Ambient‐light sensor system with wide dynamic range enhanced by adaptive sensitivity control

Abstract— A new digital ambient‐light sensor system is presented which employs two linear light sensors with different sensitivities and automatically adjusts the sensitivity based on the illumination condition. The adaptation mechanism allows a very wide range of light intensity to be detected, and the input dynamic range of the system is substantially improved from 22.5 to 45.1 dB. The proposed method does not require any additional precision bits for output data. Due to the small number of the output bits and the simple conversion process, the system can be easily integrated on the display panel.     

Incorporating affective customer needs for luxuriousness into product design attributes

In a highly competitive market, customers' product affection is a critical factor to product success. However, understanding customers' affective needs is difficult to grasp; product design practitioners often misunderstand what customers really want. In this study we report our experience in developing and using an affective design framework that identified critical affective features customers have on products and are systematically incorporated into product design attributes. To identify key affective features such as luxuriousness, we utilized the Kansei engineering methodology. This approach consists of three steps: (1) selecting related affective features and product design attributes through a comprehensive literature survey, expert panel opinion, and focus group interviews; (2) conducting evaluation experiments; and (3) developing Kansei models using multivariate statistical analysis and analyzing critical product design attributes. To demonstrate applicability of the proposed affective design framework, 30 customers and 30 product design practitioners participated in an evaluation experiment for car crash pads, and 44 customers and 20 designers participated in an evaluation experiment for two interior room products (wallpapers and flooring materials). The evaluation experiments were conducted via systematically developed questionnaires consisting of a 7‐point semantic differential scale and a 100‐point magnitude estimation scale. The results of the experiments were analyzed using principal component regression and quantification theory type I method. Using the analyzed survey data, the relationship between luxuriousness and related affective features and product design attributes were identified. This relationship indicated that there was a significant difference in the perception of luxuriousness between customers and designers. Consequently, it is expected that the results of this study could provide a foundation for developing affective products. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

DEVS-Based modeling of VoIP spam callers’ behavior for SPIT level calculation

At the present time the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service is generally accepted as an alternative for people seeking cheaper means to make a phone call. Users of VoIP service may fall anywhere along a spectrum between types at two extremes: one of which is an ordinary caller who doesn’t use the telephone for commercial purposes, while the other is a person who generates spam calls for commercial purposes. The focus of this paper concerns modeling of spam callers’ behavior to calculate the SPIT (Spam over Internet Telephony) level for management of the quality of service. From the perspective of a VoIP service provider’s view, spam callers are also a type of customer and sometimes they are valuable for increasing revenue. However, if a service provider does not manage spam calls, it can harm their business, because ordinary users might not receive phone calls using the phone numbers of the VoIP service. Thus, there is a trade-off between revenues and usability in managing spam calls in the VoIP service. This work presents a model of spam caller’s behavior using the DEVS (Discrete Event System Specification) formalism. The DEVS formalism is applicable as a model of behavior, by defining the state and state transition of the target of the model. In our model, we use six main parameters to define the states and state transitions. Each state is represented by a number which indicates the SPIT level of a caller. If the value is 1.0 then the caller is more similar to a spam caller. Based on the model definition, we constructed a SPIT level Calculation UI (User Interface) that is used to manage spam calls to improve VoIP service quality.     

Thermodynamic magnetization discontinuity between the A and B phases of superfluid3he

We present data for the magnitude of the thermodynamic magnetization discontinuity at the equilibrium A-B transition in superfluid³He, M_AB, over its entire pressure-temperature-magnetic field phase diagram. The data was taken by measuring flux changes in a SQUID pick-up coil, which was calibrated by a novel first-principles technique. We compare our results with those of NMR experiments, and find that the two types of measurements yield different values, and this discrepancy is not the result of thermometry or field errors.     

Evidence for Glass–glass Interfaces in a Columnar Cu–Zr Nanoglass

Comprehensive analyses of the atomic structure using advanced analytical transmission electron microscopy-based methods combined with atom probe tomography confirm the presence of distinct glass–glass interfaces in a columnar Cu-Zr nanoglass synthesized by magnetron sputtering. These analyses provide first-time in-depth characterization of sputtered film nanoglasses and indicate that glass–glass interfaces indeed present an amorphous phase with reduced mass density as compared to the neighboring amorphous regions. Moreover, dedicated analyses of the diffusion kinetics by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF SIMS) prove significantly enhanced diffusivity, suggesting fast transport along the low density glass–glass interfaces. The present results further indicate that sputter deposition is a feasible technique for reliable production of nanoglasses and that some of the concepts proposed for this new class of glassy materials are applicable.     

Deterministic Polymorphic Engineering of MoTe2 for Photonic and Optoelectronic Applications

Developing selective and coherent polymorphic crystals at the nanoscale offers a novel strategy for designing integrated architectures for photonic and optoelectronic applications such as metasurfaces, optical gratings, photodetectors, and image sensors. Here, a direct optical writing approach is demonstrated to deterministically create polymorphic 2D materials by locally inducing metallic 1T′-MoTe₂ on the semiconducting 2H-MoTe₂ host layer. In the polymorphic-engineered MoTe₂, 2H- and 1T′- crystalline phases exhibit strong optical contrast from near-infrared to telecom-band ranges (1–1.5 µm), due to the change in the band structure and increase in surface roughness. Sevenfold enhancement of third harmonic generation intensity is realized with conversion efficiency (susceptibility) of ≈1.7 × 10⁻⁷ (1.1 × 10⁻¹⁹ m² V⁻²) and ≈1.7 × 10⁻⁸ (0.3 × 10⁻¹⁹ m² V⁻²) for 1T′ and 2H-MoTe₂, respectively at telecom-band ultrafast pump laser. Lastly, based on polymorphic engineering on MoTe₂, a Schottky photodiode with a high photoresponsivity of 90 AW⁻¹ is demonstrated. This study proposes facile polymorphic engineered structures that will greatly benefit realizing integrated photonics and optoelectronic circuits.     

Heavy Electron Superconductors in Terms of Block Spin Phenomenology

We investigate the relationship between superconductivity and spin glasses, which were observed to be coexistent in heavy fermion superconductors (HFSs). We begin by explaining the phase of spin glass using concepts of finite-sized block spin. We then introduce the phase of superconductivity in HFSs as collective Cooper pairing, that is, the pairing of block spins with net spin = 1/2, each of which is comprised of a large number of random spins that together produce a majority spin direction. The superconducting Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS)-type phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction is substituted for the BCS-type electron-electron interaction mediated by phonon-enhanced spin flips previously suggested by us. An effective charge of any value stemming from an electron attached to the flux of an electric field can be referred to as a composite charge. The distinguished difference between ours and the original BCS model is the following: (i) another BCS-type interaction, (ii) bare electrons that are substituted for block spins with net spin = 1/2 and net charge = e in the presence of electric fields, and (iii) Fermi-Dirac distributions that are replaced by a new distribution called as Brillouin distribution.     

Rational Design and Synthesis of Extremely Efficient Macroporous CoSe2–CNT Composite Microspheres for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Uniquely structured CoSe₂–carbon nanotube (CNT) composite microspheres with optimized morphology for the hydrogen‐evolution reaction (HER) are prepared by spray pyrolysis and subsequent selenization. The ultrafine CoSe₂ nanocrystals uniformly decorate the entire macroporous CNT backbone in CoSe₂–CNT composite microspheres. The macroporous CNT backbone strongly improves the electrocatalytic activity of CoSe₂ by improving the electrical conductivity and minimizing the growth of CoSe₂ nanocrystals during the synthesis process. In addition, the macroporous structure resulting from the CNT backbone improves the electrocatalytic activity of the CoSe₂–CNT microspheres by increasing the removal rate of generated H₂ and minimizing the polarization of the electrode during HER. The CoSe₂–CNT composite microspheres demonstrate excellent catalytic activity for HER in an acidic medium (10 mA cm^?2 at an overpotential of ≈174 mV). The bare CoSe₂ powders exhibit moderate HER activity, with an overpotential of 226 mV at 10 mA cm^?2. The Tafel slopes for the CoSe₂–CNT composite and bare CoSe₂ powders are 37.8 and 58.9 mV dec^?1, respectively. The CoSe₂–CNT composite microspheres have a slightly larger Tafel slope than that of commercial carbon‐supported platinum nanoparticles, which is 30.2 mV dec^–1.