his attempt to build a better tribble thing, roboticist Steve Yohanan has come up with a Haptic creature that looks like a tribble with bunny ears attached. One that raises the creepfactor, by having no facial features. This robot uses touch feedback as it’s only way to communicate.

It’s full of pressure sensors and the need to lull you into a false sense of safety with lots of fur and no face. It will be able to sense how you touch it or stroke it, and it will respond with breathing motions, ear wiggles or purring. What we have here is a fancy fur slipper that’s been sewn up after installing some gear. I just wish I worked for the company, because I’d find a huge bin full of these things and recreate the classic trek image above.

Posted in Robots by Conner Flynn on May 23rd, 2008

RABBI!! BUT… IS THIS WORK REALLY? i want sth i can really hug it.//

Feel Real Bad….. How will I help reduce the use of plastics?

http://www.etsy.com/buy.php

 “The Best of the best award is a great honour for our company,” declared Philip Ghekiere, Marketing Manager at Bekaert Textiles. “It is also recognition of our sustained R&D efforts. After intensive research our R&D department in collaboration with external partners found an innovative solution that drastically improves bedding hygiene and sleep comfort. Thanks to our woven or knitted mattress ticking treated with Purotex, great numbers of people can be freed from allergic reactions caused by the presence of dust mites. Real life scientific tests by independent bodies have proven that Purotex treated mattress tickings remain allergen-free.”

Clean, healthy sleep environment

By treating the mattress ticking with its patented Purotex technology, Bekaert Textiles says it is able to provide an ideal clean and healthy sleep environment. “During the textile production process we introduce probiotic micro-organisms. These are friendly bacteria that saturate the bacterial capacity of the textile and by doing so, reduce the risk of dust mite allergen development and growth of moulds and harmful bacteria,” explains Philip Ghekiere.

The micro-organisms are encapsulated in their spore form, and are released by friction between the sleeper’s body and the mattress, whereupon the bacteria activate spontaneously. During this germination process they absorb moisture and eat up the food material present in the fabric, including flakes of skin, dead bacteria and dust mite excretions.

The friendly bacteria grow very rapidly, multiplying by a factor of 100 in a period of 24 hours. In this way they prevent dust mites getting enough food and moisture to feel comfortable. Moulds too are denied a chance to develop. Also, the mass presence of the friendly bacteria prevents harmful or pathogenic bacteria from gaining a foothold in the ticking material. Finally, as a favourable side effect Purotex neutralises unpleasant odours in the mattress.

Exclusively natural technology

As a market leader Bekaert Textiles presents mature technologies and sustainable solutions. “Purotex is not a chemical treatment; its astonishing results are achieved in an entirely natural way. The microflora used consists of friendly micro-organisms that are not genetically modified and are guaranteed non-toxic. In fact, the treated mattress ticking even meets the Ökotex 100, class 1 standard, which means it is suitable even for mattresses for babies. And in contrast to solutions that make use of antibiotics, noxious bacteria do not become immune to the probiotic bacteria.”. the company says.

Beckaert also claims that the population of friendly bacteria is also self-regulating: the more dust mites there are in the material, the more the friendly bacteria multiply. If there is no more food for them, then about 25% of the bacteria revert to the spore form. The cycle then repeats itself as often as necessary. The bacteria themselves do not produce any excretions. Thanks to the very large number of encapsulated bacteria (the capsules open in a controlled manner over a period of time) the favourable action of Purotex is assured for a good ten years, Beckaert says.

Innovative response to a growing need

Beckaert says that the new development fits in well with modern concerns about healthy living, with a focus on aspects such as healthy food and better sleep comfort. At the same time it says that the innovative Purotex is particularly welcome because the number of people with allergic reactions is increasing rapidly.  “Bedding plays a considerable role here, as the bed (and in particular the outside of the mattress) is one of the main places where allergens are found, caused by the presence of dust mites. Furthermore, people spend on average eight hours per day on their mattress, coming in contact with it through the mouth and nose”, the company says..

Beckaert goes on to say that, a bedroom or any other room can easily be kept free of allergens by having sufficient ventilation, not setting the temperature too high, having plenty of light and keeping it free of plants and animals. However, a bed is an altogether different situation, as dust mites are to be found in great numbers in the outside material of the mattress. These tiny creatures, less than half a millimetre long, like warm, moist conditions. They avoid light, and feed on flakes of human skin that accumulate in the bed. During their lifetime (from 1 month to 10 weeks) the females lay 100 or more eggs. Dust mites produce 200 times their own weight in excretions.

Beckaert says that with the development of Purotex mattress ticking, it offers its customers a product that is nothing less than revolutionary in terms of quality of sleep, and thus quality of life for consumers.

Lung and other cancer site mortality in a cohort of Italian cotton mill workers

Evaluation of the mortality from lung and other cancer sites in a cohort of 3961 Italian cotton mill workers, divided into those working with carding (exposed to high levels of endotoxin-containing cotton dust) and other tasks, which generally have lower exposure.

Standardised mortality ratios were calculated using death rates of the regional general population as a reference. Cancer mortality was analysed in relation to the length of employment in the two task groups.

Among workers in carding departments, the incidence of lung cancer mortality was reduced the longer a worker had been employed. No reduced risks were found for other forms of cancer, nor for those working with other tasks. The results support the conclusion that a high and prolonged exposure to cotton dust and other endotoxin-containing organic dusts is related to a lower risk of lung cancer.

Lung cancer risk among textile workers in Lithuania

The purpose of this study was to investigate risk of lung cancer incidence in textile industry workers by the type of job and evaluate the relation between occupational textile dusts exposure and lung cancer risk in a cohort.

Altogether 14650 textile workers were included in this retrospective study and were followed from 1978 to 2002. The lung cancer risk for male in the cotton textile production unit was significantly lower after 10 years of employment and decreased with level of exposure to textile dust.

Source: Ramazzini; blog on work and health