Amorphous oxide semiconductor TFTs for displays and imaging

© 2013 IEEE. This paper reviews the mechanisms underlying visible light detection based on phototransistors fabricated using amorphous oxide semiconductor technology. Although this family of materials is perceived to be optically transparent, the presence of oxygen deficiency defects, such as vacancies, located at subgap states, and their ionization under illumination, gives rise to absorption of blue and green photons. At higher energies, we have the usual band-to-band absorption. In particular, the oxygen defects remain ionized even after illumination ceases, leading to persistent photoconductivity, which can limit the frame-rate of active matrix imaging arrays. However, the persistence in photoconductivity can be overcome through deployment of a gate pulsing scheme enabling realistic frame rates for advanced applications such as sensor-embedded display for touch-free interaction.

基于视觉的手势界面关键技术研究

针对视觉手势界面存在的问题,提出了一套行之有效的解决方案.首先,为了解决视觉手势交互中的Midas Touch问题,以人类注意的信息加工模型为理论依据提出了一个可扩展的视觉手势交互模型,该模型将手势交互过程分为选择性处理、分配性处理和集中处理3个不同阶段;然后,基于该模型提出了一个视觉手势识别框架,并结合认知心理学从手势检测、跟踪和识别3个方面对该框架的各个组成模块的关键技术进行了阐述,其中手势检测模块和识别管理模块能够辅助系统在复杂的背景中滤除掉不相关信息而选择性地搜索人手并根据上下文信息对手势识别任务重定向,从而避免了系统时刻都处于激活状态并对所有的手势动作都进行识别分析,有效解决了Midas Touch问题.文中介绍了使用该方法实现的IEToolkit手势界面工具平台,并基于一个视觉手势交互系统进行了实验测试与评估,结果验证了文中方法的可用性.

基于手势的视觉用户界面研究

随着人机交互技术的发展，各种新的交互手段不断涌现，使人机交互朝着更加自然、高效和智能化的方向前进。基于手势的视觉用户界面是post-WIMP时代的一种重要的界面形式，与传统的WIMP交互方式相比视觉手势交互能够使用户摆脱鼠标键盘的束缚而采用一种更加自然、无约束的交互方式，从而提供给用户更大的交互空间、更多的交互自由度和更逼真的交互体验，具有较高的应用价值和良好的应用前景，因此被国内外越来越多的研究者所关注，迅速成为了人机交互领域一个热门的研究方向，并被广泛应用于虚拟/增强现实、普适计算、智能空间以及基于计算机的互动游戏等多个领域。 视觉交互是自然人机交互的核心和热点研究内容之一，视觉交互可以通过手势、目光、头部运动或者面部表情等多种方式进行。其中，手势是人类进行视觉交互的主要手段，手势所能表达的语义信息十分丰富。在人机交互中使用视觉手势完成交互任务不仅自然、直观和方便，而且从计算机的角度出发来看系统实现起来也较为容易。因此，基于手势的视觉用户界面得到了广泛的关注并取得了许多研究成果。从目前的研究现状来看，在基于手势的视觉用户界面研究中，仍然存在着以下的问题： （1）传统的WIMP界面模型已经不适合描述视觉手势界面这种post-WIMP界面的特点，需要对传统的用户界面模型加以扩展，构造适于描述视觉交互特征的界面模型帮助用户清晰、准确地分析和表达界面功能及其变化，描述出用户与系统的交互过程，指导软件系统的设计和实现； （2）具体的交互设计过程中还存在着许多关键技术没有解决好，例如手势的正确理解问题、算法的鲁棒性问题以及手势的可扩展性问题等； （3）传统视觉工具箱复杂难用的问题。需要降低开发难度，开发出便捷、易用、可扩展的软件界面开发工具及相应的开发方法，支持领域内非专家用户快速开发出视觉手势原型系统。 本文正是从以上问题出发，围绕着视觉手势界面交互技术，从理论、方法与应用等几个方面展开了深入的研究。首先论述了用户界面的发展历程，继而对视觉界面研究现状进行了综述。在充分研究和对比国内外相关研究成果的基础上提出了一种基于手势的视觉用户界面模型UIDT。接下来针对视觉手势交互中存在的难题，以认知心理学为理论依据提出了一种可扩展的手势交互状态转移模型，并在此基础上构建了视觉手势处理框架。随后对该框架中的关键技术进行了针对性的研究。针对非专家用户在构建具有个性化视觉手势界面过程中所遇到的问题，设计开发了一个支持视觉手势交互的开发工具IEToolkit并给出了一套基于该工具的通用的软件开发方法。最后，将上述成果应用于互动娱乐领域，取得了满意的效果。 本文的创新点主要表现在以下几个方面： 1. 提出了一种基于手势的视觉用户界面模型UIDT 在充分分析视觉交互特征的基础上，以传统的用户界面模型为基础提出了一种基于手势交互的视觉界面模型UIDT。该模型从用户模型、任务模型、设备模型和交互模型等几个方面对视觉手势交互进行了深入分析和描述，给出了各个模型的形式化定义，介绍了模型的各个组成模块以及它们之间的相互关系，讨论了视觉手势界面设计中应该遵循的设计规范。评估结果表明，该模型具有较强的通用性，有助于设计者对VBI的任务、用户、设备以及交互的不同层次进行抽象描述，使用户界面满足可用性要求，提高界面设计和原型开发的效率。 2. 提出了一个可扩展的视觉手势交互模型及一种新的视觉手势识别处理框架，围绕着该框架提出了一种新的视觉手势跟踪和识别方法 首先，提出了一个可扩展的视觉手势交互模型。根据认知心理学原理将视觉手势交互处理过程细分为选择性处理、分配性处理和集中处理三个不同的阶段，有效解决了Midas Touch问题；基于该模型提出了一个视觉手势识别框架，并结合认知心理学从手势检测、跟踪和识别三个方面对该框架的各个组成模块的关键技术进行了阐述。其中手势检测模块和识别管理模块能够辅助系统在复杂的背景中滤除掉不相关信息而选择性地搜索人手并根据上下文信息对手势识别任务重定向，从而避免了系统时刻都处于激活状态并对所有的手势动作都进行识别分析，有效解决了Midas Touch问题；为了提高系统的性能，提出了一种鲁棒的面向实时交互的变形手势跟踪方法和基于小样本学习的模板匹配方法用于动态手势识别。评估结果表明，上述技术有效地提高了系统的实时性、准确性和鲁棒性。 3. 设计开发了一个支持快速原型开发的视觉手势工具箱系统 针对目前大多数视觉手势工具箱复杂难用的问题，设计开发了一个简单、易用、可扩展的手势工具箱系统IEToolkit，实现了本文所述的各种关键交互技术。它包含了构造一个基于视觉手势的交互系统所需要的方方面面，从事件模型、交互模型、数据流模型等几个方面对工具箱的组成结构进行了描述，并给出了一个基于IEToolkit的通用的软件系统开发流程，开发人员可以将更多的精力集中在具体的高层逻辑语义处理上，而不需要过多考虑底层的技术细节与支撑结构。应用实例及评估结果表明IEToolkit能够降低开发门槛，较好地支持基于视觉手势交互的应用系统的快速构造，具有较高的应用价值。 4. 基于上述研究成果设计开发了一系列典型的视觉手势交互系统 将上述理论模型与具体的交互技术进行有效结合，在视觉手势开发工具平台基础上开发了一系列典型的互动娱乐系统，在实践中对本文的研究成果进行了有效性验证。

Study on early-stage development of conchospore in Porphyra yezoensis Ueda

Porphyra yezoensis Ueda (Rhodophyta) is a seaweed of economic importance with a typical dimorphic life cycle consisting of a leafy gametophyte and a filamentous sporophyte. Recently, it has been recognized as a model system for fundamental and applied studies in marine biological sciences. Conchospore, a major spore linking the two distinct multicellular phases in the life cycle, is most widely used in the breeding of P. yezoensis. In this paper, the early-stage development of conchospore, including the attachment and the cell wall formation, was studied with fluorescent reagents staining and Scanning Electron Microscopy detection. Results displayed: (I) the cell wall began to be generated after culturing for 4 h in the attached conchospores; (2) the initially released conchospores were plastids with some filmy, amorphous substance on the surface, and they attached to the fibers firmly via the actively secreted mucilaginous substances after their touch to the fibers; (3) cellulase and pectolase prohibited the attachment of conchospores in the different ways; and (4) only attached conchospores generated cell walls and developed normally, while the suspending ones could not. It indicated that the cellulose played crucial roles in the permanent attachment as the pectin did in the initial attachment. The conchospore attachment seemed to trigger the cell wall formation and the further development. Affects of light on the development of conchospores were also discussed. The results showed that high intensity (200 mu mol.m(-2).s(-1)) and long-wave (>= 580 nm) light facilitated the division rate of conchospores. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

新型托辊切管机控制系统设计

文章介绍了一种新型托辊切管机控制系统的设计,对该系统的硬件组态及控制功能作了主要描述。该机床是托辊自动化加工装配线上的一台机电一体化自动加工设备,其主要功能是对托辊装配所需原料管进行定尺切断,并在整个加工过程中自动上下料。整个机床控制系统主要由SIEMENS Simotion D运动控制系统、触摸屏TP177B、远程输入输出模块ET200M等组成。

新型汽车变速箱压装机控制系统的设计

文章介绍了一种新型汽车变速箱压装机控制系统的设计,对系统的硬件组态及控制功能作了主要描述。汽车变速箱压装机是汽车变速箱装配流水线上的一台机电一体化专用自动装配设备,该机除具有自动压装功能、自动检测报警功能外,还能与装配管理系统联网,实现网络化管理与控制功能。整个系统采用了SLC500可编程控制器、触摸屏、安全光幕控制器等控制部件,为机床提供了安全可靠的装配质量保证。

Proceedings of the Second PHANToM User's Group Workshop

On October 19-22, 1997 the Second PHANToM Users Group Workshop was held at the MIT Endicott House in Dedham, Massachusetts. Designed as a forum for sharing results and insights, the workshop was attended by more than 60 participants from 7 countries. These proceedings report on workshop presentations in diverse areas including rigid and compliant rendering, tool kits, development environments, techniques for scientific data visualization, multi-modal issues and a programming tutorial.

HIV/AIDS and national security

McInnes, C., 'HIV/AIDS and national security', in: AIDS and Governance, N. Poku, A. Whiteside and B. Sandkjaer (eds.),(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), pp.93-111 RAE2008

O prazer associado ao consumo de alimentos e factores influenciadores

Projeto de Pós-Graduação/Dissertação apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências Farmacêuticas

A Self-initializing Eyebrow Tracker for Binary Switch Emulation

We designed the Eyebrow-Clicker, a camera-based human computer interface system that implements a new form of binary switch. When the user raises his or her eyebrows, the binary switch is activated and a selection command is issued. The Eyebrow-Clicker thus replaces the "click" functionality of a mouse. The system initializes itself by detecting the user's eyes and eyebrows, tracks these features at frame rate, and recovers in the event of errors. The initialization uses the natural blinking of the human eye to select suitable templates for tracking. Once execution has begun, a user therefore never has to restart the program or even touch the computer. In our experiments with human-computer interaction software, the system successfully determined 93% of the time when a user raised his eyebrows.

Camera Canvas: Image Editor for People with Severe Disabilities

Camera Canvas is an image editing software package for users with severe disabilities that limit their mobility. It is specially designed for Camera Mouse, a camera-based mouse-substitute input system. Users can manipulate images through various head movements, tracked by Camera Mouse. The system is also fully usable with traditional mouse or touch-pad input. Designing the system, we studied the requirements and solutions for image editing and content creation using Camera Mouse. Experiments with 20 subjects, each testing Camera Canvas with Camera Mouse as the input mechanism, showed that users found the software easy to understand and operate. User feedback was taken into account to make the software more usable and the interface more intuitive. We suggest that the Camera Canvas software makes important progress in providing a new medium of utility and creativity in computing for users with severe disabilities.

MyRoom: A user-centred model of affective responsive architecture

Can my immediate physical environment affect how I feel? The instinctive answer to this question must be a resounding “yes”. What might seem a throwaway remark is increasingly borne out by research in environmental and behavioural psychology, and in the more recent discipline of Evidence-Based Design. Research outcomes are beginning to converge with findings in neuroscience and neurophysiology, as we discover more about how the human brain and body functions, and reacts to environmental stimuli. What we see, hear, touch, and sense affects each of us psychologically and, by extension, physically, on a continual basis. The physical characteristics of our daily environment thus have the capacity to profoundly affect all aspects of our functioning, from biological systems to cognitive ability. This has long been understood on an intuitive basis, and utilised on a more conscious basis by architects and other designers. Recent research in evidence-based design, coupled with advances in neurophysiology, confirm what have been previously held as commonalities, but also illuminate an almost frightening potential to do enormous good, or alternatively, terrible harm, by virtue of how we make our everyday surroundings. The thesis adopts a design methodology in its approach to exploring the potential use of wireless sensor networks in environments for elderly people. Vitruvian principles of “commodity, firmness and delight” inform the research process and become embedded in the final design proposals and research conclusions. The issue of person-environment fit becomes a key principle in describing a model of continuously-evolving responsive architecture which makes the individual user its focus, with the intention of promoting wellbeing. The key research questions are: What are the key system characteristics of an adaptive therapeutic single-room environment? How can embedded technologies be utilised to maximise the adaptive and therapeutic aspects of the personal life-space of an elderly person with dementia?.

Piezopotential gated nanowire--nanotube hybrid field-effect transistor.

We report the first piezoelectric potential gated hybrid field-effect transistors based on nanotubes and nanowires. The device consists of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on the bottom and crossed ZnO piezoelectric fine wire (PFW) on the top with an insulating layer between. Here, SWNTs serve as a carrier transport channel, and a single-crystal ZnO PFW acts as the power-free, contact-free gate or even an energy-harvesting component later on. The piezopotential created by an external force in the ZnO PFW is demonstrated to control the charge transport in the SWNT channel located underneath. The magnitude of the piezopotential in the PFW at a tensile strain of 0.05% is measured to be 0.4-0.6 V. The device is a unique coupling between the piezoelectric property of the ZnO PFW and the semiconductor performance of the SWNT with a full utilization of its mobility. The newly demonstrated device has potential applications as a strain sensor, force/pressure monitor, security trigger, and analog-signal touch screen.

Gauging possibilities for action based on friction underfoot.

Standing and walking generate information about friction underfoot. Five experiments examined whether walkers use such perceptual information for prospective control of locomotion. In particular, do walkers integrate information about friction underfoot with visual cues for sloping ground ahead to make adaptive locomotor decisions? Participants stood on low-, medium-, and high-friction surfaces on a flat platform and made perceptual judgments for possibilities for locomotion over upcoming slopes. Perceptual judgments did not match locomotor abilities: Participants tended to overestimate their abilities on low-friction slopes and underestimate on high-friction slopes (Experiments 1-4). Accuracy improved only for judgments made while participants were in direct contact with the slope (Experiment 5), highlighting the difficulty of incorporating information about friction underfoot into a plan for future actions.

The Evolution of the Russian Romance Through the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries

This performance dissertation traced the evolution of the Russian romance from 1800 to the present. The Russian romance is a relatively unknown and greatly neglected genre of classical art songs. It is commonly believed that the Russian romance began with Dargomizhsky and Glinka proceeding directly to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. Forgotten are the composers before Dargornizhsky and Glinka, the bridge composers, and the post-Tchaikovsky and post-Rachmaninoff composers. This may be, in part, because of the difficulties in obtaining Russian vocal scores. While most of the musical world is acquainted with the magnificent Russian instrumental music, the "true soul" of the Russian people lies in its romances. I presented examples of the two different schools of composition, reflecting their philosophical differences in thinking that came about in the 1860s: (1) Russian National school, (2) Western European school. Each school's influence on generations of Russian composers and their pupils have been represented in the recital programs. Also represented was the effect of the October Revolution on music and the voice of the Russian people, Anna Akhmatova. The amount of music that could be included in this dissertation greatly exceeds the amount of available performance time and represents a selected portion of the repertoire. The first recital included repertoire from the beginning of the romance in the early nineteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century and the second recital focused on the music of the twentieth century, pre and post, the October Revolution. Finally, given the status of Anna Akhmatova and her contributions, the third recital was devoted entirely to her poetry. The "Russian soul" is one of deep, heartfelt emotions and sorrow. Happiness and joy are also present, but always with a touch of melancholy. The audience did not simply go through a musical journey, but took a journey through the "Russian soul". With the strong response of the audience to these recitals, my belief that this repertoire deserves a prominent place in recital programming was confirmed.