(Close) distance makes the heart grow fonder: Improving implicit racial attitudes and interracial interactions through approach behaviors.

In 4 studies, the authors examined the effect of approaching Blacks on implicit racial attitudes and immediacy behaviors. In Studies 1-3, participants were trained to pull a joystick toward themselves or to push it away from themselves when presented with photographs of Blacks, Whites, or Asians before completing an Implicit Association Test to measure racial bias. In Study 4, the effect of this training procedure on nonverbal behavior in an interracial contact situation was investigated. Results from the studies demonstrated that approaching Blacks decreased participants' implicit racial prejudice and increased immediacy when interacting with a Black confederate. The implications of these findings for current theories on approach, avoidance, and intergroup relations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vision-based sensor for real-time measuring of surface traction fields

The desire to reproduce and expand the human senses drives innovations in sensor technology. Conversely, human-interface research aims to allow people to interact with machines as if they were natural objects in a cybernetic, human-oriented way. We wish to unite the two paradigms with a haptic sensor as versatile as the sense of touch and developed for a dual purpose: to improve the robotic capability to interact with the physical world, and to improve the human capability to interact with the virtual world for emerging applications with a heightened sense of presence. We designed a sensor, dubbed GelForce, that acts as a practical tool in both conventional and novel desktop applications using common consumer hardware. By measuring a surface traction field, the GelForce tactile sensor can represent the magnitude and direction of force applied to the skin's surface using computer vision. This article is available with a short video documentary on CD-ROM.     

Light propagation along periodic metal-dielectric layers

Analysis and experiments on TE and TM waves along periodically laminated metal-dielectric layers are described; the waves propagate parallel to the layers. Aluminum (Al) and silica (SiO2) are chosen as the metal and the dielectric, respectively. We find that the attenuation for TE waves is much higher than that for TM waves. Typically, alphaTE/alphaTM ranges from 10(3) to 10(4). Thus, an optical polarizer can be made in a multilayer structure.     

Trunk motion control during the flight phase while hopping considering angular momentum of a humanoid

In previous studies, various stabilizing control methods for humanoids during the stance phase while hopping and running were proposed. Although these methods contribute to stability while hopping and running, it is possibility that the control during the flight phase could also affect the stability. In this study, we investigated whether the control during the flight phase can affect the stability of a humanoid while running. To achieve stable hopping, we developed a control system that accounts for the angular momentum of the whole body during the flight phase. In this system, the angular momentum generated by the motion of the lower body in each time interval is calculated during the flight phase, and the trunk joints are controlled to generate the angular momentum necessary to compensate for the deviation of the waist posture, which is used as the reference point for the motion coordinate system of the robot. Once the proposed control system was developed and simulated, we found that the hopping duration in the unconstrained state was extended.     

Preparation and photoconduction of rapidly quenched films in the Bi2O3-TiO2 system

The rapidly quenched films in the Bi₂O₃-TiO₂ system (0 to 60% TiO₂) were prepared using a twin-roller type apparatus. The films precipitated Bi₂O₃ solid solutions of different types in the composition ranges, with TiO₂ contents of 0 to 5, 7.5 to 10 and 12.5 to 40%, respectively. The first solid solution had a tetragonal structure of -form. The second, though also crystallized in the tetragonal structure, adopted a disordered modification of the -form. The third solid solution was -form (defect fluorite structure). The formation of amorphous phase commenced in the composition with 30% TiO₂, and the films became completely amorphous beyond 50% TiO₂. The quenched films showed a certain instability to decompose or transform into the different phase assemblage by annealing at higher temperatures (about 400 to 500° C, except 260° C for the pure Bi₂O₃ film). The quenched films were also characterized by a high photoconductivity. The photoconduction mechanism was suggested to be associated with a structural imperfection of Bi₂O₃ accompanied by a certain amount of pentavalent bismuth ion.     

A Microprocessor for Speech Recognition

A new single-chip microprocessor for speech recognition, the SRP, has been developed, utilizing a multiprocessor architecture and a pipelined structure. It can recognize up to 340 isolated words or 40 connected words in real time. The SRP contains a vector distance calculator, a DP-equation calculator, and an I/O controller operating in a pipelined manner. Algorithm variations and operation parameters are user programmable, and the total size of the SRP program for a typical speech recognition system is about 700 words. The device has been fabricated with n-channel Si-gate E/D MOS technology with 2.5 μm design rules and employs 7296 three-transistor dynamic RAM cells for a total of more than 40 000 transistors.     

Effect of cleaving environment on the growth of ZnSe on the GaAs (1 1 0) surface by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.