A novel TFT‐OLED integration for OLED‐independent pixel programming in amorphous‐Si AMOLED pixels

Abstract— The direct voltage programming of active‐matrix organic light‐emitting‐diode (AMOLED) pixels with n‐channel amorphous‐Si (a‐Si) TFTs requires a contact between the driving TFT and the OLED cathode. Current processing constraints only permit connecting the driving TFT to the OLED anode. Here, a new “inverted” integration technique which makes the direct programming possible by connecting the driver n‐channel a‐Si TFT to the OLED cathode is demonstrated. As a result, the pixel drive current increases by an order of magnitude for the same data voltages and the pixel data voltage for turn‐on drops by several volts. In addition, the pixel drive current becomes independent of the OLED characteristics so that OLED aging does not affect the pixel current. Furthermore, the new integration technique is modified to allow substrate rotation during OLED evaporation to improve the pixel yield and uniformity. The new integration technique is important for realizing active‐matrix OLED displays with a‐Si technology and conventional bottom‐anode OLEDs.     

Calibration of Cameras with Radially Symmetric Distortion

We present algorithms for plane-based calibration of general radially distorted cameras. By this, we understand cameras that have a distortion center and an optical axis such that the projection rays of pixels lying on a circle centered on the distortion center form a right viewing cone centered on the optical axis. The camera is said to have a single viewpoint (SVP) if all such viewing cones have the same apex (the optical center); otherwise, we speak of NSVP cases. This model encompasses the classical radial distortion model [5], fisheyes, and most central or noncentral catadioptric cameras. Calibration consists in the estimation of the distortion center, the opening angles of all viewing cones, and their optical centers. We present two approaches of computing a full calibration from dense correspondences of a single or multiple planes with known euclidean structure. The first one is based on a geometric constraint linking viewing cones and their intersections with the calibration plane (conic sections). The second approach is a homography-based method. Experiments using simulated and a broad variety of real cameras show great stability. Furthermore, we provide a comparison with Hartley-Kang's algorithm [12], which, however, cannot handle such a broad variety of camera configurations, showing similar performance.     

Multi-Perspective Modelling, Rendering and Imaging

A perspective image represents the spatial relationships of objects in a scene as they appear from a single viewpoint. In contrast, a multi‐perspective image combines what is seen from several viewpoints into a single image. Despite their incongruity of view, effective multi‐perspective images are able to preserve spatial coherence and can depict, within a single context, details of a scene that are simultaneously inaccessible from a single view, yet easily interpretable by a viewer. In computer vision, multi‐perspective images have been used for analysing structure revealed via motion and generating panoramic images with a wide field‐of‐view using mirrors. In this STAR, we provide a practical guide on topics in multi‐perspective modelling and rendering methods and multi‐perspective imaging systems. We start with a brief review of multi‐perspective image techniques frequently employed by artists such as the visual paradoxes of Escher, the Cubism of Picasso and Braque and multi‐perspective panoramas in cel animations. We then characterize existing multi‐perspective camera models, with an emphasis on their underlying geometry and image properties. We demonstrate how to use these camera models for creating specific multi‐perspective rendering effects. Furthermore, we show that many of these cameras satisfy the multi‐perspective stereo constraints and we demonstrate several multi‐perspective imaging systems for extracting 3D geometry for computer vision. The participants learn about topics in multi‐perspective modelling and rendering for generating compelling pictures for computer graphics and in multi‐perspective imaging for extracting 3D geometry for computer vision. We hope to provide enough fundamentals to satisfy the technical specialist without intimidating curious digital artists interested in multi‐perspective images. The intended audience includes digital artists, photographers and computer graphics and computer vision researchers using or building multi‐perspective cameras. They will learn about multi‐perspective modelling and rendering, along with many real world multi‐perspective imaging systems.     

Science and technology in the region: The output of regional science and technology, its strengths and its leading institutions

Summary We operationalize scientific output in a region by means of the number of articles (as in the SciSearch database) per year and technology output by means of the number of patent applications (as in the database of the European Patent Office) per priority year. All informetric analyses were done using the DIALOG online-system. The main research questions are the following: Which scientific and technological fields or topics are most influent within a region and which institutions or companies are mainly publishing articles or holding patents? Do the distributions of regional science and technology fields and of publishing institutions follow the well-known informetric function? Are there - as it is expected - only few fields and few institutions which dominate the region? Is there a connection between the economic power of a region and the regional publication and patent output? Examples studied in detail are seven German regions: Aachen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Köln (Cologne), Leipzig - Halle - Dessau, München (Munich), and Stuttgart. Three different indicators were used, science and technology attraction of a region (number of scientific articles and patents), science and technology intensity (articles and patents per 1,000 inhabitants), and science and technology density (articles and patents per 1 billion EURO gross value added). Top region concerning both attraction and intensity is Munich, concerning density it is Aachen.     

Energy Sales & Care: IT-Lösung für den Energievertrieb — Das Zusammenspiel von Handel und Vertrieb in der Energieversorgung

October 1, 2001 is approaching Austria’s power supplying companies with giant strides. From that time on these companies have to meet the general conditions of the EIWOG 2000 as well as they have to fulfil the directive of the internal market of the European Union and further published statute basics from the regulator. An increased readiness for changing regarding household customers is not predictable, however, it is foreseeable that one or another power customer will switch to an alternative provider. This and further facts caused by the liberalization process lead to the situation, that on one hand there are completely new and on the other hand changed conventional business processes for the power suppliers. Traditional methods and equipment will not suffice anymore. Therefore it is necessary, that energy supply companies and offerers of IT-solutions create the appropriate solution, which is adapted for the particular power supplying company. Energy Sales & Care, a modularly constructed and always expandable product for tomorrow’s power supplier can cover this shortage in a responsible way.     

Diminished self-conscious emotional responding in frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is a neurodegenerative disease that dramatically alters social and emotional behavior. Recent work has suggested that self-conscious emotions (e.g., embarrassment) may be particularly vulnerable to disruption in this disease. Self-conscious emotions require the ability to monitor the self in relation to others. These abilities are thought to be subserved by brain regions (e.g., medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula) that are particularly vulnerable to damage in FTLD. This study examined emotional responding (expressive behavior, peripheral physiology, and subjective experience) in 24 FTLD patients and 16 cognitively normal control participants using a karaoke task known to elicit self-conscious emotion reliably and a nonemotional control task (isometric handgrip). Results indicated that FTLD patients showed diminished self-conscious emotional behavior (embarrassment and amusement) and diminished physiological responding while watching themselves singing. No differences were found between patients and controls in the nonemotional control task. These findings offer evidence of marked disruption of self-conscious emotional responding in FTLD. Diminished self-conscious emotional responding likely contributes significantly to social inappropriateness and other behavioral abnormalities in FTLD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanical gradient interphase by interdiffusion and antiplasticisation effect—study of an epoxy/thermoplastic system

A stoichiometric amine-epoxy formulation was cured in the presence of a thermoplastic, namely poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP). The epoxy system consisted of the resin diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and the aromatic curing agent 4,4′-diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS). As shown for this system in a former study by Oyama et al. [Oyama HT, Lesko JJ, Wightman JP. J Polym Sci B 1997;35:331-46. [36]], preferential absorption of amine molecules by PVP can occur. In the present study, the focus is on the variations of local elastic properties within the epoxy interphase adjacent to the PVP layer. The curing was performed close to the glass transition temperature, T_α, of the PVP film, namely at 170 °C. Variations of the local amine concentration were tracked using energy-dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDX), by taking benefit of the sulfur contained in DDS. Using temperature-dependent dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), a series of epoxy reference samples of different amine-epoxy concentration ratios, r, was investigated in order to work out the relationship between r and the epoxy storage modulus at room temperature. In the excess-epoxy regime, r<1, the modulus is observed to increase with departure from the stoichiometric ratio, r=1. Considering the respective suppression of the β-transition, the observed characteristic can be explained by an antiplasticisation effect. Depth-sensing indentation (DSI) experiments across the epoxy/PVP interphase provided evidence for strong modulus variations. In consistency with the EDX and the DMA data, in the vicinity of the PVP layer the local epoxy modulus is increased. The total change of the epoxy Young's modulus is ∼1.1 GPa. However, the total width of the modulus decay of ∼175 μm is ∼2.5 times larger than the one of the DDS concentration gradient. This finding is discussed in terms of additional spatial variations of the DGEBA concentration as well as long-range diffusion currents of DDS induced by the interdiffusion processes and their effect on the final network of crosslinks.     

Occurrence of perfluoroalkyl compounds in surface waters from the North Pacific to the Arctic Ocean

Perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) were determined in 22 surface water samples (39-76°N) and three sea ice core and snow samples (77-87°N) collected from North Pacific to the Arctic Ocean during the fourth Chinese Arctic Expedition in 2010. Geographically, the average concentration of ∑PFC in surface water samples were 560 ± 170 pg L(-1) for the Northwest Pacific Ocean, 500 ± 170 pg L(-1) for the Arctic Ocean, and 340 ± 130 pg L(-1) for the Bering Sea, respectively. The perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) were the dominant PFC class in the water samples, however, the spatial pattern of PFCs varied. The C(5), C(7) and C(8) PFCAs (i.e., perfluoropentanoate (PFPA), perfluoroheptanoate (PFHpA), and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA)) were the dominant PFCs in the Northwest Pacific Ocean while in the Bering Sea the PFPA dominated. The changing in the pattern and concentrations in Pacific Ocean indicate that the PFCs in surface water were influenced by sources from the East-Asian (such as Japan and China) and North American coast, and dilution effect during their transport to the Arctic. The presence of PFCs in the snow and ice core samples indicates an atmospheric deposition of PFCs in the Arctic. The elevated PFC concentration in the Arctic Ocean shows that the ice melting had an impact on the PFC levels and distribution. In addition, the C(4) and C(5) PFCAs (i.e., perfluorobutanoate (PFBA), PFPA) became the dominant PFCs in the Arctic Ocean indicating that PFBA is a marker for sea ice melting as the source of exposure.     

Chronologie des EHEC O104:H4 Ausbruchsgeschehens bis zur Gr��ndung der l?nder��bergreifenden Task Force EHEC aus Sicht der Lebensmittel��berwachung in Schleswig-Holstein am Beispiel des Kreises Schleswig-Flensburg

The article describes the chronology of events of the recent EHEC O104:H4 outbreak from the perspective of food inspection in Schleswig-Holstein until the National Task Force EHEC was founded. Taking the district of Schleswig-Flensburg as an example, the collaboration and information exchange between health and food control authorities is described. The Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas of Schleswig-Holstein (MLUR) received the first information about clusters of disorders with symptoms of bloody diarrhoea and HUS from the districts around Hamburg and the city of Hamburg on 19 May 2011. On the same day, the veterinary services and the service for consumer protection in the district of Schleswig-Flensburg were informed about a situation comparable to the one in the environment of Hamburg. Due to this situation, official procedures were initiated to discover the origins of this food-associated outbreak - both at the state and county level and in collaboration with the health authorities. On 1 June 2011, an initial telephone conference was held between the responsible ministries and the food inspection and health authorities of the counties and cities in order to coordinate a joint action. On 3 June 2011, the National Task Force EHEC was founded at the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) in Berlin. By founding the National Task Force EHEC, the coordination of the clearing process was passed over to the BVL two weeks after the public health authorities had knowledge of accumulated and cross-border cases. On 7 June 2011 an employee of the district Schleswig-Flensburg was sent to the Task Force EHEC in Berlin by the MLUR. The lesson to be learned as a result of the EHEC O104:H4 outbreak is that among the ??dangerous foods?? there are more plant-based foods than often assumed. In the future this must be much more taken into account.