Does Multitasking Increase or Decrease Persuasion? Effects of Multitasking on Comprehension and Counterarguing

This study examined the effects of multitasking on persuasion, including comprehension and counterarguing of persuasive messages, which were presented in three different contexts: (a) nonmultitasking with full attention paid to the message, (b) multitasking with primary attention paid to the message, and (c) multitasking with secondary attention paid to the message. Consistent with predictions, the results suggested that multitasking reduced the actual and perceived levels of comprehension and also reduced counterarguing. The implications for research on persuasion are further discussed.     

Gaze Detection by Wearable Eye‐Tracking and NIR LED‐Based Head‐Tracking Device Based on SVR

In this paper, a gaze estimation method is proposed for use with a large‐sized display at a distance. Our research has the following four novelties: this is the first study on gaze‐tracking for large‐sized displays and large Z (viewing) distances; our gaze‐tracking accuracy is not affected by head movements since the proposed method tracks the head by using a near infrared camera and an infrared light‐emitting diode; the threshold for local binarization of the pupil area is adaptively determined by using a p‐tile method based on circular edge detection irrespective of the eyelid or eyelash shadows; and accurate gaze position is calculated by using two support vector regressions without complicated calibrations for the camera, display, and user's eyes, in which the gaze positions and head movements are used as feature values. The root mean square error of gaze detection is calculated as 0.79° for a 30‐inch screen.     

Design of Reader Baseband Receiver Structure for Demodulating Backscattered Tag Signal in a Passive RFID Environment

In this paper, we present a demodulation structure suitable for a reader baseband receiver in a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) environment. In a passive RFID configuration, an undesirable DC‐offset phenomenon may appear in the baseband of the reader receiver, which can severely degrade the performance of the extraction of valid information from the received tag signal. To eliminate this DC‐offset phenomenon, the primary feature of the proposed demodulation structures for the received FM0 and Miller subcarrier signals is to reconstruct the signal corrupted by the DC‐offset phenomenon by creating peak signals from the corrupted signal. It is shown that the proposed method can successfully detect valid data, even when the received baseband signal is distorted by the DC‐offset phenomenon.     

16‐QAM‐Based Highly Spectral‐Efficient E‐band Communication System with Bit Rate up to 10 Gbps

This paper presents a novel 16‐quadrature‐amplitude‐modulation (QAM) E‐band communication system. The system can deliver 10 Gbps through eight channels with a bandwidth of 5 GHz (71‐76 GHz/81‐86 GHz). Each channel occupies 390 MHz and delivers 1.25 Gbps using a 16‐QAM. Thus, this system can achieve a bandwidth efficiency of 3.2 bit/s/Hz. To implement the system, a driver amplifier and an RF up‐/down‐conversion mixer are implemented using a 0.1 µm gallium arsenide pseudomorphic high‐electron‐mobility transistor (GaAs pHEMT) process. A single‐IF architecture is chosen for the RF receiver. In the digital modem, 24 square root raised cosine filters and four (255, 239) Reed‐Solomon forward error correction codecs are used in parallel. The modem can compensate for a carrier‐frequency offset of up to 50 ppm and a symbol rate offset of up to 1 ppm. Experiment results show that the system can achieve a bit error rate of 10^?5 at a signal‐to‐noise ratio of about 21.5 dB.     

Signal Synchronization Using a Flicker Reduction and Denoising Algorithm for Video‐Signal Optical Interconnect

A video signal through a high‐density optical link has been demonstrated to show the reliability of optical link for high‐data‐rate transmission. To reduce optical point‐to‐point links, an electrical link has been utilized for control and clock signaling. The latency and flicker with background noise occurred during the transferring of data across the optical link due to electrical‐to‐optical with optical‐to‐electrical conversions. The proposed synchronization technology combined with a flicker and denoising algorithm has given good results and can be applied in high‐definition serial data interface (HD‐SDI), ultra‐HD‐SDI, and HD multimedia interface transmission system applications.     

Adaptive modulation and coding for Long Term Evolution‐based mobile satellite communication system

The adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) scheme is mandatory for modern wireless communication systems to overcome inevitable channel impairments. Many of the limitations using AMC are due to the long round‐trip delay of a satellite system. This paper proposes an efficient AMC scheme with power control and symbol interleaving that can be effectively applied to satellite systems. In particular, we focus on mobile satellite systems that have maximum compatibility in a Long Term Evolution system. Simulations reveal that the proposed scheme can provide a maximum 10.2% increase of average beam spectral efficiency and a maximum of 8‐dB power gain compared with a conventional AMC scheme. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced efficiency of organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) by control of laser imaging condition

Laser Induced Thermal Imaging (LITI) is a laser addressed thermal patterning technology with unique advantages such as excellent uniformity of transfer film thickness, capability of multilayer stack transfer, high resolution and scalability to large-size mother glass. However, the deterioration of the device performance during imaging process has been an obstacle to use it as a commercial technology. To investigate a possibility of thermal deformation of organic materials as a transfer layer and a receptor layer during imaging process, we executed a preliminary annealing test by using standard green devices at various temperatures. By comparison of these results with those obtained from LITI devices, we found that the main reason of device deterioration could be originated from the mobility change of the organic layers. Hence, we developed the dwell time control technology to suppress the thermal impact during LITI process and we finally obtained current efficiency which is quite equivalent to that obtained from the standard evaporation devices.     

High current conduction with high mobility by non-radiative charge recombination interfaces in organic semiconductor devices

We report a unique non-radiative p-n-p junction structure to provide high current conduction with high mobility in organic semiconductor devices. The current conduction was improved by increasing p-n junctions made with intrinsic p-type hole transport layer and n-type electron transport layer. The excellent hole mobility of 5.3 × 10^?1 cm²/V s in this p-n-p device configuration is measured by the space charge limited current method with an electric field of 0.3 MV/cm. Enhanced current conduction of 248% at 4.0 V was observed in fluorescent blue organic light-emitting diodes with introduction of non-radiative p-n-p-n-p junction interfaces. Thereupon, the power efficiency at 1000 cd/m² was improved by 22% and the driving voltage also was reduced by 17%, compared to that of no interface device. Such high current conduction with high mobility is attributed to the carrier recombination at p-n-p interfaces through coulombic interaction. This non-radiative p-n-p junction structure suggested in this report can be very useful for many practical organic semiconductor device applications.     

Continuous Control of Charge Transport in Bi‐Deficient BiFeO3 Films Through Local Ferroelectric Switching

It is demonstrated that electric transport in Bi‐deficient Bi_1‐δFeO₃ ferroelectric thin films, which act as a p‐type semiconductor, can be continuously and reversibly controlled by manipulating ferroelectric domains. Ferroelectric domain configuration is modified by applying a weak voltage stress to Pt/Bi_1‐δFeO₃/SrRuO₃ thin‐film capacitors. This results in diode behavior in macroscopic charge‐transport properties as well as shrinkage of polarization‐voltage hysteresis loops. The forward current density depends on the voltage stress time controlling the domain configuration in the Bi_1‐δFeO₃ film. Piezoresponse force microscopy shows that the density of head‐to‐head/tail‐to‐tail unpenetrating local domains created by the voltage stress is directly related to the continuous modification of the charge transport and the diode effect. The control of charge transport is discussed in conjunction with polarization‐dependent interfacial barriers and charge trapping at the non‐neutral domain walls of unpenetrating tail‐to‐tail domains. Because domain walls in Bi_1‐δFeO₃ act as local conducting paths for charge transport, the domain‐wall‐mediated charge transport can be extended to ferroelectric resistive nonvolatile memories and nanochannel field‐effect transistors with high performances conceptually.     

Nitrification via microorganism‐immobilized media using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)

This study was conducted to investigate the nitrification of wastewater using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) media immobilized with nitrifying bacteria. The microorganism‐immobilized media used in this study was prepared by mixing 10% (v/v) PVA, 6% (v/v) polyethylene glycol (PEG) and nitrifying microorganism culture solution. Analysis revealed that the nitrification rate when using the microorganism‐immobilized media increased to 49.1, 80.0 and 83.9% as the filling rate increased to 5, 15 and 25%, respectively. The mass transfer rate of the prepared microorganism‐immobilized media was estimated to be 37.69 mg/L·h maximum. The respiration rate was measured in order to compare with the microorganism‐immobilized media and the conventional biological treatment process of anaerobic‐anoxic‐oxic (A₂O). Respiration time of sludge and the media were similar, but the respiration rate of the microorganism‐immobilized media (initial 20.8 mg O₂/(L·h)) was higher than that of the activated sludge (initial 12.4 mg O₂/(L·h)).