Heavy Morning Traffic in Delft
A membrane is a solid or liquid phase(film) which separates two other phases from eachother and specifically influences the mass transport between them. A membrane allows passage of molecules or particles depending on their size and chemical nature (polarity, charge, etc)
The goal of the Smart Dust project is to build a self-contained, millimeter-scale sensing and communication platform for a massively distributed sensor network. This device will be around the size of a grain of sand and will contain sensors, computational ability, bi-directional wireless communications, and a power supply, while being inexpensive enough to deploy by the hundreds.
The science and engineering goal of the project is to build a complete, complex system in a tiny volume using state-of-the art technologies (as opposed to futuristic technologies), which will require evolutionary and revolutionary advances in integration, miniaturization, and energy management.
Smart Dust
Process Intensification - Membrane absorption:
The main function of the lung is to provide continuous gas exchange between inspired air and the blood in the pulmonary circulation, supplying oxygen and removing carbon dioxide, which is then cleared from the lungs by subsequent expiration. Survival is dependent upon this process being reliable, sustained and efficient, even when challenged by disease or an unfavorable environment.
No apparatus can operate in such a way that its only effect (in system and surrondings) is to convert heat absorbed by system completely into work done by systme.
Second law of thermodynamics
Intellectual property - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Intellectual property or IP refers to a legal entitlement which sometimes attaches to the expressed form of an idea, or to some other intangible subject matter. This legal entitlement generally enables its holder to exercise exclusive rights of use in relation to the subject matter of the IP. The term intellectual property reflects the idea that this subject matter is the product of the mind or the intellect, and that IP rights may be protected at law in the same way as any other form of property."
Patent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive and useful.
The exclusive right granted a patentee is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing the claimed invention, not the right to make, use, or sell the invention themselves. The patentee may have to comply with other laws and regulations to make use of the claimed invention. So, for example, a pharmaceutical company may obtain a patent on a new drug but will be unable to market the drug without regulatory approval."
Biomass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Biomass is organic non-fossil material, collectively. In other words, biomass comprises the mass of all biological organisms, dead or alive, excluding biological mass that has been transformed by geological processes into substances such as coal or petroleum."
"In many ways biomass can be considered as a form of stored solar energy. The energy of the sun is 'captured' through the process of photosynthesis in growing plants."
Biofuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass — recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. It is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal and nuclear fuels. The carbon in biofuels was recently extracted from atmospheric carbon dioxide by growing plants, so burning it does not result in a net increase of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. As a result, biofuels are seen by many as a way to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by using them to replace non renewable sources of energy."