Multimodal Affective Feedback: Combining Thermal, Vibrotactile, Audio and Visual Signals

In this paper we describe a demonstration of our multimodal affective feedback designs, used in research to expand the emotional expressivity of interfaces. The feedback leverages inherent associations and reactions to thermal, vibrotactile, auditory and abstract visual designs to convey a range of affective states without any need for learning feedback encoding. All combinations of the different feedback channels can be utilised, depending on which combination best conveys a given state. All the signals are generated from a mobile phone augmented with thermal and vibrotactile stimulators, which will be available to conference visitors to see, touch, hear and, importantly, feel

Effective Sampling in the Configurational Space by the Multicanonical-Multioverlap Algorithm

We propose a new generalized-ensemble algorithm, which we refer to as the multicanonical-multioverlap algorithm. By utilizing a non-Boltzmann weight factor, this method realizes a random walk in the multi-dimensional, energy-overlap space and explores widely in the configurational space including specific configurations, where the overlap of a configuration with respect to a reference state is a measure for structural similarity. We apply the multicanonical-multioverlap molecular dynamics method to a penta peptide, Met-enkephalin, in vacuum as a test system. We also apply the multicanonical and multioverlap molecular dynamics methods to this system for the purpose of comparisons. We see that the multicanonical-multioverlap molecular dynamics method realizes effective sampling in the configurational space including specific configurations more than the other two methods. From the results of the multicanonical-multioverlap molecular dynamics simulation, furthermore, we obtain a new local-minimum state of the Met-enkephalin system.Comment: 15 pages, (Revtex4), 9 figure

Nasal lysine aspirin challenge in the diagnosis of aspirin - exacerbated respiratory disease

Background Aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease is under-diagnosed and therefore effective and inexpensive therapy with aspirin desensitization is rarely performed. Methods We present an audit of 150 patients with difficult to treat nasal polyposis, 132 of whom also had asthma, 131 of whom underwent challenge with the only soluble form of aspirin, lysine aspirin (LAS), to confirm or exclude the diagnosis of aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). Results One hundred patients proved positive on nasal challenge, 31 who were negative went onto oral LAS challenge and a further 14 gave positive results, leaving 17 who were negative to a dose equivalent to over 375 mg of aspirin. Nineteen were not challenged because of contraindications. With the exception of one patient who developed facial angioedema and two patients with > 20% drop in FEV1 (following nasal plus oral challenge) no other severe adverse events occurred. No hospitalization was required for these three patients. Nasal inspiratory peak flow monitoring was less sensitive to obstruction caused by aspirin than was acoustic rhinometry – which should be employed when aspirin challenge is an outpatient procedure. Conclusions Provided patients are carefully chosen and monitored LAS challenge is suitable for ENT day case practice where respiratory physician help with asthma is available and should reduce the under-diagnosis of this condition

Effects of Mirror Aberrations on Laguerre-Gaussian Beams in Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Detectors

A fundamental limit to the sensitivity of optical interferometers is imposed by Brownian thermal fluctuations of the mirrors' surfaces. This thermal noise can be reduced by using larger beams which "average out" the random fluctuations of the surfaces. It has been proposed previously that wider, higher-order Laguerre-Gaussian modes can be used to exploit this effect. In this article, we show that susceptibility to spatial imperfections of the mirrors' surfaces limits the effectiveness of this approach in interferometers used for gravitational-wave detection. Possible methods of reducing this susceptibility are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Looking back to see the future: building nuclear power plants in Europe

The so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ in Europe is promulgated by the execution of two large engineering projects involving the construction of two European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) in Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto in Finland. As both projects have faced budget overruns and delays, this paper analyses their governance and history to derive lessons useful for the construction of future projects. Analysis indicates that the reasons for these poor outcomes are: overoptimistic estimations, first-of-a-kind (FOAK) issues and undervaluation of regulation requirements. These pitfalls have the potential to impact on many other engineering construction projects and highlight fruitful areas of further research into project performance

Phase behavior of repulsive polymer-tethered colloids

We report molecular dynamics simulations of a system of repulsive, polymer-tethered colloidal particles. We use an explicit polymer model to explore how the length and the behavior of the polymer (ideal or self-avoiding) affect the ability of the particles to organize into ordered structures when the system is compressed to moderate volume fractions. We find a variety of different phases whose origin can be explained in terms of the configurational entropy of polymers and colloids. Finally, we discuss and compare our results to those obtained for similar systems using simplified coarse-grained polymer models, and set the limits of their applicability.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Published in the Journal of Chemical Physic

Analysis of common attacks in LDPCC-based public-key cryptosystems

We analyze the security and reliability of a recently proposed class of public-key cryptosystems against attacks by unauthorized parties who have acquired partial knowledge of one or more of the private key components and/or of the plaintext. Phase diagrams are presented, showing critical partial knowledge levels required for unauthorized decryptionComment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Raising and lowering operators, factorization and differential/difference operators of hypergeometric type

Starting from Rodrigues formula we present a general construction of raising and lowering operators for orthogonal polynomials of continuous and discrete variable on uniform lattice. In order to have these operators mutually adjoint we introduce orthonormal functions with respect to the scalar product of unit weight. Using the Infeld-Hull factorization method, we generate from the raising and lowering operators the second order self-adjoint differential/difference operator of hypergeometric type.Comment: LaTeX, 24 pages, iopart style (late submission

Nonideal strongly magnetized plasmas of neutron stars and their electromagnetic radiation

We study the equation of state, polarization and radiation properties for nonideal, strongly magnetized plasmas which compose outer envelopes of magnetic neutron stars. Detailed calculations are performed for partially ionized hydrogen atmospheres and for condensed hydrogen or iron surfaces of these stars. This is a companion paper to astro-ph/0511803Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Invited topical talk at Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems (Moscow, June 20-25, 2005); to appear in Journal of Physics

An optical NMR spectrometer for Larmor-beat detection and high-resolution POWER NMR

Optical nuclear magnetic resonance (ONMR) is a powerful probe of electronic properties in III-V semiconductors. Larmor-beat detection (LBD) is a sensitivity optimized, time-domain NMR version of optical detection based on the Hanle effect. Combining LBD ONMR with the line-narrowing method of POWER (perturbations observed with enhanced resolution) NMR further enables atomically detailed views of local electronic features in III-Vs. POWER NMR spectra display the distribution of resonance shifts or line splittings introduced by a perturbation, such as optical excitation or application of an electric field, that is synchronized with a NMR multiple-pulse time-suspension sequence. Meanwhile, ONMR provides the requisite sensitivity and spatial selectivity to isolate local signals within macroscopic samples. Optical NMR, LBD, and the POWER method each introduce unique demands on instrumentation. Here, we detail the design and implementation of our system, including cryogenic, optical, and radio-frequency components. The result is a flexible, low-cost system with important applications in semiconductor electronics and spin physics. We also demonstrate the performance of our systems with high-resolution ONMR spectra of an epitaxial AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction. NMR linewidths down to 4.1 Hz full width at half maximum were obtained, a 10^3-fold resolution enhancement relative any previous optically detected NMR experiment