A sensing system contains a vibration device attached to a stem of an agricultural crop for applying vibration to the agricultural crop, at least one sensor attached to the stem of the agricultural crop for sensing vibration of the agricultural crop caused by the vibration applied to the agricultural product from the vibration device to transmit vibration information relate to the vibration of the agricultural crop and a computing device for identifying one local maximum value among a plurality of local maximum values in a frequency spectrum obtained from the vibration information received from the at least one sensor as a resonance frequency of the vibration of the agricultural crop to determine a growth degree of a fruit of the agricultural crop based on the identified resonance frequency

A sensor includes a body member, a volume change body, and a detection member. The body member has a flat plate-like shape, a first end in a first direction being supported, and a storage space opening at at least one of both end faces in a thickness direction. The volume change body, whose volume changes depending on an amount of a target, is supported by the body member so that at least a part of the volume change body is stored in the storage space. The detection member is in contact with a second end in the first direction of the body member, and detects stress caused by the change in the volume of the volume change body.

A method at a computing device, the method including obtaining sensor data for a vehicle providing one or both of displacement or acceleration information for the vehicle; calculating a vibration frequency for the vehicle; retrieving calibration data for the vehicle, the calibration data comprising at least a first known mass; a second known mass; a vibration frequency for the vehicle at the first known mass; and a vibration frequency of the vehicle at a second known mass; and using the calibration data and the vibration frequency for the vehicle, calculating a load estimation for the vehicle.

Methods for determining and classifying by type aircraft air contaminants, and aircraft air contaminant analyzers, are disclosed.

An air contaminant collector device for use in an aircraft air contaminant analyzer, and a method for its use, are disclosed.

A method automatically determines a weight of a patient lying on a tabletop of a patient positioning device. A motorized movement of the tabletop along at least one predeterminable axis sets the tabletop in an oscillation via an elastic drive train element, and the patient's weight is determined from a determined oscillation frequency. Therefore, the weight of a patient lying on a patient positioning device can be determined in a simple manner.

A method automatically determines a weight of a patient lying on a tabletop of a patient positioning device. A motorized movement of the tabletop along at least one predeterminable axis sets the tabletop in an oscillation via an elastic drive train element, and the patient's weight is determined from a determined oscillation frequency. Therefore, the weight of a patient lying on a patient positioning device can be determined in a simple manner.

A magnesium zinc oxide (MZO) nanostructure modified quartz crystal microbalance (MZO.sub.nano-QCM) takes advantage of the unique sensing ability and biocompatibility of MZO-based nanostructures, and combines them with the dynamic impedance spectrum capability of the bulk acoustic wave (BAW) devices including QCM, to form a real-time, noninvasive and label-free cell monitoring biosensor, specifically detecting the susceptibility and resistance of bacterial and fungal strains and cancer cells to various antibiotic and antifungal drugs and anticancer drugs, respectively.

A system for monitoring fruit growth including: a vibration exciter that imparts predetermined vibration to a stem or a branch between a fruit and a stalk growing on a plant; a vibration sensor that detects vibration of the stem or the branch caused by the vibration imparted by the vibration exciter; and a detector that detects a weight or weight change of the fruit based on a frequency of the vibration detected by the vibration sensor.

An electromechanical amplifying method including a transducing an electrical signal to a mechanical resonator having a mechanical resonance mode with an angular frequency .sub.0; transducing the non-linear oscillations of the resonator into a transduced electrical signal; and filtering the transduced electrical signal to obtain an output signal, the signal transduced to the resonator being obtained by adding a first input signal of a first amplitude and a first angular frequency .sub.s and a second pump signal of a second amplitude greater than the first amplitude and of a second angular frequency .sub.s that is different from the first angular frequency, the first and second angular frequencies being close to the angular frequency .sub.0 of the mechanical resonator and the second pump signal being chosen from a range of angular frequencies .sub.p and amplitudes in which the resonator is actuated in a non-linear regime.