An experiential account of phantom vibration syndrome

A small handful of recent studies have addressed a phenomenon known as “phantom vibration syndrome”. This refers to when phone users perceive their device to vibrate, indicating that a call or text is incoming, when in fact the phone did not vibrate at all. Though these studies show that most users do not find phantom vibration hallucinations to be very bothersome, they also find that a large majority of users experience this phenomenon. This paper explores what the striking prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome means for our contemporary relationships with technology. I begin with a review of the theories purporting to explain these data, which largely rely on particular understandings of the brain. Next I develop an alternative theory of phantom vibration syndrome based on insights from the philosophical tradition of phenomenology. This account considers the ways users develop bodily and perceptual habits regarding how the phone is understood and used. By critically contrasting these different theories, we can refine our questions about what the high prevalence of phantom vibration syndrome implies about our contemporary technological situation.     

Energy-optimal base station density in cellular access networks with sleep modes

Sleep modes are widely accepted as an effective technique for energy-efficient networking: by adequately putting to sleep and waking up network resources according to traffic demands, a proportionality between energy consumption and network utilization can be approached, with important reductions in energy consumption. Previous studies have investigated and evaluated sleep modes for wireless access networks, computing variable percentages of energy savings. In this paper we characterize the maximum energy saving that can be achieved in a cellular wireless access network under a given performance constraint. In particular, our approach allows the derivation of realistic estimates of the energy-optimal density of base stations corresponding to a given user density, under a fixed performance constraint. Our results allow different sleep mode proposals to be measured against the maximum theoretically achievable improvement. We show, through numerical evaluation, the possible energy savings in today’s networks, and we further demonstrate that even with the development of highly energy-efficient hardware, a holistic approach incorporating system level techniques is essential to achieving maximum energy efficiency.     

On keys' meanings and modes: the impact of different key solutions on children's efficiency using a mobile phone

The present study investigates the impact of different key solutions of mobile phones on users' effectiveness and efficiency using the devices. In the first experiment, 36 children (9 - 14 years) and in the second experiment 45 young adults (19 - 33 years) completed four common phone tasks twice consecutively on three simulated phones that had identical menus, but different key solutions. An approach was undertaken to quantify the complexity of keys in three models, incorporating different factors contributing to the keys' complexity (number of key options, number of modes and number of modes with a semantically dissimilar meaning), in order to predict users' performance decrements. As a further main factor, the degree of the users' locus of control (LOC) was measured and interactions with performance outcomes were studied. As dependent measures, the number of inefficient keystrokes, the number of tasks solved and the processing time were determined. Results showed a significant effect of control key solutions on users' efficiency and effectiveness for both children and young adults. Moreover, children's LOC values significantly interacted with performance: children with low LOC values showed the lowest performance and no learnability, especially when using keys with a high complexity. From the three factors contributing to the complexity of keys, keys exerting different functions with semantically inconsistent meanings had the worst effect on performance. It is concluded that in mobile user interface design keys with semantically inconsistent meanings should be generally avoided.     

The effect of doubly tapered strut morphology on the plastic yield surface of cellular materials

Although the literature on the mechanics of cellular materials is vast, there is no theoretical model to account for the effects of axial yielding of struts aligned to the applied loading direction on the plastic yield surface under multiaxial loading conditions. An anisotropic hexagonal model having tapered strut morphology is developed to show these effects on the plastic yield surface under multiaxial tensile loading condition. This model covers several types of cellular structure such as two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal and square cellular materials, and three-dimensional (3D) hexagonal and rhombic cellular materials of rod-like columnar structure. A tetrahedral element with tapered strut morphology is also used for a foam model to illustrate these effects on the yield surface under axisymmetric loading condition. Plastic collapse due to bending moment in the inclined struts is a dominant mode. However, under multiaxial tensile loading, the collapse due to axial yielding of struts parallel to the loading direction is found to be an important mode. The shape of plastic yield surface was found to depend not only on relative density but also on the strut morphology.     

EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHMS WITH PREFERENCE FOR MANUFACTURING CELLS FORMATION

Due to the combinatorial nature of cell formation problem and the characteristics of multi-objective and multi-constrain, a novel method of evolutionary algorithm with preference is proposed. The analytic hierarchy process （AHP） is adopted to determine scientifically the weights of the sub-objective functions. The satisfaction of constraints is considered as a new objective, the ratio of the population which doesn＇t satisfy all constraints is assigned as the weight of new objective. In addition, the self-adaptation of weights is applied in order to converge more easily towards the feasible domain. Therefore, both features multi-criteria and constrains are dealt with simultaneously. Finally, an example is selected from the literature to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The results validate the effectiveness of the proposed method in designing the manufacturing cells.     

Data compression and encryption using cellular automata transforms

A family of basis functions, generated from the evolving states of Cellular Automata (CA), is used to compress and encrypt data. The operations required in encoding and decoding the data are described under the umbrella Cellular Automata Transforms (CAT). There is a huge number of these transform bases. CAT can be used in the way other mathematical transforms (e.g., Fourier, Discrete Cosine, Laplace, Wavelet, etc.) are utilized. In data-compression applications, the rules and pertinent keys used to generate the CA are selected to favor those that yield basis functions with the best information-packing characteristics. On the other hand, for encryption the selection is biased towards those with the tendency to yield an avalanche effect. In the latter case the transform process must be error-free.     

美籍华裔专家讲通信工程技术新动态

本文扼要介绍１９９５年北京中美工程技术研讨会通信组五位美籍华裔专家关于通信技术新动态的专题报告。一是宽带综合业务数字网的同步数字系列（ＳＤＨ）和异步转移模式（ＡＴＭ）；二是光纤通信系统的光放大器（ＯＦＡ）、波分多路（ＷＤＭ）、光电子集成（ＯＥＩＣ）、色散补偿和新型光纤；三是蜂窝网车载移动通信和全国性个人通信业务（ＰＣＳ）、时分多址（ＴＤＭＡ）和码分多址（ＣＤＭＡ），四是智能网（ＩＮ）体系结构、概念模型和业务管理系统（ＳＭＳ）；五是数字传输网的恢复（ＦＡＳＴＡＲ）、维护（ＴＭＰ）和供应（ＴＳＮＯＷ）三种管理平台，及综合网络管理系统（ＩＮＭＳ）。     

Disassembly sequence planning in a disassembly cell context

In this paper a two-phase approach is proposed for determining the optimal disassembly sequence when the disassembly system has a cellular configuration. Operations are first grouped into cells based on the resources they require with the goal of minimizing machine acquisition costs. The aim is to group together those operations that use similar equipment in order to achieve good utilization levels of such equipment. A maximum cell size may be imposed. Once the cells have been formed and the operations have been assigned to them, a metaheuristic algorithm (namely GRASP) is used to search for the disassembly sequence for each product that leads to the minimum number of intercellular movements. To account for uncertainty regarding the condition in which the product may arrive, each disassembly task is assumed to be required with a certain probability, regardless of the other tasks. AND/OR precedence relations among the disassembly tasks are also considered. The proposed approach is illustrated on a randomly generated disassembly problem.     

Coexisting static and flowing regions in a centrifuging granular heap

We report an unexpectedly rich variety of new flow patterns on a granular heap that is centrifuged so as to simulate a reduction in gravity. These surface patterns exhibit coexisting static and flowing regions that depend strongly on centrifugal stress, but surprisingly not on mass flow rate. A discrete cellular automata model reproduces some of the patterning features and indicates that subsurface jamming may precipitate the formation of localized frozen patterns on the surface. This model provides insights into the mechanics of granular flows under controlled stress environment and jammed-to-flowing transitions in granular media.