{"id":1710,"date":"2008-01-16T17:19:01","date_gmt":"2008-01-16T22:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=1710"},"modified":"2014-12-16T17:19:49","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T22:19:49","slug":"sight-unseen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2008\/01\/sight-unseen\/","title":{"rendered":"Sight Unseen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The answers, my friend, may be blowin\u2019 in the wind\u2014or, for that matter, hidden in the nether regions of the brain. But how to see them? Through tools ranging from toy turbines to a \u201cmagic box,\u201d Hopkins engineers are pushing to make visible that which is indiscernible to the naked eye.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wind Energy<\/h4>\n\"Wind<\/a>\n

One of the most promising new areas of research in sustainability involves something that can\u2019t be seen or even held. But it can be harnessed.<\/strong> And that\u2019s why Charles Meneveau\u2019s research on wind energy just received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under their newest funding category, Energy for Sustainability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWind farms are springing up everywhere,\u201d says Meneveau, the Louis M. Sardella Professor in Mechanical Engineering. \u201cWorldwide, about $23 billion was invested in wind farming equipment in 2006 and it\u2019s expected that total installed capacity will double by the end of the decade. The potential is enormous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meneveau estimates that 3 million giant wind turbines operating at an average power generation of 1 megawatt each could enable wind energy to become our country\u2019s only energy source. Spaced every half a mile, the turbines would cover a square measuring approximately 900 miles on each side (e.g., most of the Midwestern states between the Mississippi and the Rockies). \u201cOf course this isn\u2019t going to happen,\u201d he concedes, but, he adds, \u201cthe estimate at least gives us a sense of the massive scale of our energy consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n

With wind energy on an \u201cupsweep,\u201d Meneveau, post-doc Raul Cal, and co-investigator Luciano Castillo of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, propose to use the NSF funding to study the interactions between wind farms and the atmosphere. \u201cWind turbines extract kinetic energy. They slow the wind down, but perhaps increase turbulence in their wakes; this in turn may affect evaporation from the ground, and, honestly, we\u2019re not sure what else happens when wind farms are implemented on a massive scale,\u201d says Meneveau.<\/p>\n

And what Meneveau ultimately plans to produce is only slightly less ethereal than the wind itself: more accurate computer models that could inform us about the relationship between wind and wind turbines\u2014 models that would help environmental planners with the placement of turbines to create maximum energy extraction with minimal negative impact on the environment.<\/p>\n

In order to develop these models, Meneveau and collaborators will use \u201ctoy\u201d turbines to collect detailed fluid dynamic measurements of the air velocity between and behind turbines. These model turbines, each about five inches tall, are being installed in the Corrsin wind tunnel in Maryland Hall. \u201cWe\u2019ll make the invisible turbulent motions of air visible by using advanced laser-based measurement methods. Microscopic particles floating in the air will be illuminated, digitally photographed, and these images can be analyzed computationally. This will enable us to deduce the instantaneous velocity field,\u201d Meneveau explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWind energy is just one of several options to be developed. If wind farms are to be implemented on a massive scale, we need to improve our tools to predict their interactions with the environment in the lower atmosphere,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re after.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sample turbulent velocity snapshot (above) made visible in the windtunnel is shown in this vector map. Says Meneveau, \u201cWe will study the fluid dynamics and kinetic energy fluxes from such data and develop the computer models that can then be applied to the full-scale wind farms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brain Imaging<\/h4>\n
\"Brain<\/a>
This rendering of \u201cinvisible\u201d cerebellar nuclei was created by graduate student Bennett Landman with his advisor, Jerry Prince. Through the combined use of diffusion tensor imaging and magnetic resonance imaging, these renderings enable Prince and Landman to analyze subtle changes in the cerebellum that are otherwise invisible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though magnetic resonance imaging (MRI ) technology has made the interior of the brain visible to clinicians and researchers for more than 20 years, there are still parts of the brain \u201cthat would never be visible unless we were to cut the brain wide open,\u201d says Bennett Landman,<\/strong> a graduate student in biomedical engineering who also works with Professor Jerry Prince in the Electrical and Computer Engineering lab. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at the impact of tiny, subtle changes that occur in these places,\u201d Landman explains.<\/p>\n

In particular, Landman and Prince are focusing on the cerebellum, a small structure of the brain involved in motor control, learning, and planning. \u201cThe cerebellum isn\u2019t fixed. It\u2019s behind the brain and not very firmly attached, so it moves around a bit,\u201d Landman says. But what it lacks in size and stability, it makes up for in content. \u201cIt\u2019s small and densely packed with neurons,\u201d says Landman. In fact, even though the cerebellum comprises just 10 percent of the brain\u2019s total volume, 50 percent of all of the brain\u2019s neurons reside in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are investigating the cerebellum\u2019s 3-D structure to shed light on how and why some almost imperceptible changes may factor into devastating degenerative diseases,\u201d says Landman, \u201csuch as Alzheimer\u2019s disease or spinocerebellar ataxia, a debilitating motor control disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

But \u201cseeing\u201d inside the cerebellum is no easy matter. MRI alone can\u2019t do it, because the gray matter of the cerebellar nuclei is too small and of low contrast to show on conventional MRI scans. So Landman and Prince are combining MRI with a technique known as Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), which produces precise images of 3-D structures through repeated MRI scans. Combining the technologies enables them to see the bright fiber tracks of neurons entering the cerebellum and discover any \u201choles\u201d in these tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe absence of a signal on DTI along with information on the overall structure from a conventional MRI allows us to infer the whereabouts of the cerebellar nuclei,\u201d Landman explains. \u201cWithin a couple of minutes, we can see the major white matter tracks of the cerebellum, its surface features, and how certain nuclei are arranged.\u201d Viewing all of these features at once, something that would have been impossible without these combined technologies, allows Prince and Landman to then analyze their findings with statistical shape models.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately,\u201d Landman says, \u201cthis breadth of new features will enable us to see changes in these little-understood diseases\u2014changes that can help clinicians with the staging, prognosis, and treatment of patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subtle Movement<\/h4>\n
\"Subtle<\/a>
Like fingerprints, every person\u2019s gait is unique. This burst of color represents Andreou\u2019s distinctive bearing as he strolls through his lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spend some time in a crowded subway station, watching hundreds of commuters move to and fro, and it becomes nearly impossible to discern one person\u2019s gait from another\u2019s.<\/strong> Unless hampered by a limp or some other defining characteristic, most people appear similar in the way they stride briskly along.<\/p>\n

But with today\u2019s heightened security concerns, it\u2019s more important than ever to be able to detect subtle movements that are unique to one person but not visible to the casual observer, notes Andreas Andreou, MS \u201982, PhD \u201986, professor of electrical and computer engineering.<\/p>\n

And Andreou is developing the technology to do just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking for the magic box,\u201d he explains, as he digs through piles of electrical equipment in his Barton Hall lab. \u201cWell, it\u2019s really an ultrasonic micro-Doppler system.\u201d Locating it, he plugs in a receiver and transmitter. \u201cYou can get all the parts at Radio Shack,\u201d he divulges. Then Zhaonian Zhang, one of Andreou\u2019s graduate students, places the box on an overturned plastic storage bin, about six inches off the floor, along a crowded hallway. Andreou, hands in pockets, asks \u201cAre you ready?\u201d Standing squarely in front of the contraption, he then strolls back and forth, four times.<\/p>\n

The velocity of the moving object (Andreou) relative to the observer (the \u201cmagic box\u201d) is recorded\u2014including the motions of his arms, legs, and torso. As soon as Andreou is done, Zhang, with a few quick taps on a computer keyboard, converts the collected data into a colorful graph that represents Andreou\u2019s signature shuffle. If Zhang were to follow in Andreou\u2019s footsteps, the resulting graph would look entirely different.<\/p>\n

With this box, Andreou is searching for the defining characteristics of human gait\u2014information that could ultimately help differentiate, for instance, between a man walking slowly because he has an injury and someone walking slowly because he\u2019s otherwise encumbered, perhaps by a bomb-laden backpack.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre they in a hurry? Hurt? Carrying a concealed weapon?\u201d Andreou asks. \u201cWith this technology we will be able to dissect the language of body movement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracking Nanoparticles<\/h4>\n
\"Tracking<\/a>
Images of beads (red) inside normal (left) and progeria cells (right). Professor Wirtz tracks these beads by high-resolution light microscopy, revealing the viscoelastic properties of cells.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He\u2019s not using smoke and mirrors, but it sounds mighty close. Professor Denis Wirtz, associate director of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology (INBT), uses light to view and manipulate nanoparticles\u2014<\/strong>particles that are onebillionth of a meter in size and 1,000 times smaller than what can be viewed under a conventional microscope.<\/p>\n

The exploitation of these ultra-minute particles, Wirtz believes, may hold the key to our understanding of, and treatment for, a wide range of diseases.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very simple. We excite them with fluorescent light\u2014very, very intense red, yellow, and green light,\u201d he explains. Illuminating the nanoparticles so intensely creates a halo of light, which serves as a sort of proxy for the particles. \u201cBy making them visible,\u201d Wirtz says, \u201cWe can then track them, one at a time. We can, for example, put them in cancer cells and follow the process of metastasis. We gain a better understanding of how cancer spreads.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the INBT, Wirtz and his colleagues are manipulating the illuminated nanoparticles to interact with proteins to determine if it\u2019s possible to modify the behavior of cells. \u201cWe can watch them and see that they\u2019re very dynamic and only inhabit a tiny part of the cell. It\u2019s only now, through this process, that we\u2019re beginning to understand that all proteins in a single cell don\u2019t behave the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through tracking nanoparticles, Wirtz and his colleagues are gaining new understanding of progeria, a fatal disease that causes accelerated aging in children. While researchers had long thought the disease\u2019s progress was like normal aging, just much faster, Wirtz and his colleagues are finding differently. \u201cWe use latex beads, 100 nanometers in size, and we ballistically bombard the cells of a person with progeria with these beads,\u201d he says. \u201cThe beads lodge themselves inside the cells and then we track them. Because they\u2019ve been illuminated, we can see their displacement with exquisite resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wirtz has demonstrated that the cells from people with progeria are brittle and soft. \u201cThey behave more like liquid than healthy cells, which are stiff and stretchy,\u201d he explains. He has also observed the disruption of the cytoskeleton from the nucleus in progeria cells. This disruption leads to cells not being able to move as fast and they lose their sense of direction. \u201cWe used to believe that progeria was a defect of the nucleus, but now we believe it\u2019s a defect of the cytoskeleton,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Insights gained through illuminated nanoparticles, Wirtz states, could ultimately change the treatment of many diseases. \u201cWe\u2019re working on ways to rescue defective cells,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Seeing the Bay\u2019s Future Through Its Past<\/h4>\n
\"Seeing<\/a>
Microscopic diatoms, a form of algae found in core samples taken from the Chesapeake Bay, help reveal the pre-colonial Bay\u2019s history and ecological health for Professor Grace Brush.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In order to predict the future of the Chesapeake Bay, professor and paleobotanist Grace Brush looks back 14,000 years and studies a half-meter-long tube of mud.<\/strong> To the untrained eye, the future doesn\u2019t seem very promising, nor does the past appear particularly scenic. In fact, it all looks like varying shades of dark brown sludge.<\/p>\n

For Brush, the dark brown sludge gives plenty of cause for concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the 1970s, people became concerned about the Bay\u2019s future because of declining fish populations and the disappearance of underwater grasses,\u201d she explains. At that time, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded a group of engineers and scientists to quantify and define the reasons for those changes. \u201cI attended the meetings and was amazed that nobody wanted to examine the past. I wanted to know if we were looking at a \u2018boom and bust\u2019 trend, or if these declines were more recent and unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

With some of the EPA funding, Brush took core samples from the Bay, including sediment from approximately 12,000 B.C. to the present. \u201cLooking at these samples under a microscope, we found that the appearance of ragweed pollen increased dramatically in the 1700s, at the time of European settlement, a result of the land surrounding the Bay being cleared for agriculture,\u201d she explains. \u201cBy the late 1800s, 80 percent of the Chesapeake watershed was deforested and the effects on the Bay had become obvious in the sediment cores.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Brush and her students studied the core samples, they discovered that in addition to the increase in ragweed pollen, dramatic changes had also occurred in the Bay\u2019s algae\u2014an important marker for the Bay\u2019s overall health.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the centuries, as the Bay\u2019s water became more turbid from runoff, there was not enough light for the diatoms [a major form of algae found in sediment] to be able to photosynthesize and produce oxygen.\u201d Much of the oxygen that was available was used up by the decomposition of dead plants and animals. \u201cEventually,\u201d says Brush, \u201coxygen became too scarce for many bottom-dwelling animals to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat amazed me was that everyone knew the Bay was filling up with sediment,\u201d Brush concludes. \u201cThey had begun dredging in the 1800s. People knew there was sediment coming in\u201d \u2014but the major concern was economic, since sedimentation threatened to interfere with the transport of goods and people. \u201cOnly within the past few decades,\u201d says Brush, \u201chave people come to understand that the basic problem is ecological.\u201d<\/p>\n

Information Flow<\/h4>\n
\"Information<\/a>
This colorful scribble is actually a diagram of the complex pathways by which data flows in a computer program. The dots illustrate different points in the program where the data can be diverted\u2014and potentially jeopardize the program\u2019s integrity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWithin every computer is an incredibly complicated piping system through which information flows like water,\u201d explains Scott Smith,<\/strong> chair of the Department of Computer Science. \u201cAnd what\u2019s streaming through here,\u201d he says, pointing to the Mac on his desk, \u201cis more complex than New York City\u2019s plumbing system.\u201d<\/p>\n

As all this data rushes about, says Smith, it encounters an intricate series of forks, merges, and switches. And at each one of these decision points in the data\u2019s path, one of two things can happen: either the information is directed where it needs to go or the data is diverted to where it should not. When the latter occurs, the integrity of the entire system is compromised. \u201cWhen pollution enters our water supply system, we want to know which consumers will be affected,\u201d Smith says. \u201cAnd this is the same kind of tracking and integrity we\u2019re studying in computers. For instance, an online bank should be able to tell customers their own balances, but not the balances of other customers. We want to make sure information goes where it should, but only where it should. Safety is our goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to do this, Smith, along with graduate student Mark Thober, looks at code\u2014very, very closely. The two develop algorithms that automatically follow the data flow and determine where exactly it branches out and which output locations could affect their data. \u201cWe\u2019re very conservative in our approach,\u201d Smith says, \u201cBut this is because if there\u2019s truly the potential for something bad to happen, we want to be able to warn programmers.\u201d The other reason Smith and Thober track their data so carefully as it courses through the computer\u2019s innards is related to security. \u201cWe don\u2019t want corrupted data seeping in, but we also don\u2019t want secure data leaking out due to badly written code. Essentially, we don\u2019t want anyone drinking polluted water.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The answers, my friend, may be blowin\u2019 in the wind\u2014or, for that matter, hidden in the nether regions of the brain. But how to see them? Through tools ranging from toy turbines to a \u201cmagic box,\u201d Hopkins engineers are pushing to make visible that which is indiscernible to the naked eye. Wind Energy One of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","issue-winter-2008"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSight Unseen - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2008\/01\/sight-unseen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sight Unseen - JHU Engineering Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The answers, my friend, may be blowin\u2019 in the wind\u2014or, for that matter, hidden in the nether regions of the brain. But how to see them? Through tools ranging from toy turbines to a \u201cmagic box,\u201d Hopkins engineers are pushing to make visible that which is indiscernible to the naked eye. 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