Programmable Display Research Articles

Electricity/light-heat-hygro multi-responsive soft luminescent systems for rewritable and programmable information display

Rewritable luminescent materials are attracting widespread attention for information storage and display as they can help to reduce environmental wastes caused by the abuse of single-use and transient systems. Nevertheless, since most reported systems are chemical-stimuli-responsive and single-stimuli-responsive, it remains challenging to achieve the rewritable and programmable display of multiple information in one single system, which is essential to enhance information richness and display intelligence. In this work, an ideal kind of multi-responsive soft luminescent display systems are reported, which consist of heat/humidity-responsive fluorescence-phosphorescence dual-emission film and stacked graphene assembly (SGA) film by using thin poly (dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) as middle connecting layer. In such multilayer structure, the heat generated by electricity connection or light illumination of bottom SGA film can be instantly transferred across the middle PDMS layer to cause heat-triggered red-to-blue emission color change, or to evaporate water for blue-to-red emission color recovery. Owing to the “residual-free” nature of these electricity, light and water stimuli, multi-responsive rewritability is guaranteed to enable the reversible writing and complete erasure of various letter/pattern information. On this basis, robust electricity/light-heat-hygro multi-responsive soft luminescent display systems are demonstrated, in which diverse letter/pattern information could be facilely programmed to be successively displayed and then completely reset to enable another data writing/erasing cycle by sequential modulation of different environmental stimuli. This study brings programmable merit for rewritable luminescent display systems and is expected to inspire more intelligent ones.

Inkjet Printing Bio‐Inspired Electrochromic Pixels

AbstractIn this report the design, fabrication, and testing of inkjet‐printed electrochromic pixels (ECPs) incorporating the biochrome, xanthommatin (Xa) as programmable display units is described. As a redox sensitive chromophore, Xa is present in some species as a physiological indicator with red (reduced) or yellow (oxidized) colors associated with different behavioral or developmental stages. These features have been recently leveraged in some materials applications, illustrating a bio‐inspired design solution to color‐changing sensors and displays. This paper describes an extension of these applications to print individually addressable ECPs that can be processed in a mild annealing step to introduce localized conductivity on initially nonconductive substrates. When formulated together with a poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) carrier ink, an addition of 0.19 wt% Xa is enough to generate dynamic ECPs which can be batch printed as lateral electrodes on any substrate to serve as both conductors and display units across electrically isolated boundaries. Application of low potentials triggers reversible color changes that span the red/yellow color space and can cycle for days. These results represent an important step towards the incorporation of alternative active materials like Xa to manufacture and scale low‐power, color‐changing pixels and patterns.

Phage display demonstrates durable differences in serological profile by route of inoculation in primary infections of non-human primates with Dengue Virus 1

Natural dengue virus (DENV) infections occur by mosquito bite but how the inoculation route affects the humoral immune response is unknown. We serologically profiled 20 non-human primates (NHP) from a prior study of DENV1 infection where animals were inoculated by mosquito (N = 10) or subcutaneous injection (N = 10). Using a comprehensive, densely tiled and highly redundant pan-flavivirus programmable phage library containing 91,562 overlapping 62 amino acid peptides, we produced a high-resolution map of linear peptide sequences enriched during DENV seroconversion. Profiles in mosquito-inoculated and subcutaneously-inoculated animals were similar up to 90 days after primary infection, but diverged at 1 year with differences in sero-reactivity in the Envelope (E; residues 215–406; p < 0.08), and Nonstructural-3 (NS3; residues 549–615; p < 0.05) proteins in mosquito-inoculated versus subcutaneously-inoculated animals. Within the E protein, residues 339–384 in domain III accounted for > 99% of the observed sero-reactivity difference. Antibody breadth did not vary by mode of inoculation. The differential reactivity to E domain III seen by phage display validated orthogonally by ELISA, but did not correlate with late neutralization titers. Serological profiling of humoral immune responses to DENV infection in NHP by programmable phage display demonstrated durable differences in sero-reactivity by route of inoculation.

Peptoid-Based Programmable 2D Nanomaterial Sensor for Selective and Sensitive Detection of H2S in Live Cells

During the past few decades, a variety of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have been developed through molecular self-assembly. Among them, those assembled from sequence-defined polymers have received particular attention because they enable a programmable display of functional groups, including fluorescent dyes, on their surfaces for applications. On the other hand, due to fluorescence self-quenching, synthesis of 2D nanomaterials exhibiting high fluorescence quantum yields is a significant challenge. Herein, we design and synthesize peptoid-based crystalline 2D nanomembranes (2DNMs) as a biocompatible and programmable sensor for selectively and sensitively detecting H2S in live cells. This 2DNM sensor is assembled from peptoids covalently attached with H2S-responsive molecular probes. Compared with its amorphous controls, this crystalline 2DNM sensor exhibits a significantly stronger fluorescence intensity and a higher sensitivity as a result of long-range structural ordering and alignment of H2S-responsive molecular probes. By sonication-cutting these 2DNM sensors into a colloidal form in an aqueous solution, we further demonstrated the use of colloidal 2DNMs for detecting exogenous and endogenous H2S inside cells and targeted cell organelles. Because peptoids are biocompatible and peptoid-based 2DNMs are programmable, we expect that this class of 2DNM sensors offer great potential for detecting H2S in live cells and for investigating H2S-related diseases.

Enhancing general spatial skills of young visually impaired people with a programmable distance discrimination training: a case control study

BackgroundThe estimation of relative distance is a perceptual task used extensively in everyday life. This important skill suffers from biases that may be more pronounced when estimation is based on haptics. This is especially true for the blind and visually impaired, for which haptic estimation of distances is paramount but not systematically trained. We investigated whether a programmable tactile display, used autonomously, can improve distance discrimination ability in blind and severely visually impaired youngsters between 7 and 22 years-old.MethodsTraining consisted of four weekly sessions in which participants were asked to haptically find, on the programmable tactile display, the pairs of squares which were separated by the shortest and longest distance in tactile images with multiple squares. A battery of haptic tests with raised-line drawings was administered before and after training, and scores were compared to those of a control group that did only the haptic battery, without doing the distance discrimination training on the tactile display.ResultsBoth blind and severely impaired youngsters became more accurate and faster at the task during training. In haptic battery results, blind and severely impaired youngsters who used the programmable display improved in three and two tests, respectively. In contrast, in the control groups, the blind control group improved in only one test, and the severely visually impaired in no tests.ConclusionsDistance discrimination skills can be trained equally well in both blind and severely impaired participants. More importantly, autonomous training with the programmable tactile display had generalized effects beyond the trained task. Participants improved not only in the size discrimination test but also in memory span tests. Our study shows that tactile stimulation training that requires minimal human assistance can effectively improve generic spatial skills.

ISIG-Blocks: interactive creation blocks for tangible geometric games

This paper presents interactive creation blocks, called iSIG-Blocks (interactive SIG-Blocks), for automated tangible geometric games. iSIG-Blocks can detect physical motions and assembly configurations using embedded sensors. Each block features programmable LED display, a buzzer, and a vibration motor to provide sensory feedback to the player. A graphical user interface and tangible pattern design software (TAPware) were also developed for game administration, performance monitoring, and game customization. TAPware incorporates a computational measure of geometric complexity for generating game items of varying difficulty levels. For preliminary evaluation, a tangible memory game, Memorix, was developed and tested on a small group of young adults (N=12). The test results revealed that accuracy in correctness and in manipulation speed measurements was over 98%. Also, high correlation was found between the game performance and the complexity measure (r=0.84, p<0.01). Parameter sensitivity analysis revealed that the participants’ failure rate was more sensitive to color than to length or geometric shape, used in the game pattern.

NETRA

We introduce an interactive, portable, and inexpensive solution for estimating refractive errors in the human eye. While expensive optical devices for automatic estimation of refractive correction exist, our goal is to greatly simplify the mechanism by putting the human subject in the loop. Our solution is based on a high-resolution programmable display and combines inexpensive optical elements, interactive GUI, and computational reconstruction. The key idea is to interface a lenticular view-dependent display with the human eye in close range - a few millimeters apart. Via this platform, we create a new range of interactivity that is extremely sensitive to parameters of the human eye, like refractive errors, focal range, focusing speed, lens opacity, etc. We propose several simple optical setups, verify their accuracy, precision, and validate them in a user study.

NETRA

We introduce an interactive, portable, and inexpensive solution for estimating refractive errors in the human eye. While expensive optical devices for automatic estimation of refractive correction exist, our goal is to greatly simplify the mechanism by putting the human subject in the loop. Our solution is based on a high-resolution programmable display and combines inexpensive optical elements, interactive GUI, and computational reconstruction. The key idea is to interface a lenticular view-dependent display with the human eye in close range - a few millimeters apart. Via this platform, we create a new range of interactivity that is extremely sensitive to parameters of the human eye, like refractive errors, focal range, focusing speed, lens opacity, etc. We propose several simple optical setups, verify their accuracy, precision, and validate them in a user study.

A Programmable Display Layer for Virtual Reality System Architectures

Display systems typically operate at a minimum rate of 60 Hz. However, existing VR-architectures generally produce application updates at a lower rate. Consequently, the display is not updated by the application every display frame. This causes a number of undesirable perceptual artifacts. We describe an architecture that provides a programmable display layer (PDL) in order to generate updated display frames. This replaces the default display behavior of repeating application frames until an update is available. We will show three benefits of the architecture typical to VR. First, smooth motion is provided by generating intermediate display frames by per-pixel depth-image warping using 3D motion fields. Smooth motion eliminates various perceptual artifacts due to judder. Second, we implement fine-grained latency reduction at the display frame level using a synchronized prediction of simulation objects and the viewpoint. This improves the average quality and consistency of latency reduction. Third, a crosstalk reduction algorithm for consecutive display frames is implemented, which improves the quality of stereoscopic images. To evaluate the architecture, we compare image quality and latency to that of a classic level-of-detail approach.

Computer Controlled Programmable Information Display System

This paper describes the construction and performance of a computer controlled, Programmable Information Display System (CCIDS). The design has been implemented and the end product has been installed at Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, India. Futuristic improvements and modifications of the design are also presented.

Binary phase modulation properties of a programmable liquid-crystal television display

Programmable display electronics developed for a commercial liquid-crystal television resulted in an improved binary phase diffraction efficiency performance for spatial light modulation applications.

Guidelines for the Use of Programmable Display Pushbuttons on the Space Station's Telerobot Control Panel

This investigation focused on the establishment of guidelines concerning the use of programmable display pushbuttons (PDPs) on a telerobot control panel. The method taken was to study two groups of subjects performing a simulated Remote Manipulator System (RMS)-like task on micro computer prototypes. Subjects were divided between those who had RMS-simulator experience and those who didn't. The computer prototypes contained simulations of two different control panels — one which used PDPs and one which used single-function pushbuttons. Data analysis revealed that there was a statistically significant ( p &lt; 0.05) increase in the number of commands issued in the non-PDP control panel and that subjects rated the PDP control panel significantly higher on two of five scaled questionnaire items. Based on these findings, as well upon the results of responses to open-ended questionnaire items, a preliminary list of guidelines concerning the use of PDPs was developed.

Applying Programmable Display Pushbuttons to Manned Space Operations

American manned spacecraft have used a large number of discrete dedicated switches and buttons to allow astronauts to monitor and control system functions. In the decade or so since the Space Shuttle was designed, there have been many improvements in the area of control multifunctionality. One of these advances is the development of programmable display pushbuttons (PDPs), which are illuminated pushbuttons with displays consisting of a matrix of LEDs that can show preprogrammed information in the form of alphanumerics or symbols. Our work is designed to study the parameters affecting the usefulness of PDPs in manned space operations. We are simulating the performance of complex Space Shuttle tasks by comparing current procedures and procedures involving the use of PDPs. This paper discusses issues that arose in the course of designing the user-PDP interface for one typical Space Shuttle task.

New Products

Designed for process control applications, Ramtek's FS 2500 color video display controller is a microprocessor-based character graphics system featuring a programmable display of 254 characters and 64 foreground/background color combinations or eight gray-scale levels.

The On-Line Application of Electronic Calculators to Nuclear Counting Systems

The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, operated by the University of California for the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, continues to be active in developing, designing, and building nuclear reactors. The Nondestructive Testing Group has been instrumental in the support of these programs by providing services in the inspection of the reactor components. Nuclear counting systems are applied in many phases of the testing program. Radiation transmission measurements, utilizing many different radiation sources, are applied to the determination of material thickness, density, and composition. Betabackscatter techniques are used in the measurement of coating thickness for many coating and substrate materials. Radiation counting techniques are used for the determination of reactor element fuel loadings. For all of these systems, the digital count information must be related through the use of appropriate standards to the physical characteristics of the material under inspection. The calibration data obtained from the standards can be expressed by means of empirical equations of elementary form. With the advent of the relatively inexpensive programmable electronic desk calculators, the direct, on-line conversion, reduction, and display of the test data became possible. The nuclear counting systems used in the nondestructive testing program employ conventional digital counters and recorders. The primary counters are Beckman/Berkeley EPUT Meters, driving digital printers and/or piper-tape punch units. Wang Laboratories undertook the design and manufacture of an electronic calculating system capable of direct connection to the existing counting equipment.