2,296 research outputs found
Understanding customers' holistic perception of switches in automotive humanâmachine interfaces
For successful new product development, it is necessary to understand the customers' holistic experience of the product beyond traditional task completion, and acceptance measures. This paper describes research in which ninety-eight UK owners of luxury saloons assessed the feel of push-switches in five luxury saloon cars both in context (in-car) and out of context (on a bench). A combination of hedonic data (i.e. a measure of âlikingâ), qualitative data and semantic differential data was collected. It was found that customers are clearly able to differentiate between switches based on the degree of liking for the samples' perceived haptic qualities, and that the assessment environment had a statistically significant effect, but that it was not universal. A factor analysis has shown that perceived characteristics of switch haptics can be explained by three independent factors defined as âImageâ, âBuild Qualityâ, and âClickinessâ. Preliminary steps have also been taken towards identifying whether existing theoretical frameworks for user experience may be applicable to automotive humanâmachine interfaces
A Novel Longitudinal Mode in the Coupled Quantum Chain Compound KCuF3
Inelastic neutron scattering measurements are reported that show a new
longitudinal mode in the antiferromagnetically ordered phase of the spin-1/2
quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet KCuF3. This mode signals the cross-over
from one-dimensional to three-dimensional behavior and indicates a reduction in
the ordered spin moment of a spin-1/2 antiferromagnet. The measurements are
compared with recent quantum field theory results and are found to be in
excellent agreement. A feature of the data not predicted by theory is a damping
of the mode by decay processes to the transverse spin-wave branches.Comment: 9 pages of text plus 4 postscript figures (1 color
Probing the Inflow/Out-flow and Accretion Disk of Cyg X-1 in the High State with HETG/Chandra
Cyg X-1 was observed in the high state at the conjunction orbital phase (0)
with HETG/Chandra. Strong and asymmetric absorption lines of highly ionized
species were detected, such as Fe XXV, Fe XXIV, Fe XXIII, Si XIV, S XVI, Ne X,
and etc. In the high state the profile of the absorption lines are composed of
an extended red wing and a less extended blue wing. The red wings of higher
ionized species are more extended than that of lower ionized species. The
detection of these lines provides a way to probe the properties of the flow
around the companion and the black hole in Cyg X-1 during the high state. A
broad emission feature around 6.5 keV was significantly detected from the both
spectra of HETG/Chandra and PCA/RXTE. This feature appears to be symmetric and
can be fitted with a Gaussian function rather than the Laor disk line model of
fluorescent Fe K line from an accretion disk. The implications of
these results on the structure of the accretion flow of Cyg X-1 in the high
state are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 4 fiugres. accepted for publication in the v597 n2 ApJ
November 10, 2003 issu
Measurements with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's flight contamination monitor
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory includes a Flight Contamination Monitor
(FCM), a system of 16 radioactive calibration sources mounted to the inside of
the Observatory's forward contamination cover. The purpose of the FCM is to
verify the ground-to-orbit transfer of the Chandra flux scale, through
comparison of data acquired during the ground calibration with those obtained
in orbit, immediately prior to opening the Observatory's sun-shade door. Here
we report results of these measurements, which place limits on the change in
mirror--detector system response and, hence, on any accumulation of molecular
contamination on the mirrors' iridium-coated surfaces.Comment: 7pages,8figures,for SPIE 4012, paper 7
Fabrication technologies for quantum cascade photonic-crystal microlasers
In this paper we describe the technological and fabrication methods necessary to incorporate both photonic and electronic-band engineering in order to create novel surface-emitting quantum cascade microcavity laser sources. This technology offers the promise of several innovative applications such as the miniaturization of QC lasers, and multi-wavelength two-dimensional laser arrays for spectroscopy, gas-sensing and imaging. This approach is not limited to light-emitting devices, and may be efficiently applied to the development of mid- and far-infrared normal-incidence detectors
Fabrication methods for a quantum cascade photonic crystal surface emitting laser
Conventional quantum cascade (QC) lasers are intrinsically edge-emitting devices with mode confinement achieved via a standard mesa stripe configuration. Surface emission in edge emitting QC lasers has therefore necessitated redirecting the waveguided laser emission using a second order grating. This paper describes the methods used to fabricate a 2D photonic crystal (PC) structure with or without a central defect superimposed on an electrically pumped QC laser structure with the goal of achieving direct surface emission. A successful systematic study of PC hole radius and spacing was performed using e-beam lithography. This PC method offers the promise of a number of interesting applications, including miniaturization and integration of QC lasers
Dynamic Adaptation on Non-Stationary Visual Domains
Domain adaptation aims to learn models on a supervised source domain that
perform well on an unsupervised target. Prior work has examined domain
adaptation in the context of stationary domain shifts, i.e. static data sets.
However, with large-scale or dynamic data sources, data from a defined domain
is not usually available all at once. For instance, in a streaming data
scenario, dataset statistics effectively become a function of time. We
introduce a framework for adaptation over non-stationary distribution shifts
applicable to large-scale and streaming data scenarios. The model is adapted
sequentially over incoming unsupervised streaming data batches. This enables
improvements over several batches without the need for any additionally
annotated data. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed framework, we
modify associative domain adaptation to work well on source and target data
batches with unequal class distributions. We apply our method to several
adaptation benchmark datasets for classification and show improved classifier
accuracy not only for the currently adapted batch, but also when applied on
future stream batches. Furthermore, we show the applicability of our
associative learning modifications to semantic segmentation, where we achieve
competitive results
The prevalence and impact of self-reported foot and ankle pain in the over 55 age group: A secondary data analysis from a large community sample
Background:
While the prevalence and impact of musculoskeletal problems are high, most attention has been directed towards the back, knee and hip disorders. Foot pain is known to be common in older adults and accounts for a significant burden on health services. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of foot and ankle joint pain, considering age, presence of co-morbidities and other site joint pain, in a large community sample.
Methods:
In the North Yorkshire Health study, 16,222 people over 55âyears participated in a detailed survey of the prevalence and impact of lower limb joint problems. Self-assessment of overall body pain and functional activities of daily living were assessed. Participants indicated the presence of joint pain, stiffness or swelling during the last 3 months which had lasted for more than 6 weeks on a manikin: data were captured on the foot and the ankle.
Results:
The prevalence of self-reported foot and ankle joint pain was substantial: 184.33 per 1000, second only to knee problems. While foot pain was common, it was mostly associated with joint pain at other sites; only 1 in 11 of those with foot and ankle pain reported it only in the foot. Logistic regression modeling revealed while established factors such as co-morbidities, knee and hip problems contributed to functional impairment, foot and ankle problems contributed to an additional increased risk of having difficulty standing and walking by two fold (ORâ=â2.314, 95%CI 2.061â2.598), going up and down stairs by 71% (ORâ=â1.711, 95%CI 1.478â1.980) and getting up from a seated position by 44% (ORâ=â1.438, 95%CI 1.197â1.729).
Conclusion:
These results suggest that not only are foot problems in the over 55 age group extremely prevalent, they have a considerable impact on functional abilities
Quantum cascade photonic crystal surface emitting injection laser
A surface emitting quantum cascade injection laser is presented. Direct surface emission is obtained by using a 2D photonic-band-gap structure that simultaneously acts as a microcavity. The approach may allow miniaturization and on-chip-integration of the devices
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