an image can be formed. Each dot, which is 0.1 millimetres across, has between ten and a hundred cones beneath it so that if some emitters fail there are many more available.

Duboc predicts that it will take four or five years to perfect displays large enough for portable computers. But, he says, the price of the new displays will be about 30 per cent less than that of CRTs, and they will use 30 per cent less power. They will also have lower emissions of radiation than CRTs because lower voltages are used than in electron guns.

But Carl Machover, an observer of the display industry, is sceptical: ‘The problem with all radically new display technologies is that the developers claim many significant theoretical advantages which, unfortunately, are rarely fulfilled when they try to commercialise.’

The US Geological Survey currently operates a network of 84 widely spaced
SDAUs, linked to a centre in Menlo Park, 30 miles to the south of San Francisco.
Cranswick hopes that by enlisting the help of amateur seismologists it will
be possible to predict earthquakes by revealing earth movements too local
or too small to be detected by the SDAUs already in place.

The idea for a network of home SDAUs came to Cranswick over 10 years
ago after he learned of unusual phenomena preceding the devastating earthquake
centred on Haicheng, China. Local peasants reported odd animal behaviour
and fluctuating water levels in wells. Some seismologists at the time suggested
the invention of electronic earthquake alarms that were dubbed ‘seismic
²¹²Ô¾±³¾²¹±ô²õ’.

‘If SDAUs were tied to only 1 per cent of these home computers, we could
gather much more data,’ said Cranswick. In addition, the data gleaned could
throw light on how varied terrain in the area affects the impact of earthquakes.
For instance, while the Marina section of San Francisco, built on fill,
was devastated in the earthquake of October 1989, homes built on rock on
nearby hills escaped unscathed.

Cranswick and his collaborator, computer sonsultant Robert Banfill,
hope to build SDAU devices that are much cheaper than the complex units
used by the USGS. Banfill is convinced that microcomputers are capable of
collecting, storing and analysing seismic data. To reinforce this, after
Cranswick and Banfill announced their plans it emerged that two small groups
of amateur seismologists in San Francisco were already operating home-made
SDAUs.

The SDAU proposed by the two collaborators would consist of an accelerometer
connected by five-wire cable to a box containing a small microprocessor,
RAM memory and a digital clock. The accelerometer, buried in the ground,
would measure movement in three directions: up and down, east and west,
and north and south. The RAM would store the data, and also the ‘trigger’
software needed to eliminate spurious data, such as that generated by passing
vehicles.

The home computer provides a link to the central computers in Menlo
Park. Once a day the central computers would interrogate each SDAU through
telephone lines and the home computer’s modem.

‘Because the only data collected would be the time of onset of movements
and their amplitude, the transmissions could be very short, no more than
30 seconds, and they would not interfere with other uses,’ said Cranswick.
The low-speed modems needed cost about $100, and many home-computer owners
already have them. Cranswick hopes the SDAUs would sell for less than $500.

The incentive for joining the network would be the ability to call up
the data collected by your SDAU, and analyse and compare it with prior seismic
data stored in the computer. This would appeal to many people in California,
where there is an active interest in seismology, and would be valuable in
schools. Cranswick suggested that these amateur analyses might generate
important insights, just as amateur astronomers often work with their professional
colleagues on scientific projects.

The setting up of the network is at least a year away. Manufacturers
who can supply accelerometers at a reasonable price must first be found.
The two collaborators must also perfect the trigger algorithms so that they
reject as much spurious data as possible, such as that generated by dogs
bounding past the buried accelerometers. The necessary computer software
must also be written for each kind of home computer.

Dwayne Breger, a member of the team, says 85 per cent of the heat stored
can be recovered six to seven months later. The Sun’s heat is captured by
fixed solar collectors of a type widely used to provide hot water for homes.
The collectors cover about 7 acres (3 hectares). Nontoxic glycol antifreeze
solution pumped through the collectors is heated to about 70 Degree C. The
hot fluid is then pumped through long U-shaped pipes driven into a 30-metre
thick layer of clay, which begins only 1.5 metres below the surface and
covers 4000 square metres.

The solar system is expected to provide 90 per cent of the heat for
a 12 000-seat university sports arena and adjoining gym about 150 metres
from the collector farm, which will sit over the clay bed. The rest of the
heat will come from an existing steam system that will also back up the
solar system.

The $3-million, energy-conserving system is scheduled to be installed
by mid-1993, by which time the arena will be built. The system is projected
to repay its cost in six to seven years. Funding for the project is coming
from the US Department of Energy, which has invested $230 000 to date in
site identification and planning.

JEROME MURRAY, the prolific 78-year-old inventor of such wonders as
the peristaltic pump, the electric carving knife and the moveable covered
walkway to convey passengers to aircraft without exposing them to the elements,
has now come up with an entirely new form of internal-combustion engine.
His ‘Rotorcam’ engine has no camshaft, flywheel, distributor or water pump
and can run on virtually any type of fuel: petrol, diesel, kerosene, propane,
jet fuel or a mixture of any of them.

The four-cylinder, four-stroke engine, which has been evolving for 15
years, would also be much lighter, more compact, and cheaper to manufacture
than present internal-combustion engines, because it has many fewer parts.
Running costs would also drop sharply, because the Rotorcam does not require
periodic and increasingly costly tuning by computer-equipped mechanics.

The Rotorcam is of rotary design. Unlike the ill-fated Wankel rotary,
which has only been used in a limited number of cars because of difficulties
in achieving a seal around the combustion chamber, the Rotorcam uses conventional
cylinders with pistons and rings to maintain a tight seal during combustion.
But that is where the resemblance to conventional engines ends.

The engine’s cylinders radiate outwards from a central axle like the
spokes of a wheel, with the heads of the cylinders pointing inwards. At
the end of each piston arm is a small wheel which runs along the inside
of large flat ring that encloses the whole engine. The ring is oval in shape,
so when the cylinders rotate around the central axle the pistons are pushed
in and out as the wheels roll from the narrow part of the oval ring to the
wide part.

As they rotate, a large port in each cylinder successively passes apertures
through which fuel enters and exhaust gases exit. Thus, the Rotorcam does
not require the usual mushroom-shaped valves, rocker arms, valve springs
or cams of a conventional engine. To take in fuel and exhale the products
of combustion better and faster, the latest conventional engines have four
instead of two valves per cylinder, adding to the complexity of the engine.
Some carmakers are even experimenting with five or more valves per cylinder.

Murray believes his engine will be inherently less polluting than other
engines. It runs on a leaner fuel mixture, with more air intake compared
to the amount of fuel consumed, which should aid complete combustion of
the fuel. Also, the inside of the cylinder head and the top of the piston
are hemispherical. This leaves a much smaller clearance between cylinder
head and piston which, he claims, means the fuel burns more efficiently
and is expelled completely on the exhaust stroke.

Only one sparking plug is needed, which each cylinder rotates around
to use in turn, thus eliminating the need for a distributor. However, Murray
believes that a second plug would be included in production models in case
the first plug failed. No water pump is needed, because the engine is cooled
by circulating oil. Because it is oil-cooled, the Rotorcam can operate at
180 Degree C, over 70 degrees hotter than conventional engines, which raises
efficiency. Carmakers are currently experimenting with engines with ceramic
parts in order to allow them to run hotter.

The Rotorcam does not require periodic tune-ups, it just needs its oil
and oil filter replaced every 5000 miles or so. Car owners could replace
the air filter and sparking plug themselves; they are very accessible. No
antifreeze is needed.

The prototype Rotorcam is only 25 centimetres thick and less than a
metre in diameter. It would be installed horizontally in cars, which offers
three advantages: a lower bonnet for improved aerodynamics; less dipping
on turns because the spinning cylinders provide a gyroscopic effect; and
simpler gearing to a front-wheel drive. Because the engine has high torque
at low rotational speeds, it could operate with fewer forward gears, perhaps
only two, claims Murray.

Besides its rotary design, the Rotorcam also differs markedly from conventional
engines in its ability to change compression ratio automatically, depending
on what fuel it is ingesting. Compression ratio is the ratio of the volume
contained in the cylinder at the beginning of its compression stroke to
the volume at the end of the stroke. Normally this is an immutable aspect
of an engine because the engine is designed to run on a particular type
of fuel.

In the Rotorcam a tiny microphone senses the ‘knocking’ caused when
the fuel-air mixture is compressed too much and ignites before the sparking
plug fires. The microphone activates a solenoid that moves a solid cam mounted
in the large outer ring in and out very slightly. As each cylinder rolls
past this adjustable cam, its piston is moved in or out very slightly at
the moment of ignition. The compression ratio can be modified in this manner
from 7:1 to 17:1. The lowest ratio is for kerosene, while the highest is
for diesel fuel.

So far a very modest $1 million has been expended on development of
the Rotorcam engine, the last $750 000 coming from a sale of shares in 1988.
Murray himself provided the initial $250 000 out of profits from his 50
earlier inventions. He is best known as the inventor of the peristaltic
pump, which made open-heart surgery possible. Murray waived royalties on
the pump for all applications in health care. The pump is also used in dialysis
machines, to pump drugs continuously via intravenous tubes, and in food
processing; it does not crush blood cells or the vegetables in soups.

Murray foresees the initial applications of the Rotorcam being in light
aircraft, lawnmowers, stationary engines and military vehicles. Armed vehicles
powered with Rotorcam could burn whatever fuel was available. In motorcycles,
the Rotorcam would be mounted inside the rear wheel, driving it directly
in highest gear. The gyroscopic effect would tend to hold the vehicle upright,
making it safer.

Convincing carmakers to license his invention, for which patents have
been applied, will be much tougher. However, Murray claims that in Detroit,
which is the heartland of the US’s automobile empire, hostility to innovations
from outside is weakening, and manufacturers are much more open to new concepts.