Micro- and sub-microstructuring and characterisation of technical surfaces by means of laser direct writing including a novel approach for laser beam profiling

Within recent years, numerous fields of engineering, like mechanics, optics and electronics, have been influenced and revolutionised by the technique of microand nano-structuring. For example, special optical elements for beam shaping, surface structures for the reduction of friction or modern "lab on chip" devices have been produced. Within this thesis a universal system has been developed facilitating the production of such structured surfaces with dimensions down to 500 nm. This system is not only capable of structuring surfaces by means of lithographic processes; it further allows the inspection of surfaces by scanning their topography. To realise such a system, two different technologies have been evaluated: Scanning Near-field Optical Lithography (SNOL), a very sophisticated technique which uses a thin fibre tip to expose a photo resist-covered surface, and confocal scanning technology. Here, the confocal scanning is accomplished using an adapted optical component, the optical pickup unit (OPU), from a gaming console, which turned out to be the most suitable and cost-efficient solution for the realisation of this system. Several test series have been carried out during this work, to verify the performance of the confocal system, both to structure photo resist surfaces and to characterise unknown surfaces. This present work will show the ability of the developed system to produce structures down to the sub-micron range and to characterise unknown surfaces with sub- micron precision. Various patterns have been written into photo resistcoated substrates to structure their surface. Beginning with diffractive optical elements (DOE) for beam shaping, followed by Dammann gratings for twodimensional beam shaping and optical gratings for light guidance as well as producing technical surfaces imitating the properties of sharkskin or simple micromechanical structures, the developed confocal system has shown itself to be flexible and widely-applicable. IV During the development of the confocal system, a strong need for a beam profiling system analysing the light beam diverging from the OPU, was recognised. Due to the fact that no commercially available system was capable of characterising beam sizes within the range of the diffraction limit, a novel method for beam profiling was invented. This method makes use of the fibre tips already applied within the SNOL system, producing tomographical scans of the beam spot

TV Energy Consumption Trends and Energy-Efficiency Improvement Options

The SEAD initiative aims to transform the global market by increasing the penetration of highly efficient equipment and appliances. SEAD is a government initiative whose activities and projects engage the private sector to realize the large global energy savings potential from improved appliance and equipment efficiency. SEAD seeks to enable high-level global action by informing the Clean Energy Ministerial dialogue as one of the initiatives in the Global Energy Efficiency Challenge. In keeping with its goal of achieving global energy savings through efficiency, SEAD was approved as a task within the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC) in January 2010. SEAD partners work together in voluntary activities to: (1) ?raise the efficiency ceiling? by pulling super-efficient appliances and equipment into the market through cooperation on measures like incentives, procurement, awards, and research and development (R&D) investments; (2) ?raise the efficiency floor? by working together to bolster national or regional policies like minimum efficiency standards; and (3) ?strengthen the efficiency foundations? of programs by coordinating technical work to support these activities. Although not all SEAD partners may decide to participate in every SEAD activity, SEAD partners have agreed to engage actively in their particular areas of interest through commitment of financing, staff, consultant experts, and other resources. In addition, all SEAD partners are committed to share information, e.g., on implementation schedules for and the technical detail of minimum efficiency standards and other efficiency programs. Information collected and created through SEAD activities will be shared among all SEAD partners and, to the extent appropriate, with the global public.As of April 2011, the governments participating in SEAD are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, the European Commission, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. More information on SEAD is available from its website at http://www.superefficient.org/

Analyzing compositional strategies in video game music

Composers of music for video games face a unique set of challenges, including issues of interactivity, non-linearity, diegesis, and versatility. This study explores several possible correlations among these challenges and the compositional strategies used to address them (i.e., thematic attachment, adaptive seaming, and deliberate silence). These approaches are analyzed across several popular gaming genres to determine how composers devise and implement a combination of compositional methods that most appropriately amplify the player's sense of immersion. With thematic attachment, for instance, the composer draws upon the player's feelings of nostalgia that are developed through their exposure to previous games within a franchise. To develop a greater understanding of the representation of musical genre, one-on-one interviews and written correspondence with selected game composers (Joshua Mancell, Martin O'Donnell, and Trevor Gureckis) working in targeted types of games provided evidence to suggest and explore specific techniques they used to develop greater diegesis and immersion. Current scholarship focuses primarily on the cultural and psychological implications and influences associated with video game music. Developing a greater understanding of these three strategies and their various forms of implementation expands and helps to standardize the field of ludomusicology within the broader discipline of musicology.Includes bibliographical references

Android Application Development for the Intel Platform

Computer scienc

Late standardization and technological catch-up

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 325-335).In this study, we examine the process of "late standardization," in which latecomers engage in standards activities in order to move towards and beyond the technological frontier. Based on case studies of latecomers in the semiconductor and mobile telecommunication industries in South Korea and Thailand, we analyze the strategic, organizational, and institutional aspects of the late-standardization process. We hypothesize that latecomer firms and states must engage in standards activities to progress beyond catch-up, because standards are a prerequisite to technological development. Standards are strategic leverages that allow latecomers to link with and learn from technology leaders. Specifically, latecomer firms have to engage internally in quality standardization to take advantage of latecomer advantages. Quality standards help improve production capability, while enhancing credibility and reputation. Without quality control, latecomers cannot become part of global value chains and have difficulty in acquiring advanced technologies from forerunners. As latecomers become fast followers, they have to participate in external standardization. The goal is to acquire knowledge about emerging technologies and standards.(cont.) By linking with and learning from forerunners, fast followers enhance second-mover advantages derived from ramp-up capability. Once their R&D efforts bear fruit and they become technology leaders, advanced "late standardizers" have to lead external standardization efforts. This would enable them to exploit innovation capability and gain first-mover advantages derived from proprietary technologies and learning-curve effects. As latecomers move towards the technological frontier, standards activities become the core of research and development strategy and policy. They also adjust organizational structures and human resource management to accommodate standards efforts. The state plays critical yet changing roles throughout the late-standardization process. It sets up standards institutions and provides "infratechnologies" for quality control. The state also mitigates technology and market risks associated with new standards, while facilitating networking among late-standardizing firms. As late standardizers become technology and standards leaders, the state pursues "standards diplomacy" for overseas adoption of its domestic standards, while strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights.by Apiwat Ratanawaraha.Ph.D

Research and developments of Dirac video codec

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University.In digital video compression, apart from storage, successful transmission of the compressed video data over the bandwidth limited erroneous channels is another important issue. To enable a video codec for broadcasting application, it is required to implement the corresponding coding tools (e.g. error-resilient coding, rate control etc.). They are normally non-normative parts of a video codec and hence their specifications are not defined in the standard. In Dirac as well, the original codec is optimized for storage purpose only and so, several non-normative part of the encoding tools are still required in order to be able to use in other types of application. Being the "Research and Developments of the Dirac Video Codec" as the research title, phase I of the project is mainly focused on the error-resilient transmission over a noisy channel. The error-resilient coding method used here is a simple and low complex coding scheme which provides the error-resilient transmission of the compressed video bitstream of Dirac video encoder over the packet erasure wired network. The scheme combines source and channel coding approach where error-resilient source coding is achieved by data partitioning in the wavelet transformed domain and channel coding is achieved through the application of either Rate-Compatible Punctured Convolutional (RCPC) Code or Turbo Code (TC) using un-equal error protection between header plus MV and data. The scheme is designed mainly for the packet-erasure channel, i.e. targeted for the Internet broadcasting application. But, for a bandwidth limited channel, it is still required to limit the amount of bits generated from the encoder depending on the available bandwidth in addition to the error-resilient coding. So, in the 2nd phase of the project, a rate control algorithm is presented. The algorithm is based upon the Quality Factor (QF) optimization method where QF of the encoded video is adaptively changing in order to achieve average bitrate which is constant over each Group of Picture (GOP). A relation between the bitrate, R and the QF, which is called Rate-QF (R-QF) model is derived in order to estimate the optimum QF of the current encoding frame for a given target bitrate, R. In some applications like video conferencing, real-time encoding and decoding with minimum delay is crucial, but, the ability to do real-time encoding/decoding is largely determined by the complexity of the encoder/decoder. As we all know that motion estimation process inside the encoder is the most time consuming stage. So, reducing the complexity of the motion estimation stage will certainly give one step closer to the real-time application. So, as a partial contribution toward realtime application, in the final phase of the research, a fast Motion Estimation (ME) strategy is designed and implemented. It is the combination of modified adaptive search plus semi-hierarchical way of motion estimation. The same strategy was implemented in both Dirac and H.264 in order to investigate its performance on different codecs. Together with this fast ME strategy, a method which is called partial cost function calculation in order to further reduce down the computational load of the cost function calculation was presented. The calculation is based upon the pre-defined set of patterns which were chosen in such a way that they have as much maximum coverage as possible over the whole block. In summary, this research work has contributed to the error-resilient transmission of compressed bitstreams of Dirac video encoder over a bandwidth limited error prone channel. In addition to this, the final phase of the research has partially contributed toward the real-time application of the Dirac video codec by implementing a fast motion estimation strategy together with partial cost function calculation idea.BBC R&D and Brunel University

Future visioning system for designing and developing new product concepts in the consumer electronics industries

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis discusses development of a future visioning system model that can be adopted to create new product concepts for consumer electronics companies operating in a highly competitive business environment. The research work investigates consumer electronic product companies and their market environment to identify problematic issues and indicates that a proactive new product strategy which opens new markets through developing concept-led products is a strategic priority, thus the concept development stage in new product development process is in need of improvement. An evaluation of existing concept development tools for the purpose of proactive product strategy is presented and concludes that future visioning procedure is the most appropriate tool. To develop a future visioning system model as a concept development tool, the theoretical future visioning system models are analysed and mapped to extract essential structure and contents of future visioning procedure. The consequent future visioning system model is then revised according to the findings and suggestions from the field research work which investigated four major consumer electronics product companies in practice. The findings also validates the necessity of adopting a proactive product strategy and evaluates acceptability of the future visioning system model for practical use. The final future visioning system model is defined after the opinions of the design managers are considered and applied. The major suggestions from the research findings are: (1) Executing proactive product strategy can be a valuable strategic tool (2) A new process is necessary for the companies to create one-step-ahead product (3) Future visioning system is recommended as an advanced approach that creates new product concept. (4) Future visioning system model should consist of eight stages: project initiation, environmental scanning, future visioning, generating product concepts, scenario planning, concept testing, concept visualisation, and finalized concepts. (5) Product concepts can be generated from future vision by applying backcasting. (6) Scenario planning should be used in the future visioning system model as a concept testing tool providing objective validating criteria. (7) Executing a future visioning system model creates new roles for the designer such as information integrator, process moderator, and futurist