Minimum-Error Splitting Algorithm for a Dual Layer LCD Display—Part II: Implementation and Results

A dual layer liquid crystal display (LCD) is able to achieve a high dynamic range by stacking two liquid crystal panels one on top of the other over an enhanced backlight unit. However, the finite distance between the two panels inevitably introduces a parallax error when the display is observed off-axis, and the dynamic range limitations of the individual panels introduce a reconstruction error near sharp edges in the input image. In Part I, we have formulated the image splitting as a constrained optimization problem in which a joint minimization of the parallax error and the visibility of the reconstruction error is performed.      

On Voltage Acceleration Models of Time to Breakdown—Part II: Experimental Results and Voltage Dependence of Weibull Slope in the FN Regime

Based on the methodologies and experimental findings presented in Part I, we demonstrate the general applicability of the T _BD exponential law of reciprocal voltage, T _BD ~ exp(C/VG), in comparison with the T _BD power-law model for SiO₂-based dielectrics stressed in the FN regime. This is done for a wide range of oxide thicknesses and stressed in a wide range of stress voltages and temperatures. We also analyze the consistency of voltage acceleration models with the voltage dependence of the Weibull slope. This is done considering the failure percentile dependence of voltage acceleration and can explain the voltage-independent Weibull slopes reported for ultrathin oxides in the DT regime and the voltage-dependent Weibull slopes reported for thick oxides stressed in the FN regime. This paper demonstrates how the application of complementary analysis methodologies to a complete experimental database allows reaching sound conclusions about the voltage acceleration model of oxide breakdown, thus solving a long lasting controversy.     

Scanning and Sequential Decision Making for Multidimensional Data—Part II: The Noisy Case

We consider the problem of sequential decision making for random fields corrupted by noise. In this scenario, the decision maker observes a noisy version of the data, yet judged with respect to the clean data. In particular, we first consider the problem of scanning and sequentially filtering noisy random fields. In this case, the sequential filter is given the freedom to choose the path over which it traverses the random field (e.g., noisy image or video sequence), thus it is natural to ask what is the best achievable performance and how sensitive this performance is to the choice of the scan. We formally define the problem of scanning and filtering, derive a bound on the best achievable performance, and quantify the excess loss occurring when nonoptimal scanners are used, compared to optimal scanning and filtering.      

Mobile Diary for Wellness Management—Results on Usage and Usability in Two User Studies

The prevalence of lifestyle-related health problems is increasing rapidly. Many of the diseases and health risks could be prevented or alleviated by making changes toward healthier lifestyles. We have developed the Wellness Diary (WD), a concept for personal and mobile wellness management based on Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Two implementations of the concept were made for the Symbian Series 60 (S60) mobile phone platform, and their usability, usage, and acceptance were studied in two 3-month user studies. Study I was related to weight management and study II to general wellness management. In both the studies, the concept and its implementations were well accepted and considered as easy to use and useful in wellness management. The usage rate of the WD was high and sustained at a high level throughout the study. The average number of entries made per day was 5.32 (SD = 2.59, range = 0–14) in study I, and 5.48 (SD = 2.60, range = 0–17) in study II. The results indicate that the WD is well suited for supporting CBT-based wellness management.      

Optimized Control Strategy for a Medium-Voltage DVR—Theoretical Investigations and Experimental Results

Most power quality problems in distribution systems are related to voltage sags. Therefore, different solutions have been examined to compensate these sags to avoid production losses at sensitive loads. Dynamic Voltage Restorers (DVRs) have been proposed to provide higher power quality. Currently, a system wide integration of DVRs is hampered because of their high cost, in particular, due to the expensive DC-link energy storage devices. The cost of these DC-link capacitors remains high because the DVR requires a minimum DC-link voltage to be able to operate and to compensate a sag. As a result, only a small fraction of the energy stored in the DC-link capacitor is used, which makes it impractical for DVRs to compensate relatively long voltage sags. Present control strategies are only able to minimize the distortions at the load or to allow a better utilization of the storage system by minimizing the needed voltage amplitude. To avoid this drawback, an optimized control strategy is presented in this paper, which is able to reduce the needed injection voltage of the DVR and concurrently to mitigate the transient distortions at the load side. In the following paper, a brief introduction of the basic DVR principle will be given. Next, three standard control strategies will be compared and an optimized control strategy is developed in this paper. Finally, experimental results using a medium-voltage 10-kV DVR setup will be shown to verify and prove the functionality of the presented control strategy in both symmetrical and asymmetrical voltage sag conditions.      

The Canonical Bicoherence—Part II: QPC Test and Its Application in Geomagnetic Data

In a companion paper [“The Canonical Bicoherence—Part I: Definition, Multitaper Estimation, and Statistics,” IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, vol. 57, no. 4, April 2009], we defined the canonical bicoherence (CBC), proposed its multitaper estimates, showed its feasibility to detect quadratic phase coupling (QPC) for multivariate random processes, and discussed its statistical properties. In this part, the canonical biphase (CBP) is defined, and a two-step QPC test is developed using the first canonical bicoherence and the first canonical biphase at prescribed significance levels. Detection probabilities of this test are given by Monte Carlo simulations. The canonical bicoherence is applied to analyze the possibility of quadratic phase couplings in the Earth's magnetic field. The results of simulations show that lower-frequency $p$ -modes of the Sun may interact nonlinearly, producing intermodulation components at the sum and/or difference of fundamental frequency modes of oscillations.      

Tin Whisker Test Development—Temperature and Humidity Effects Part II: Acceleration Model Development

The incubation time for both whisker growth and corrosion in thin Sn platings (3–10 $mu{hbox {m}}$ thick) on Cu-based alloys have been found to be well represented by an exponential function of humidity and an Arrhenius function of temperature for both as-deposited and reflowed tin platings. Furthermore, whisker growth was found to follow the same functionality in both corroded and non-corroded regions of the plating. The effective activation energies and humidity coefficients were found to depend upon plating thickness, exposure to reflow, and presence of corrosion. The effective activation energies ranged from 0.23 eV to 0.41 eV and the humidity coefficients ranged from $-$0.012% to $-$0.031%. Corrosion enhanced whisker growth occurred by lowering the effective activation energy for whisker growth. A theory based on excess, non-creep relaxed, oxidation induced strain was developed to explain the corrosion induced energy barrier lowering. The data showed that 60 $^{circ}{hbox {C}}/{hbox {87}}%{hbox {RH}}$ appears to be the optimal high temperature/high humidity test condition at this time for Sn over Cu substrates. Within the limits of the whisker and corrosion (incubation) acceleration functions developed in this study, it is concluded that the JEDEC tests can be used to indicate behavior at other temperature/humidity points that could be relevant storage or service conditions.      

Naval Structural Antenna Systems for Broadband HF Communications—Part III: Experimental Evaluation on Scaled Prototypes

We describe the design, fabrication and measurement of reduced-size prototypes of the Naval Structural Antenna, recently proposed as a compact and multifunction solution to broadband naval communications. The original broadband HF sub-radiator, loaded by lumped impedances, is scaled down to the VHF/UHF ranges and re-designed in planar technology in order to simplify and to automate the fabrication process. Measurement on single-port and 4-port antennas, in which the central structure resembles a naval funnel and a big mast, have shown a good agreement with the simulations.      

Atomistic Simulation of Realistically Sized Nanodevices Using NEMO 3-D—Part II: Applications

In part I, the development and deployment of a general nanoelectronic modeling tool (NEMO 3-D) has been discussed. Based on the atomistic valence-force field and the sp³d⁵s* nearest neighbor tight-binding models, NEMO 3-D enables the computation of strain and electronic structure in nanostructures consisting of more than 64 and 52 million atoms, corresponding to volumes of (110 nm)³ and (101 nm)³, respectively. In this part, successful applications of NEMO 3-D are demonstrated in the atomistic calculation of single-particle electronic states of the following realistically sized nanostructures: 1) self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) including long-range strain and piezoelectricity; 2) stacked quantum dot system as used in quantum cascade lasers; 3) SiGe quantum wells (QWs) for quantum computation; and 4) SiGe nanowires. These examples demonstrate the broad NEMO 3-D capabilities and indicate the necessity of multimillion atomistic electronic structure modeling.     

From Remote Experiments to Web-Based Learning Objects: An Advanced Telelaboratory for Robotics and Control Systems

This paper describes the current evolution of the telelaboratory facilities at the University of Pisa. In particular, starting from a standard environment providing remote access to a set of experiments, the telelaboratory is now organized as a collection of learning objects, i.e., modular didactic units designed following specific learning objectives within control systems and robotic fields. The telelaboratory has a remote web-based access which can be used both as a simulation environment and as a remote way of performing real physical experiments. The developed telelaboratory is based on free open-source software such as Scilab/Scicos, Comedi, and Real-Time Application Interface patch for Linux kernels. In-house software tools, such as a Java wEb Hyper modUlar inTerface sYstem, graphic environment tools, and a virtual laboratory interface based on Java applets, have been developed as a support for the learning process.      

Measurement of Radio Frequency Permittivity of Biological Tissues with an Open-Ended Coaxial Line: Part II - Experimental Results

The permittivity of several reference liquids and selected biological tissues in vivo was measured in the frequency range from 0.01 to 1 GHz. Open-ended coaxial line sensors and computer-controlled network analyzer systems, described in a companion paper, were used. The results were analyzed and compared with the estimated uncertainties. The described method proved to be convenient, fast, and relatively accurate for in vivo measurements.     

Fusion of digital television,broadband Internet and mobile communications—Part II: Future service scenarios

This is the second part of the tutorial paper following the previous tutorial paper describing enabling technologies in digital video broadcasting (DVB) system. The paper presents the current and future operational scenarios for DVB via satellite (DVB‐S) system. Review of the current state‐of‐the‐art technologies consisting of integration of broadband Internet and mobile communications and integration of broadband Internet and DVB are given. The future operational scenarios emphasize the fusion of DVB systems with other technologies in terms of network fusion and terminal fusion. For satellite service scenarios, it also takes into consideration mobility management and standard quality‐of‐service mechanism issues, such as integrated services and differentiated services. Several research directions for providing seamless services regardless of network, access technology and terminal in the fusion network are also highlighted in this paper. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling of Programming and Read Performance in Phase-Change Memories—Part II: Program Disturb and Mixed-Scaling Approach

The scaling analysis of phase-change memory (PCM) cells is an essential step toward validation as a competitive technology in terms of array density and current consumption. While the current scaling has been addressed in a companion paper, we focus here on the thermal crosstalk, namely, the temperature increase in 1 bit in the array while an adjacent cell is being programmed by a high-current reset pulse. This parasitic heating may lead to partial crystallization in the amorphous phase and to a consequent resistance decrease after cycling. Our analysis shows that the thermal crosstalk strongly depends on the scaling approach used, e.g., isotropic or nonisotropic scaling. A new mixed-scaling option for PCM cells is proposed, which provides the maximum decrease of programming current compatible with the reliability requirements deriving from the thermal crosstalk. The effects of this new scaling approach on the programmed volume and data retention are finally addressed.     

Robustness of the Filtered-X LMS Algorithm— Part II: Robustness Enhancement by Minimal Regularization for Norm Bounded Uncertainty

The relationship between the regularization methods proposed in the literature to increase the robustness of the filtered-X LMS (FXLMS) algorithm is discussed. It is shown that the existing methods are special cases of a more general robust FXLMS algorithm in which particular filters determine the type of regularization. Based on the analysis by Fraanje, Verhaegen, and Elliott [ldquorobustness of the filtered-X LMS algorithm - part I: necessary conditions for convergence and the asymptotic pseudospectrum of Toeplitz Matricesrdquo of this issue], regularization filters are designed that guarantee that the strictly positive real conditions for asymptotic convergence or noncritical behavior are just satisfied for all uncertain systems contained in a particular norm bounded set.