Demonstration of a technological prototype of an active‐matrix BiNem liquid‐crystal display

Abstract— The first implementation of active‐matrix addressing on a BiNem bistable nematic liquid‐crystal display has been demonstrated. Compared to previous passive‐matrix addressing, major improvements have been made for the bistable mode: a smoother image refreshment, shorter refreshing frame time compatible with that of high‐resolution e‐book displays, the use of a touch screen for interactive functions such as hand‐writing, a virtual keyboard, improved functionality for scrolling menus, partial refreshment, etc. On the same display but in the monostable mode, by using electrically controlled birefringence (ECB), the potential of displaying moving pictures at a rate of 25 images/sec, at an extended room temperature, has been demonstrated. In the ECB monostable mode, static images can be displayed down to ?20°C. A new transflective single‐polarizer optical mode has been developed to optimize the indoor and outdoor readability of the display. By lowering the surface reflection and enhancing the panel transmission, a contrast ratio of 94:1 and a transmittance of 17% have been achieved.     

A simulation framework for technical systems life cycle cost analysis

This paper deals with the construction of a simulation framework for technical systems life cycle cost (LCC) analysis. It also deals with the concept of software reuse in event-based simulation, since the framework involves simulation of all cost generating activities related to a technical system, from its planning and acquisition phases until its final discard. The basic principles of object-oriented programming and simulation software efficiency, reuse, extensibility and evolvability are analyzed and the concepts of computational reflection and frameworks are explored. Finally, the framework is described in detail and its extension points, based on the inheritance mechanism, are shown.     

Contributing vertices-based Minkowski sum computation of convex polyhedra

Minkowski sum is an important operation. It is used in many domains such as: computer-aided design, robotics, spatial planning, mathematical morphology, and image processing. We propose a novel algorithm, named the Contributing Vertices-based Minkowski Sum (CVMS) algorithm for the computation of the Minkowski sum of convex polyhedra. The CVMS algorithm allows to easily obtain all the facets of the Minkowski sum polyhedron only by examining the contributing vertices—a concept we introduce in this work, for each input facet. We exploit the concept of contributing vertices to propose the Enhanced and Simplified Slope Diagram-based Minkowski Sum (ESSDMS) algorithm, a slope diagram-based Minkowski sum algorithm sharing some common points with the approach proposed by Wu et al. [Wu Y, Shah J, Davidson J. Improvements to algorithms for computing the Minkowski sum of 3-polytopes. Comput Aided Des. 2003; 35(13): 1181-92]. The ESSDMS algorithm does not embed input polyhedra on the unit sphere and does not need to perform stereographic projections. Moreover, the use of contributing vertices brings up more simplifications and improves the overall performance. The implementations for the mentioned algorithms are straightforward, use exact number types, produce exact results, and are based on CGAL, the Computational Geometry Algorithms Library. More examples and results of the CVMS algorithm for several convex polyhedra can be found at http://liris.cnrs.fr/hichem.barki/mksum/CVMS-convex.     

High‐Modulus Low‐Cost Carbon Fibers from Polyethylene Enabled by Boron Catalyzed Graphitization

Currently, carbon fibers (CFs) from the solution spinning, air oxidation, and carbonization of polyacrylonitrile impose a lower price limit of ≈$10 per lb, limiting the growth in industrial and automotive markets. Polyethylene is a promising precursor to enable a high‐volume industrial grade CF as it is low cost, melt spinnable and has high carbon content. However, sulfonated polyethylene (SPE)‐derived CFs have thus far fallen short of the 200 GPa tensile modulus threshold for industrial applicability. Here, a graphitization process is presented catalyzed by the addition of boron that produces carbon fiber with >400 GPa tensile modulus at 2400 °C. Wide angle X‐ray diffraction collected during carbonization reveals that the presence of boron reduces the onset of graphitization by nearly 400 °C, beginning around 1200 °C. The B‐doped SPE‐CFs herein attain 200 GPa tensile modulus and 2.4 GPa tensile strength at the practical carbonization temperature of 1800 °C.     

Effect of the Acidity of TiO2 Surface on Its Photocatalytic Activity in Acetone Gas-Phase Oxidation

The effect of the surface acidity of modified TiO₂ samples on the rate of photocatalytic decomposition of acetone vapor was studied. The TiO₂ activity was shown to depend strongly on the concentration of acid and basic sites on the surface. It was 1.23 times greater for TiO₂ treated with 10 M H₂SO₄ solution than for the untreated sample. This dependence may be related to changes in the adsorption energy of the reagents.     

Proposal for new catalytic roles for two invariant residues in Escherichia coli ribonuclease HI

Three mutants of Escherichia coli ribonuclease HI, in whichan invariant acidic residue Asp134 was replaced, were crystallized,and their three-dimensional structures were determined by X-raycrystallography. The D134A mutant is completely inactive, whereasthe other two mutants, D134H and D134N, retain 59 and 90% activitiesrelative to the wild-type, respectively. The overall structuresof these three mutant proteins are identical with that of thewild-type enzyme, except for local conformational changes ofthe flexible loops. The ribonuclease H family has a common activesite, which is composed of four invariant acidic residues (Asp10,G1u48, Asp70 and Asp134 in E.coli ribonuclease HI), and theirrelative positions in the mutants, even including the side-chainatoms, are almost the same as those in the wild-type. The positionsof the -polar atoms at residue 134 in the wild-type, as wellas D134H and D134N, coincide well with each other. They arelocated near the imidazole side chain of His124, which is assumedto participate in the catalytic reaction, in addition to thefour invariant acidic residues. Combined with the pH profilesof the enzymatic activities of the two other mutants, H124Aand H124A/D134N, the crystallographic results allow us to proposea new catalytic mechanism of ribonuclease H, which includesthe roles for Asp134 and His124.     

Low-cost fiber Bragg grating vibroacoustic sensor for voice and heartbeat detection

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) vibroacoustic sensor exploiting an intensity-based interrogation principle is presented. The optical system is complemented by signal processing techniques that allow disturbances to be mitigated and improve the spectral estimation. The sensor is capable of performing frequency analysis of sounds up to 3 kHz, with top sensitivity in the 100-500 Hz frequency range, and of dynamically tracking pulsed phenomena that induce a strain to the FBG. The sensor has been applied to the detection of voice, showing a great intelligibility of the speech despite the low-quality environment, and to the monitoring of the heartbeat rate from the wrist.     

New generation photon-counting cameras: algol and CPNG

Algol and Comptage de Photons Nouvelle Génération (CPNG) are new generation photon counting cameras developed for high angular resolution in the visible by means of optical aperture synthesis and speckle interferometry and for photon noise limited fast imaging of biological targets. They are intensified CCDs. They have been built to benefit from improvements in photonic commercial components, sensitivity, and personal computer workstations processing power. We present how we achieve optimal performances (sensitivity and spatiotemporal resolution) by the combination of proper optical and electronics design, and real-time elaborated data processing. The number of pixels is 532 x 516 and 1024(2) read at a frame rate of 262 and 100 Hz for CPNG and Algol, respectively. The dark current is very low: 5.5 x 10(-4) e(-) .pixel(-1). s(-1). The saturation flux is approximately 7 photon events /pixel/s. Quantum efficiencies reach up to 36% and 26% in the visible with the GaAsP photocathodes and in the red with the GaAs ones, respectively, thanks to the sensitivity of the photocathodes and to the photon centroiding algorithm; they are likely the highest values reported for intensified CCDs.     

Robust control of a bimorph mirror for adaptive optics systems

We apply robust control techniques to an adaptive optics system including a dynamic model of the deformable mirror. The dynamic model of the mirror is a modification of the usual plate equation. We propose also a state-space approach to model the turbulent phase. A continuous time control of our model is suggested, taking into account the frequential behavior of the turbulent phase. An H(infinity) controller is designed in an infinite-dimensional setting. Because of the multivariable nature of the control problem involved in adaptive optics systems, a significant improvement is obtained with respect to traditional single input-single output methods.