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18 The PCB Design Magazine • August 2016 kind of way, but all participants could be a part of the governance through the contribution of their expertise. They would be able to examine this open- source education system to make sure it's not doing anything they don't want it to do, and could change parts of it they don't like. Dif- ferent levels might possibly be set up for the individual, the family, groups, community, re- gions, etc. The "establishment" would not be allowed to meddle. In fact, the establishment would become irrelevant by definition of open source. The open source way has these components: open exchange, participation, rapid prototyp- ing, meritocracy (the best idea wins) and com- munity. Biases do have a part in this model, and they would have to be managed accord- ing to universal human values, basic universal social standards and basic human virtues. This might even be a way forward from the cur- rent economic conundrum. It is a conceptual model that might seem a bit utopian, but it also presents a methodology to move societies for- ward, and our industry would be just one of the beneficiaries. Dave Ryder President PROTOTRON CIRCUITS What I really like about my company is… Our slogan at Prototron Circuits is "The de- sign is not complete until the board is built." To me, this sums it all up. We are in the quick turn prototype business, so our customers often come to us with ideas that are not fully devel- oped. We help the customer completely devel- op their ideas and then build the boards that complement those ideas. Many times, our boards complete the new product that the customer is building, and it is often the first time that they will see their product work. This means that we have to do everything we can to give them the best PCBs we can possibly give them, and help these prod- ucts work in the best way possible. This is our responsibility, and our duty: to complete their design. VOICES OF THE INDUSTRY X X Now, as described in results pub- lished today in the journal Neuron, a DARPA-funded research team led by the University of California, Berkeley's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences has devel- oped a safe, millimeter-scale wireless device small enough to be implanted in individual nerves, capable of detecting electrical activity of nerves and muscles deep within the body, and that uses ultrasound for power coupling and com- munication. They call these devices "neural dust." The team completed the first in vivo tests of this technology in rodents. The prototype neural dust "motes" currently measure 0.8 millimeters x 3 millimeters x 1 mil- limeter as assembled with commercially available components. The researchers esti- mate that by using custom parts and processes, they could manufacture individual motes of 1 cubic millime- ter or less in size—possibly as small as 100 microns per side. The small size means multiple sensors could be placed near each other to make more precise re- cordings of nerve activity from many sites within a nerve or group of nerves. This proof of concept was developed under the first phase of the program. The research team will continue to work on further miniaturizing the sensors, ensuring biocompatibility, increasing the portability of the transceiver board, and achieving clarity in signals processing when multiple sensors are placed near each other. Implantable 'Neural Dust' Enables Precise Wireless Recording of Nerve Activity