Moving‐picture response time (MPRT) of LCDs for the oblique viewing direction

Abstract— The dynamic performance of displays is an important characteristic for multimedia applications. Motion‐picture response time (MPRT) has been used as an indicator of the dynamic performance of LCDs. This paper describes a comprehensive method of MPRT evaluation for the oblique viewing direction. By using a tilted camera configuration, the angular dependency of MPRT is investigated for the condition that the horizontally scrolling patterns are observed from the vertical direction. For each gray‐to‐gray transition, distinct changes in MPRT and the luminance profile of blur are observed.     

Modeling the Influences of Cyclic Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processes for Reinforcement Learning in Eye Movements

Understanding and reproducing complex human oculomotor behaviors using computational models is a challenging task. In this paper, two studies are presented, which focus on the development and evaluation of a computational model to show the influences of cyclic top-down and bottom-up processes on eye movements. To explain these processes, reinforcement learning was used to control eye movements. The first study showed that, in a picture-viewing task, different policies obtained from different picture-viewing conditions produced different types of eye movement patterns. In another visual search task, the second study illustrated that feedback information from each saccadic eye movement could be used to update the model's eye movement policy, generating different patterns in the following saccade. These two studies demonstrate the value of an integrated reinforcement learning model in explaining both top-down and bottom-up processes of eye movements within one computational model.     

Multibody dynamics analysis of the driveshaft coupling of the ball and tripod types of constant velocity joints

The paper proposes a multibody dynamic simulation to numerically evaluate the generated axial force (GAF) and plunging resistant force (PRF) practically related to the shudder and idling vibration of an automobile. A numerical analysis of the drive shaft coupling of a ball joint (BJ) and two plunging type joints, a tripod joint (TJ), and a very low axial force tripod joint (VTJ), are conducted using the commercial program DAFUL. User-defined subroutines of a friction model illustrating the contacted parts of the outboard and inboard joint are subsequently developed to overcome the numerical instability and improve the solution performance. The Coulomb friction effect is applied to describe the contact models of the lubricated parts in the rolling and sliding mechanisms. The numerical results, in accordance with the joint articulation angle variation, are validated with experimentation. The offset between spider and housing is demonstrated to be the critical role in producing the third order component of the axial force that potentially causes the noise and vibration in the vehicle. The VTJ shows an excellent behavior for the shudder when compared with the TJ. In addition, a flexible nonlinear contact analysis coupled with multibody dynamics is also performed to show the dynamic strength characteristics of the rollers, housing, and spider.     

Layered Diffusion-based Coverage Control in Wireless Sensor Networks

Coverage is an important performance metric for many applications, such as surveillance in wireless sensor networks. Coverage control is used to select as few active nodes as possible from all deployed sensor nodes, such that sufficient coverage of the monitored area can be guaranteed while reducing the energy consumption of each individual sensor node to prolong the network lifetime. This paper classifies three types of coverage control protocols based on the available information about nodes’ distances or locations, and reviews several representative protocols for each type. We also propose a new distributed and localized coverage control protocol, called Layered Diffusion-based Coverage Control (LDCC). The LDCC protocol does not require information about the node location coordinates when selecting active nodes. Instead, it exploits hop count information, which is easily obtained in a WSN, to select active sensor nodes. Furthermore, the LDCC protocol is very simple and does not require any sophisticated computation such as distance or covered area computation. Our simulation results show that the LDCC protocol achieves a high coverage ratio while incurring very low message overhead compared with other existing protocols. Furthermore, simulation results suggest that in a large-scale sensor network with medium to large localization errors, LDCC performs even better than location-based coverage control protocols.     

Pitchfork bifurcation and flip-flop operation with a coupled nonlinear system

A ring cavity system consisting of two hybrid Michelson interferometers coupled together with feedback is constructed. This system shows spatial bifurcation and can be utilized as an all-optical flip-flop device. We demonstrate experimentally a flip-flop operation by use of only a positive pulse in this system.     

Metal Ions versus Protons: Tracking of Charge-Carrier Insertion into a Cathode Oxide in Aqueous Rechargeable Batteries

Protons in aqueous electrolytes can perform as an additional type of charge carrier for insertion/extraction in addition to the primary carrier cations in aqueous rechargeable batteries. Despite many diverse claims regarding the effect of protons, mutually conflicting experimental results and their interpretations without direct evidence have been reported over the last decade. Systematic examinations and analyses are thus imperative to clarify the conditions of proton insertion in aqueous rechargeable batteries. Utilizing V₂O₅ as a model cathode and beaker-type cells with a sufficient amount of ZnSO₄ aqueous electrolytes in this work, it is demonstrated that protons are inserted into the cathode prior to Zn-ions in low-pH conditions (pH ≤ 3.0). In stark contrast, the influence of protons on the discharge voltage and capacity is insignificant, when either the pH becomes higher (pH ≥ 4.0) or the electrolyte volume is considerably low in coin-type cells. Similar behavior of pH-dependent proton insertion is also verified in Na–, Mg–, and Al-ion electrolytes. Providing a resolution to the controversy regarding proton insertion, the present study emphasizes that the influence of protons substantially varies depending on the pH and relative volume of electrolytes in aqueous batteries.     

Skin-like Omnidirectional Stretchable Platform with Negative Poisson's Ratio for Wearable Strain–Pressure Simultaneous Sensor

Conventional elastomeric polymers used as substrates for wearable platforms have large positive Poisson's ratios (≈0.5) that cause a deformation mismatch with human skin that is multidirectionally elongated under bending of joints. This causes practical problems in elastomer-based wearable devices, such as delamination and detachment, leading to poorly reliable functionality. To overcome this issue, auxetic-structured mechanical reinforcement with glass fibers is applied to the elastomeric film, resulting in a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR), which is a skin-like stretchable substrate (SLSS). Several parameters for determining the materials and geometrical dimensions of the auxetic-structured reinforcing fillers are considered to maximize the NPR. Based on numerical simulation and digital image correlation analysis, the deformation tendencies and strain distribution of the SLSS are investigated and compared with those of the pristine elastomeric substrate. Owing to the strain-localization characteristics, an independent strain-pressure sensing system is fabricated using SLSS with a Ag-based elastomeric ink and a carbon nanotube-based force-sensitive resistor. Finally, it is demonstrated that the SLSS-based sensor platform can be applied as a wearable device to monitor the physical burden on the wrist in real time.     

Efficient itinerary recommendation via personalized POI selection and pruning

Knowledge and Information Systems - Personalized itinerary recommendation has garnered wide research interests for their ubiquitous applications. Recommending personalized itineraries is complex...     

On measuring network robustness for weighted networks

Knowledge and Information Systems - Network robustness measures how well network structure is strong and healthy when it is under attack, such as vertices joining and leaving. It has been widely...     

Enhancement of Upconverted Fluorescence by Interference Layers

Upconverting nanoparticles show potential applications in the field of photovoltaics and array‐based detection devices. While fluorescence enhancement using interference of incident radiation is well known in Stokes‐shift type systems such as fluorescent dyes; the effect of such interference geometry in nonlinear Anti‐Stokes type emission, such as in upconversion rare earth photophysics is demonstrated for the first time. This work describes in detail the influence of the interference modulation on both the excitation (interion energy transfer) and radiative decay with nonradiative decay processes active between emissive levels. These effects are illustrated in the thickness dependence of the decay rate and rise time. Single particle upconverted spectra and time‐resolved measurements show concurrent optimization of the infrared absorption and emission at 540 and 650 nm, with an average enhanced emission of 20 times at λ = 540 and 45 times at λ = 650 nm, dependent on the interference layer thickness and on the excitation intensity. The experimental results are correlated with finite element modeling. Both experiments and calculations show emission enhancement at an interference layer thickness of about 740 ± 20 nm, where such tolerance and the planar design, leads to ease in implementation in applications.