Analysis of color symbology from the perspective of cultural semiotics focused on Korean costume colors according to the cultural changes

The purpose of this study was to analyze the symbolization of colors as cultural codes, based on costume colors. In order to study the significance of colors in cultural changes, we carried out a quantitative analysis and interpreted it from the perspective of cultural semiotics. The range of this study was focused on Korean costume colors, over diverse diachronic stages of Korean culture. For this study 1535 color samples were collected, measured with a spectrophotometer, and analyzed quantitatively according their diachronic stages of origin. As a result, red, blue, and yellow were found to be the most frequently used colors during the Chosun Dynasty, a period based on Confucianism. These colors acted as cultural codes with cultural significance. During the Modern times pink, light blue, and black increased in frequency and represented the reception of western culture, the changing sex role of women in society, and utilitarianism. In these days, neutral colors and grayish tones of all colors are the most significant colors of high frequency. The use of such colors is closely related to industrialization, mechanization, functionalism, and the changes of women's sex roles in the societies. They are used as cultural codes, especially to emphasize a rational and masculine image rather than a feminine image. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 32, 71–79, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20290     

A micromachined electrochemical sensor for free chlorine monitoring in drinking water.

In this work, we designed, fabricated and tested a disposable, flow-through amperometric sensor for free chlorine determination in water. The sensor is based on the principle of an electrochemical cell. The substrate, as well as the top microfluidic layer, is made up of a polymer material. The advantages include; (a) disposability from low cost; (b) stable operation range from three-electrode design; (c) fluidic interconnections that provide on line testing capabilities; and (d) transparent substrate which provides for future integration of on-chip optics. The sensor showed a good response and linearity in the chlorine concentration ranging from 0.3 to 1.6 ppm, which applies to common chlorination process for drinking water purification.     

Simulation of polarization converter formed by poling-inducedpolymer waveguides

A polarization converter using electrooptic (EO) polymer waveguides is proposed and it is simulated by a full vectorial beam propagation method (VBPM) for anisotropic medium. First, an efficient structure of poling electrodes is proposed for the fabrication of TE-mode poling-induced waveguides in EO polymer. For given electrode structures of both TE-mode and TM-mode waveguides, poling-induced dielectric tensors are calculated by the finite-element method to provide refractive index distribution, data for VBPM simulation. It is shown numerically that the poled TE and TM mode waveguides work efficiently as the corresponding polarization filters. Then, new poling electrodes are suggested to fabricate a waveguide device formed by connecting the TE and TM mode waveguides adiabatically with a slowly varying structure. This waveguide device has the optic axis slowly rotating as one moves along the propagation direction, so that it will act as polarization converter. VBPM simulation shows that the polarization of the guided mode rotates following the optic axis distribution. Polarization conversion is demonstrated successfully with high conversion efficiency and low excess loss     

Volumetric three‐dimensional up‐conversion display medium

Abstract— Several rare‐earth‐doped fluoride crystals that are excited to emit visible light by sequential two‐photon absorption have been investigated as display‐medium candidates for static volumetric three‐dimensional displays. Dispersion of powders of these materials in a refractive‐index‐matched polymer is reported because such a medium may result in a scalable display. The scattering problem in such a medium is greatly reduced by index‐matching the polymer to the crystalline particles. An index‐matching condition that optimizes the performance is identified.     

Service Reliability Assessment of Weld Repaired CrMoV Steel Rotors

This research deals with the service evaluation of a retired CrMoV steel rotor that has been repaired using deep groove multi‐pass submerged arc welding (SAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). Accelerated creep tests were conducted at several elevated temperatures and extrapolated to the service temperatures. The coalescence of carbides and cavity growth during creep were evaluated. For the CrMoV‐GTAW samples, it was found that the creep life depended on the location of the crossweld in the welded specimen. The service lives of the weldments were extrapolated.     

Semilinear Duhem model for rate-independent and rate-dependent hysteresis

The classical Duhem model provides a finite-dimensional differential model of hysteresis. In this paper, we consider rate-independent and rate-dependent semilinear Duhem models with provable properties. The vector field is given by the product of a function of the input rate and linear dynamics. If the input rate function is positively homogeneous, then the resulting input-output map of the model is rate independent, yielding persistent nontrivial input-output closed curve (that is, hysteresis) at arbitrarily low input frequency. If the input rate function is not positively homogeneous, the input-output map is rate dependent and can be approximated by a rate-independent model for low frequency inputs. Sufficient conditions for convergence to a limiting input-output map are developed for rate-independent and rate-dependent models. Finally, the reversal behavior and orientation of the rate-independent model are discussed.     

A 3.3-V single power supply 16-Mb nonvolatile virtual DRAM using aNAND flash memory technology

A 3.3-V 16-Mb nonvolatile memory having operation virtually identical to DRAM with package pin compatibility has been developed. Read and write operations are fully DRAM compatible except for a longer RAS precharge time after write. Fast random access time of 63 ns with the NAND flash memory cell is achieved by using a hierarchical row decoder scheme and a unique folded bit-line architecture which also allows bit-by-bit program verify and inhibit operation. Fast page mode with a column address access time of 21 ns is achieved by sensing and latching 4 k cells simultaneously. To allow byte alterability, nonvolatile restore operation with self-contained erase is developed. Self-contained erase is word-line based, and increased cell disturb due to the word-line based erase is relaxed by adding a boosted bit-line scheme to a conventional self-boosting technique. The device is fabricated in a 0.5-μm triple-well, p-substrate CMOS process using two-metal and three-poly interconnect layers. A resulting die size is 86.6 mm², and the effective cell size including the overhead of string select transistors is 2.0 μm²     

Dichotomous behavior of polymer melts in isothermal melt spinning

Isothermal melt spinning experiments have been conducted using two polyethylene melts of low density (LDPE) and high density (HDPE) to produce steady state spinline profiles. The data revealed the threadline extensional viscosity exhibiting a contrasting picture : extension thickening behavior for LDPE and extension thinning one for HDPE. A White-Metzner model having a strain rate-dependent relaxation time was then found to be able to simulate this dichotomy in melt spinning fairly well: the fluids whose relaxation times have smaller strain rate-dependence can fit LDPE data with extension thickening extensional viscosity whereas the fluids whose relaxation times have larger strain rate-dependence can fit HDPE data with extension thinning extensional viscosity. This dichotomous nature of viscoelastic fluids is also believed to be able to explain other similar contrasting phenomena exhibited by polymer melts, such as vortex/no vortex in entry flows, cohesive/ductile fracture modes in extension, and more/less stable draw resonance than Newtonian fluids.     

An empirical investigation of socio-cultural factors of information sharing in China

Understanding information sharing is an important challenge to modern organizations, and is likely to be increasingly considered when IT investment decisions are made world-wide. Our research study investigated the influence of cultural factors on information sharing in China. It was postulated that social network structures such as guanxi, Confucian dynamism, and collectivism could explain the degree to which information sharing took place between people in China. It was found that guanxi, Confucian dynamism, and collectivism all had a significant influence on information sharing.