Assessment of drivers' visual perception of information displayed in LED traffic signs at road construction sites

This study investigated drivers' visual perception of information displayed in LED traffic signs under different levels of environmental luminance. Concerning the information displayed, the environmental luminance comprised four luminance contrasts, two arrow types, and three environmental luminances, which were used to identify the visibility of traffic signs at the reading distance. Regarding visible distance, visibility involved reading starting and end points, extent of glare, comfortable distance, and glare distance. According to the study results obtained by using a highly reliable glare assessment method and studying the LED traffic signs, the lower the luminance contrast of traffic signs was the higher glare the participants perceived. A luminance contrast of 6200:2066 cd/m² provided the farthest comfortable and glare distances, enabling drivers to notice the signs comparatively earlier and have sufficient time to react accordingly. Overall, arrow type “<<<” outperformed “←” because the former was easier for drivers to read and created less glare. Regarding environmental luminance, traffic signs displayed in high and medium luminance environments (i.e., extremely sunny and cloudy days, respectively) each featured their own advantage, whereas those displayed in low luminance environments (nights) have to be further improved.     

Hybrid tunable lens for eliminating optical aberration and enlarging optical power

In this paper, we propose a hybrid tunable lens based on electrowetting effect for eliminating optical aberration. By integrating a doublet lens in the front surface of a tunable lens, the proposed lens can achieve good image quality and obtain high optical power. Experimental results demonstrate that both two advantages can be achieved for the hybrid tunable lens. It can also reduce the operating voltage by ～5 V to reach the same focal length, and it has compact structure, light weight, and good image quality.     

Development of a 3D HUD using a tunable bandpass filter for wavelength multiplexing

A 3D stereoscopic head‐up display using a tunable bandpass filter to perform left and right image spectral separation is presented. Using a single filter reduces the size and the cost of the head‐up display optical engine and enables each spectral band to be accurately tuned. Experiments performed on the first prototype demonstrate the ability to continuously tune the bandpass frequency on 30‐nm range while keeping a 20‐nm bandwidth. Such a system avoids the use of a bulky and costly rotating wheel and enables the use of holographic optical elements known to be wavelength selective.     

Development of active matrix LCD for use in high‐resolution adaptive headlights

Conventional adaptive driving beam headlamps are limited in achieving still higher quantities of switchable pixels by the number of LEDs and movable elements needed. In this paper, it is shown that by integrating an active matrix liquid crystal display module, it is possible to realize fully adaptive high‐resolution headlights without mechanical elements and a finite number of LED with 30 k switchable pixels.     

A service recovery method to enhance customer satisfaction with a case study of motion sport game

Service recovery is a concept that involves regaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Although existing studies have addressed its importance, few service recovery methodologies have been developed. Thus, there is a need to develop a systematic framework that can first detect customer status and then provide appropriate recovery recommendations to ensure customer satisfaction. This study develops such a framework in relation to an individual health maintenance practice. While regular moderate exercise is known to promote good health and help prevent disease, the lack of exercise remains a crucial health issue. This study presents a logistic regression model that uses both physiological data (heart rate and blood pressure) and psychological data (ratings of perceived exertion) to detect the effectiveness of an individual's exercise and to provide sports‐related service recovery suggestions as needed. To implement and assess this service recovery model, the use of a motion gaming system is proposed.     

Online bin stretching with three bins

Online bin stretching is a semi-online variant of bin packing in which the algorithm has to use the same number of bins as an optimal packing, but is allowed to slightly overpack the bins. The goal is to minimize the amount of overpacking, i.e., the maximum size packed into any bin. We give an algorithm for online bin stretching with a stretching factor of \(11/8 = 1.375\) for three bins. Additionally, we present a lower bound of \(45/33 = 1.\overline{36}\) for online bin stretching on three bins and a lower bound of 19/14 for four and five bins that were discovered using a computer search.     

A frame‐based EM‐simulation for design of LC oscillator with MoM capacitor banks

This article presents a simulation method for the design of a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO). Electromagnetic (EM) simulations are essential and inevitable for modern LC oscillator design. Although EM‐simulators provide high accuracy, the EM‐simulation time is very long when metal‐oxide‐metal (MoM) capacitors are present. The proposed frame‐based EM‐simulation can significantly reduce the EM‐simulation time even in the presence of MoM capacitors without influencing the accuracy. To verify the proposed method, a DCO was fabricated using a 55‐nm CMOS process. Measurements of the DCO are in good agreement with the frame‐based post‐layout simulation results. In addition, the DCO has good performances with a low power consumption of approximately 0.68 mW.     

Starting open source collaborative innovation: the antecedents of network formation in community source

Specific needs in the area of enterprise applications have led to a new type of collaborative open source innovation development across institution borders: community source. We use the Kuali community source network, a jointly managed, border‐spanning organization that supplies the institutions that created it, to describe how community source works. This study builds a theoretical basis for understanding the individual and institutional factors affecting community source network formation and the decision by organizations to join a community source network. We identify eight antecedents of decisions about forming or joining community source initiatives: motives, learning, trust, norms and monitoring, institutional similarity, external funding, hostile external environment and information technology. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

A comparative study between the augmented Lagrangian method and the complementarity approach for modeling the contact problem

The increasing demand for real-time high-fidelity multibody dynamics simulations in several modern fields such as robotics and computer game industries has motivated many researches to propose novel approaches to model multibody systems with several contacts. The possibility of different contact conditions in a system with several contacts yields a combinatorial problem of potentially large size. Rigid contact model which is the most common model used for real-time simulations yields a non-smooth dynamic formulation. The solution of such a system can be governed using different methods. In this paper a comparison between the complementarity approaches and the augmented Lagrangian based formulations to deal with non-smooth contact models is presented via numerical examples, and the advantages and shortcomings of each method are discussed.     

Team THOR's Entry in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals 2015

This paper describes Team THOR's approach to human‐in‐the‐loop disaster response robotics for the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. Under the duress of unpredictable networking and terrain, fluid operator interactions and dynamic disturbance rejection become major concerns for effective teleoperation. We present a humanoid robot designed to effectively traverse a disaster environment while allowing for a wide range of manipulation abilities. To complement the robot hardware, a hierarchical software foundation implements network strategies that provide real‐time feedback to an operator under restricted bandwidth using layered user interfaces. Our strategy for humanoid locomotion includes a backward‐facing knee configuration paired with specialized toe and heel lifting strategies that allow the robot to traverse difficult surfaces while rejecting external perturbations. With an upper body planner that encodes operator preferences, predictable motion plans are executed in unforeseen circumstances. These plans are critical for manipulation in unknown environments. Our approach was validated during the DRC Finals competition, where Team THOR scored three points in 18 min of operation time, and the results are presented along with an analysis of each task.