From simple pocket calculators to mobile telephones and liquid crystal display (LCD)-TV, over the past few decades, devices based on LCD technology have proliferated and can now be found in all conceivable aspects of everyday life. Although used in cutting-edge technology, it is surprising that a vital part in the construction of such displays, namely the alignment layer, relies essentially on ...

Our research goal is to improve stylus operability by utilizing the human knowledge and skills applied when a user uses a pen. Such knowledge and skills include, for example, the way a person holds a pen to apply a generous amount of ink to draw a thick line with a brush pen. We propose a form of interaction, Finger Action, which uses input operations applying such knowledge and skills. Finger ...

Patients with acute respiratory failure are predisposed to acquire nosocomial infection primarily because they may need ventilatory support, usually invasive mechanical ventilation. The presence of an endotracheal tube impairs natural defences of the respiratory tract and favours airways colonisation and lung infection. Cross transmission of microorganisms may also occur via contaminated hands ...

In 1992, I was hired by the State of Oregon as an expert witness in a trial of four chiropractors who had been accused of using a "Toftness-like device" in their practices. The "Toftness Radiation Detector" was an appliance designed by a chiropractor for diagnosing ailments. It consisted of a metal cylinder shaped somewhat like a thick soup can. At one end was a lens; at the other was a smooth ...

Understanding the mechanism of charge generation, distribution, and transfer between surfaces is very important for energy harvesting applications based on triboelectric effect. Here, we demonstrate dynamic nanotriboelectrification with torsional resonance (TR) mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). Experiments on rubbing the sample surface using TR mode for the generation of triboelectric charges...

The essence of knowledge is generalisation. That rubbing wood in a certain way can produce fire is a knowledge derived by generalisation from individual experiences; the statement means that rubbing wood in this way will always produce fire. The art of discovery is therefore the art of correct generalisation. What is irrelevant, such as the particular shape or size of the piece of wood used, is...

Abstract The aim of this paper is to gain insight into the nonlinear vibration feature a dynamic model gas turbine. First, rod fastening rotor-bearing coupling with fixed-point rubbing proposed, where fractal theory and finite element method are utilized. For contact analysis, novel force introduced in paper. Meanwhile, Coulomb adopted expound friction characteristics. Second, governing equatio...

Members of the population of black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, use the leaves of three Rutaceae species in a behavior that resembles fur rubbing in the white faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus). This behavior has not been reported from other sites where Ateles has been studied. During more than 1,200 hours of observation, 30 episodes of this behavior ...

In this paper, we investigate a control strategy of synthesized interaction-sounds. The framework of our research is based on the action/object paradigm that considers that sounds result from an action on an object. This paradigm presumes that there exists some sound invariants, i.e. perceptually relevant signal morphologies that carry information about the action or the object. Some of these a...

Molecular organization at polyimide surfaces used as alignment layers in liquid crystal displays was investigated using vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. We focus on the orientation of the long alkyl side groups at the polymer surface using polarization-selected SFG spectra of the CH(3)- and CH(2)-stretch modes of the side chain. Mechanical rubbing and baking, an accepted...