Smart‐Home Interface Design: Layout Organization Adapted to Americans' and Koreans' Cognitive Styles

Increases in the number of household appliances and devices with RFID tags have created a need for efficient organization of smart‐home interfaces in consideration of residents. Previous studies of information‐grouping and cultural‐differences in cognitive style on performance have yielded mixed results. Gender has not typically been considered, nor have subjective preferences been measured. We tested four participant groups (American and Korean males and females) and two interface groupings (functional and spatial). Participants performed tasks that required locating controls for specific devices/functions, after which they rated the interfaces on several scales. American males preferred the functional organization, but Koreans and American females tended to prefer the spatial organization. The results are consistent with Koreans' preference for thematic‐structure and the view that men's and women's cognitive styles differ in masculine/individualistic cultures (U.S.) but not in feminine/collectivistic cultures (Korea). Potential applications include physical (e.g., power and wall‐mounted switches) and virtual interactions (e.g., remote controls, GUI/Web/Phone). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An Integrated Model of the Toyota Production System with Total Quality Management and People Factors

The Toyota production system (TPS), or lean production, has been associated with many benefits for manufacturing firms that implement the system. However, to implement the TPS successfully, it is necessary to integrate the so‐called “hard side” of the system (that is, the technical aspects of material handling) with the “soft side” of the program (that is, the aspects associated with human factors). The present study makes a contribution to such a holistic view of the TPS by proposing an integrated model that consists of the technical aspects of the TPS, together with elements associated with total quality management (TQM), human resources management (HRM), and certain identified “people factors.” The study then uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to test this holistic model using data obtained from a questionnaire survey of 153 Taiwanese manufacturing firms. The empirical study confirms the appropriateness of the causal model, which is evaluated by several goodness‐of‐fit methods. The study confirms the proposition that the inclusion of the “people factors” together with TQM and HRM significantly improves the realization of benefits associated with the TPS practices of “just‐in‐time” (JIT) and “autonomation.” The conclusion is that such an integrated model provides a much more effective “lean system” and has the potential to produce significantly enhanced benefits for firms that implement it. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

An efficient method of designing dual‐ and wide‐band power dividers with arbitrary power division

Capability of microstrip nonuniform transmission lines (MNTLs) for construction of dual‐band and broadband unequal Wilkinson power dividers with arbitrary‐way, arbitrary frequency band operations, and arbitrary power divisions is evaluated. Also, the MNTL transformers are introduced for dual‐band/broadband matching of the unequal output impedances of the MNTL power divider with arbitrary output terminal impedances. The strip width of MNTLs is considered variable and is written as a truncated Fourier series expansion. To show the validity of the design procedure, three experimental MNTL Wilkinson power dividers, which are dual‐band two‐ and three‐way power dividers with different power divisions working at 1 and 3.4 GHz and one broadband equal power divider working from 0.4 to 1.8 GHz, have been designed and fabricated. In the first ones with power division of 1.5, outputs isolation and ports matching of less than ?30 dB are achieved. Next, an extended recombinant structure is presented for achieving three‐way MNTL power dividers with dual‐band operation. The measured isolation between outputs and ports matching are better than 30 dB and measured forward transmissions are between ?4.87 and ?5.45 in two passbands of the divider. Also, for the proposed broadband divider, the measured isolation between the outputs is better than 13 dB in 127% desired bandwidth. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

Parametric modeling of microwave passive components using combined neural networks and transfer functions in the time and frequency

A novel parametric modeling technique is proposed to develop combined neural network and transfer function models for both time and frequency (TF) domain applications of passive components, where the neural network is trained to map geometrical variables to the coefficients of transfer functions. Built on our previous work, a new order‐changing module is developed to enforce stability of transfer functions and simultaneously guarantee continuity of coefficients. A constrained optimization strategy is introduced to enforce passivity of transfer functions through a neural network training process. A general equivalent circuit for two‐port passive components is generated directly from coefficients of arbitrary‐order transfer functions. Once trained, the parametric model can provide accurate and fast prediction of the electromagnetic behavior of passive components with geometrical parameters as variables. Compared to our previous work, the proposed method enables models to work well in the time domain providing good accuracy in challenging modeling applications. Two parametric modeling examples of spiral inductors and interdigital capacitors, and their application in both time and frequency domain simulations of a power amplifier are examined to demonstrate the validity of the proposed technique. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE , 2013.     

Small‐signal and noise modeling of class of HEMTs using knowledge‐based artificial neural networks

In this article, the neural network approach is exploited for development of bias‐dependent small‐signal and noise models of a class of microwave field effect transistor (FETs) made in the same technology but differing in the gate width. The prior knowledge neural approach is applied. Introducing gate width at the input of proposed neural networks, as well as the S/noise parameters of a device that belongs to the same class as the modeled device representing the prior knowledge, leads to very accurate scattering and noise parameters' modeling, as exemplified by modeling of class of pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) devices. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

Novel slotted stepped‐impedance resonator and its application to compact and high performance bandpass filter and diplexer design

By etching slots in the low‐impedance section of the conventional stepped‐impedance resonator, a novel slotted stepped‐impedance resonator (SSIR) is proposed. As two examples, a fourth‐order bandpass filter (BPF) operating at 1 GHz with a size of 0.078 λ_g × 0.062 λ_g and a miniaturized diplexer operating at 0.9/1.57 GHz with a size of 0.054 λ₀ × 0.086 λ₀ are designed based on the proposed SSIR. The fabricated BPF exhibits a high selectivity and a wide ?30 dB rejection upper stopband from 1.13 f₀ to 6.52 f₀, while the fabricated diplexer has up to ?60 dB output isolation. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.     

The making of the Xian terra‐cotta soldiers

Abstract

This paper describes the making of a short film on the Xian terra‐cotta soldiers using our integrated HU‐MANOID software. The method of creating and animating the soldiers’ faces is first presented. Then, we show how our approach, based on metaballs and spline surfaces, was used for designing and deforming soldiers’ bodies. For the animation of the bodies, we describe the motion control methods. Clothes for the soldiers are then described as well as horses and decor design. For the rendering, we explained our strategy using parallel machines. Finally, problems of integration are addressed.     

Degradation of organic dye using zero-valent iron prepared from by-product of pickling line

In this study, zero-valent iron (ZVI) was produced using iron oxide that is a by-product of a pickling line at a steel works. The reaction activity of the produced ZVI was evaluated through a series of decomposition experiments of Orange II aqueous solution. The size of ZVI particles increased with reduction temperature due to coalescence. Correspondingly, the specific surface area of ZVI decreased with increasing reduction temperature. The decomposition efficiency of synthesized ZVI particles was higher at a lower pH. In particular, no significant decomposition reaction was observed at pH of 4 and higher. The rate of the ZVI-assisted decomposition of Orange II was increased by addition of H2O2 at pH of 3, whereas it was reduced by addition of H2O2 at a higher pH of 6. Nevertheless, simultaneous use of ZVI, UV and H2O2 led to a considerable increase in the decomposition rate even at a high pH condition (pH = 6).     

Taking science education beyond schooling

Abstract

The shape and content of science education has always been articulated from the scientist's perspective. Recently, an increasing number of science educators have recognized the serious limitations of this perspective and have proposed to define scientific literacy from societal or citizenship perspectives. In this article, I argue that these alternatives will remain as limited as their predecessors unless the very structures of schooling are called into question. Furthermore, I argue that alternatives cannot be designed at the drawing board by theoreticians, but have to be grounded in praxis, thereby providing concrete trajectories along which science education can actually change.     

Stabilization of One‐Dimensional Schrödinger Equation with Variable Coefficient under Delayed Boundary Output Feedback

This article considers stabilization of a one‐dimensional Schrödinger equation with variable coefficient and boundary observation which suffers from an arbitrary given time delay. We design an observer and predictor to stabilize the system. The state is estimated in the time span where the observation is available, and also predicted in the time interval where the observation is not available. It is shown that the estimated state feedback stabilizes the system exponentially. A numerical simulation is presented to illustrate the effect of the stabilizing controller.