aluser - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Awesome. How do I do that? (Score 4, Informative) 148

by aluser on Saturday August 28, 2010 @06:12PM (#33405596) Attached to: Machining a TI-89 Out of Aluminum

I haven't used this place, but here's one place that will do small one-off machining jobs for you: http://www.emachineshop.com/ . That's been sitting in my bookmarks for "future reference" for a while now :)

Looks like they want you to use their own cad software, which apparently can estimate the cost while you work on the design. I bet some googling can find other, similar, shops.

Computer Detection Effective In Spotting Cancer 89

Posted by kdawson on Saturday October 04, 2008 @09:33PM from the mechanical-helper dept.

Anti-Globalism notes a large study out of the UK indicating that computer-aided detection can be as effective at spotting breast cancer as two experts reading the x-rays. Mammograms in Britain are routinely checked by two radiologists or technicians, which is thought to be better than a single review (in the US only a single radiologist reads each mammogram). In a randomized study of 31,000 women, researchers found that a single expert aided by a computer does as well as two pairs of eyes. CAD spotted nearly the same number of cancers, 198 out of 227, compared to 199 for the two readers. "In places like the United States, 'Where single reading is standard practice, computer-aided detection has the potential to improve cancer-detection rates to the level achieved by double reading,' the researchers said."

Comment Re:Myth (Score 1) 415

by aluser on Monday November 05, 2007 @08:02PM (#21248527) Attached to: Ultracapacitors Soon to Replace Many Batteries?

Battery "memory", to an engineer/pedant, is a different phenomenon than the reduced capacity you
noticed with batteries for electric power tools. "memory" applies when the battery is discharged by a certain amount, then recharged, then discharged to exactly the same state again. The only believable story I've heard about this involved NiCads in a satellite that discharged during the satellite's night and charged during its day. It was important that the satellite used exactly the same amount of energy each cycle (to within less than 1%). Memory is supposed to be a myth because those conditions rarely apply to anything. Hell, maybe the satellite story is made-up too, I don't know :)

On the other hand, most (all?) types of batteries are expected to lose capacity over time.

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