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The papers in this special section were presented at the 2018 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS 2018) that was held in in Cleveland, OH, from October 17–19, 2018.

This Special Section is devoted to the research and development activities of all areas of flexible electronics science and technology. We have a selected number of high impact technical papers presented at the first IEEE International Flexible Electronics Technology Conference (IFETC) in 2018 for publication in J-EDS. The first IFETC was held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from the 7th to 9th August, 2018. The conference was financially sponsored by the IEEE Council on RFID, and technically sponsored by the National Research Council Canada, IEEE Electron Device Society, and the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society. The conference was dedicated to the advances in flexible electronics in all areas of science and technology, and provided an opportunity for scientists, researchers, engineers, developers, and users in the field to share, discuss, and witness new concepts and ideas. A wide spectrum of academic research results was presented, with potential applications in current industrial technology and new application driven domains.

In parallel with the development of nanoparticle coatings for protection of paper substrates, detailed descriptions of the surface topography with micro-to nanoscale roughness features are needed. In this work, papers have been coated with poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) nanoparticles including different types of vegetable oils and the surface roughness was evaluated at 2000 x 2000 mu m(2) to 0.2 x 0.2 mu m(2) length scales by combining non-contact optical profilometry (NCP) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The relationships between roughness data were studied for statistical roughness parameters, spatial roughness parameters and in the frequency domain. In order to compare AFM roughness more accurately, the original images were flattened to remove effects of the underlaying fibrous substrate and highlight features of the nanoparticle coating. More detailed information on the coating topography could be obtained by considering bearing ratio curves and histograms, where it was concluded that the oil-filledcoatings form a rather thin and continuous coating that closely follows the shape of the cellulose fibers. The relation between statistical roughness parameters from NCP and AFM follows an exponential trend with relatively low coefficient of determination. The increase in surface roughness with length scale showed a transition point attributed to short-and long-range surface features. Therefore, the correlation length was used as a spatial roughness parameter that provides a successful extrapolation of the average roughness over different length scales in a double logarithmic diagram with very high coefficient of determination. Based on the power spectral density, it was difficult to exactly distinguish between the different types of SMI/oil coatings, as they include similar nanoscale features. The frequency roughness parameters were better suited for extrapolation than statistical roughness parameters but little less efficient than the spatial roughness parameters. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper focuses on the space charge behavior in oil-paper insulation systems used in power transformers. It begins with the importance of understanding the space charge behavior in oil-paper insulation systems, followed by the introduction of the pulsed electrostatic technique (PEA). After that, the research progress on the space charge behavior of oil-paper insulation during the recenttwenty years is critically reviewed. Some important aspects such as the environmental conditions and the acoustic wave recovery need to be addressed to acquire more accurate space charge measurement results. Some breakthroughs on the space charge behavior of oil-paper insulation materials by the research team at the University of Southampton are presented. Finally, future work on space charge measurement of oil-paper insulation materials is proposed.

This paper presents the design of a novel rectenna based on a tapered annular slot and a single-diode rectifier, optimized to operate in the Wi-Fi band and in presence of low input power (Pavs=-15 dBm). In order to obtain a compact layout a double-layer architecture has been considered, according to which the interior metal surface of the annular slot is employed as ground plane for the rectifying circuit placed on the other side of the substrate. As a result, a rectenna with an active area of only 40 × 33 mm2 and an efficiency included between 26.5 and 28% has been obtained. The antenna has been fabricated in paper substrate and tested in the anechoic chamber. Then, the rectifier has been designed and optimized within the Advanced Design System suite. Finally, the rectenna performance has been discussed and compared to the State of the Art (SoA).

This paper presents the design of a novel chipless harmonic RFID sensor in paper substrate based on a variable attenuator implemented as a π resistive network, which drives a single Schottky diode frequency doubler and a system of nested tapered annular slot antennas. The passive tag is interrogated by a signal at f0 = 1.2 GHz and the signal transmitted back to the reader is converted to 2f0 = 2.4 GHz in order for the system to be immune to clutter returns. The sensor information is encoded in the magnitude of the re-transmitted signal and a dynamic range around 20 dB is experimentally demonstrated.

This work analyzed the energy flow of the pulp and paper industry in Taiwan. The potential technology options that were examined focus on how to capture some of the energy currently lost in the processes and then identifying the areas with energy-saving potential that could also have large impacts across a variety of industries. In addition, the energy-saving potential of these options was evaluated. The energy-saving potential of the pulp and paper industry would be around 6939.9 KLOE/M. The greatest energy-saving potential lies with improving energy distribution and equipment efficiency, which would together potentially comprise 86.8% of total energy conservation. This analysis can serve as a benchmark for current pulp and paper making operations, and as a base case for stimulating changes toward more efficient energy utilization in the pulp and paper industry.

Co-liquefaction of secondary pulp/paper-mill sludge (solids concentration: 1.6 wt%) and waste newspaper with a total solids concentration of 11.3 wt% was investigated with and without the addition of catalysts in a 75 ml Parr High-Pressure reactor at temperatures of 250–380 °C for 20 min. The yield of heavy oil (HO) without catalyst was between 16.7 and 28.0 wt% within this temperature range, and peaked at 350 °C. The addition of HCO 2 H, FeS, or KOH at 5 wt% of the total solids (on a dry basis) was found to enhance the HO yield at 300 °C, particularly HCO 2 H, which increased the yield of HO from 24.9 to 34.4 wt%. More interestingly, synergistic effects between secondary pulp/paper-mill sludge and waste newspaper were observed in the co-liquefaction operations. For example, the HO yield attained was 26.9 wt% at 300 °C in the co-liquefaction of the mixture of 33 wt% sludge and 67 wt% waste newspaper, and was noted to be 9 wt% and 6 wt% higher than the yields obtained from liquefaction of sludge and waste newspaper alone, respectively. The HOs from liquefaction or co-liquefaction at 300 °C for 20 min exhibited significantly higher energy contents (HHV ≥ 30 MJ/kg), almost doubled those (˜16 MJ/kg) of the original feedstocks.

In this study the possibilities of making a cost-effective heat exchanger retrofit in a simulated thermo mechanical pulp and paper mill are analysed using advanced composite curves. The use of advanced composite curves is a fairly new method developed in Chalmers University, and they have not previously been used to analyse a mechanical pulp and paper mill. The simulated mill used as an example in this study has one TMP (thermo mechanical pulping) line, one paper machine, debarking and auxiliary systems. The results show that the advanced curves give valuable information on the system and provide guidance as to where to look for improvement potential. The relative costs of different improvements are in line with traditional knowledge of improvement costs.

In this paper an approach for analysing the potential for implementation of different technology pathways for the European pulp and paper industry (PPI) is presented. The approach is based on detailed technical research and aggregates the knowledge from previous studies to incorporate the whole European PPI. Thus, the potential for different technology pathways can be estimated on a European level whilst still considering important characteristics of individual mills. The usefulness of the approach was exemplified by applying it to a case study of the potential for introduction of carbon capture and storage (CCS) within the European PPI. The results from the case study show that for the European PM, CCS has an up-hill road in order to be a viable, large scale alternative for reduction of CO2 emissions. If CCS is to be introduced in large scale within the European PPI, large biomass-based point sources of CO2 emissions need to be included when planning for CCS infrastructure and also the infrastructure needs to be built out for clusters emitting

The papers in this special section were presented at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC 2018) that took place in San Francisco, California, from February 11 to February 15, 2018.

The comment concentrate on the solutions of mapping method that included in the above two papers. We prove by simple calculation and also by using computer software (Maple program V. 16) that this technique for solving nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) is wrong.

The papers in this special section were presented at the 2017 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference BioCAS), in Torino, Italy, from October 19–21, 2017.

The printable paper-based enzymatic biofuel cell (PBFC) to directly power small devices is an important objective for realizing cost-effective and disposable energy harvesting devices. In the present study, a screen-printed circular-type PBFC, composed of a series of 5 individual cells, was constructed. The PBFC exhibited the open circuit potential of 2.65 V and maximum power of 350 μW at 1.55 V, which were sufficient to illuminate an LED without requiring a booster circuit. The output voltage of this PBFC can also be easily adjusted as required.

This paper evaluates system aspects of biorefineries based on biomass gasification integrated with pulp and paper production. As a case the Billerud Karlsborg mill is used. Two biomass gasification concepts are considered: BIGDME (biomass integrated gasification dimethyl ether production) and BIGCC (biomass integrated gasification combined cycle). The systems analysis is made with respect to economic performance, global CO2 emissions and primary energy use. As reference cases. BIGDME and BIGCC integrated with district heating are considered. Biomass gasification is shown to be potentially profitable for the mill. The results are highly dependent on assumed energy market parameters, particularly policy support. With strong policies promoting biofuels or renewable electricity, the calculated opportunity to invest in a gasification-based biorefinery exceeds investment cost estimates from the literature. When integrated with district heating the BIGDME case performs better than the BIGCC case, which shows high sensitivity to heat price and annual operating time. The BIGCC cases show potential to contribute to decreased global CO2 emissions and energy use, which the BIGDME cases do not, mainly due to high biomass demand. As biomass is a limited resource, increased biomass use due to investments in gasification plants will lead to increased use of fossil fuels elsewhere in the system. Original Publication:Elisabeth Wetterlund, Karin Pettersson and Simon Harvey, Systems analysis of integrating biomass gasification with pulp and paper production - Effects on economic performance, CO2 emissions and energy use, 2011, ENERGY, (36), 2, 932-941.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.12.017Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com/

The overall life of oil-immersed power transformers depends on the long-term life of the oil–paper insulation system throughout continuous operation. Studying the reliability assessment methods for oil–paper insulation can help determine the reliability level of power transformers accurately, and ensure their safe and stable operation. In the present paper, the life of oil–paper insulation is proven to obey the Weibull distribution under eight different temperatures set by the Weibull reliability probability paper; the failure mechanisms of the different temperatures are highly consistent. The Weibull distribution reliability curve cluster of oil–paper insulation is plotted under different temperatures by which an oil–paper insulation reliability assessment method is proposed. Lastly, the statistical validation experiment of the proposed method is conducted, which proves its theoretical validity. Thus, the present study puts forward a simple and effective method for the oil–paper insulation reliability assessment of power transformers under different temperatures at different life stages.

The intent of this study is to determine the minimum ambient illumination requirement for legible electronic-paper display. Not only the young but also the elderly were included as research subjects. Through the method of character-search task, the results indicated that the significant performance improvement of all subjects occurred at 52 lux on the search time and at 62 lux on the subjective visual fatigue. Therefore, the minimum ambient illumination requirement for legible electronic-paper display can be synthesized at 62 lux. This minimum point of ambient illumination for the young and the elderly represents that the reflective-type display started presenting its better legibility and the subjective visual fatigue started decreasing. As electronic-paper display technology applications gradually expand, product designers need notice this fundamental limit of electronic-paper display when they continue to create possible applications in the future.

This article presents an algorithm for modelling an Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) for power transformer paper conditions in order to estimate the transformer’s expected life. The dielectric characteristics, dissolved gasses, and furfural of 108 running transformers were collected, which were divided into 76 training datasets and another 32 testing datasets. The degree of polymerization (DP) of the transformer paper was predicted using the ANFIS model based on using the dielectric characteristics and dissolved gases as input. These inputs were analyzed, and the best combination was selected, whereas CO + CO2, acidity, interfacial tension, and color were correlated with the paper’s deterioration condition and were chosen as the input variables. The best combination of input variables and membership function was selected to build the optimal ANFIS model, which was then compared and evaluated. The proposed ANFIS model has 89.07% training accuracy and 85.75% testing accuracy and was applied to a transformer paper insulation assessment and an estimation of the expected life of four Indonesian transformers for which furfural data is unavailable. This proposed algorithm can be used as a furfural alternative for the general assessment of transformer paper conditions and the estimation of expected life and provides a helpful assistance for experts in transformer condition assessment.

The Micro-Nano Science and Technology Division of the JSME (Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers) promotes academic activities to pioneer novel research topics on microscopic mechanics [...]

Industrial process tomography (IPT) is a set of multi-dimensional sensor technologies and methods that aim to provide unparalleled internal information on industrial processes used in many sectors [...]

The International Conference on Green and Human Information Technology (ICGHIT) is an international conference focusing on green and information technologies oriented toward humanity [...]

Since 2017, the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (TED) has published a selection of extended versions of papers presented at the Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits held in the corresponding years (vol. 64, no. 10; vol. 65, no. 11; vol. 66, no. 12). Since 2018, the papers have been collected in a Special Section of TED titled “Papers from Symposium on VLSI Technology.” This initiative, which was the result of a fruitful cooperation between the Electron Device Society and the VLSI Symposium chairs and committees, has brought to TED a number of carefully selected (by the VLSI TPC first and then through the TED usual review process), high-quality submissions. We have been able to continue this cooperation also in this difficult 2020, and we are therefore happy to announce the publication in the December issue (Vol. 67, No. 12) of a Special Section on papers from the 2020 Symposium, held virtually on June 15–19, 2020. A special thanks to the Guest Editors of the section, Peide Ye, Purdue University (Publication Chair, 2020 VLSI Symposium), and Masaharu Kobayashi, The University of Tokyo, Japan (Publication Co-Chair, 2020 VLSI Symposium).

This paper reports the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)–cellulose paper as a chemical vapor sensor. Cellulose solution was prepared by dissolving cotton pulp in LiCl/N,N-dimethylacetamide solution. MWCNTs were covalently grafted to cellulose by reacting imidazolides–MWCNTs with cellulose solution. Using this product, the MWCNTs/cellulose (M/C) paper was fabricated, followed by mechanical stretching to align MWCNTs with cellulose chains. Characteristics of the M/C paper were analyzed in terms of scanning electron microscope images, Young's modulus and electrical resistance. The M/C paper was investigated as a chemical sensor that can detect vaporized analyte molecules, such as, methanol, ethanol, 1-butanol and 1-propanol. Their electrical responses on the sensor were evaluated by not only comparing their relative resistance response (AR) depending on the concentration, but also checking signal reversibility under cyclic exposure of each analyte. Due to sensitive and reversible expansion/contraction of the M/C paper in response to analytes, the M/C paper showed reversible and fast response with the following rank of AR: methanol

As part of the IEEE EMC Society's 50th Anniversary in 2007, a study was done on the most “popular” papers published in the EMC Society Transactions on EMC. The comparison was generated by manually reviewing the Transactions and recording the number of times a paper was referenced. This study culminated in a listing of the most frequently referenced papers over the first 50 years of the EMC Society.

Arguably, usability testing is most effective when integrated into the user-centered design process. One way to encourage this integration is to reemphasize the value of paper prototyping. In a recent test of a university library website, we married low-fidelity paper prototyping with medium-fidelity wireframe prototyping. When user navigation led to nonexisting pages or dead ends, users were encouraged to create what they thought should be where there was nothing. This blank-page technique gave us insights into users' mental models regarding site content and design, providing developers with useful data concerning how users conceptualized information they encountered.

The eleven papers in this special section were presented at the 2019 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS) in Nara, Japan, from October 17–19, 2019. Similar to previous years, BioCAS 2019 was jointly sponsored by the IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EMB) Society.

To investigate environmentally friendly alternatives for sludge disposal, three proportions of secondary sludge (SS) from two pulping processes (Kraft and TMP) were incorporated in the formulation of particleboard manufacturing. A 32 factorial design was used where the factors were Urea-formaldehyde (UF) content (5%, 7%, and 9% dry weight of resin per dry weight of particles) and secondary sludge percentage (75%, 100%, and 125% dry weight of SS per dry weight of resin). For each pulping process, 27 panels with SS and 3 control panels (without SS for each resin content) were made for a total of 63 panels. All panels were tested for thickness swell, linear expansion, internal bond strength (IB), flexural modulus of elasticity (MOE) and flexural modulus of rupture (MOR). Results indicated that particleboards made with SS from both pulping processes met the ANSI standards for linear expansion, IB, MOE and MOR. However, none of the tested panels met the standard for thickness swell and adding SS to the formulation affected negatively this property. It was concluded that SS from TMP and Kraft mills can be used to manufacture particleboard panels. However, its' percentage along with other additives' content should be optimized.

SUMMARY Digital books have become popular as electronic media has become more common. An evaluation that includes not only a subjective assessment of readability or usability, but also an objective assessment of psychometric health impact is needed. The goal of this study is an objective assessment of the physiological and psychological effects of reading books using electronic or paper media. This paper focuses on hemodynamic parameters. The measurement items include VAS and POMS as a psychological index and hemodynamic parameters as a physiological index. As a result, low levels of vigor and limited readability were recognized as significant (p < 0.05) when reading a book using electronic media as compared to paper media. The cardiovascular system was actively engaged in coping because of sympathetic hyperactivity in the hemodynamic reaction. By contrast, using electronic media was not seen to involve stress coping. We also found that the parasympathetic nervous system activity was enhanced by the illegibility of sentences and fatigue due to using electronic media. Based on all of these results, we identified a difference in how people react physiologically when reading a book using electronic and paper media.

This paper presents the design of a wideband Hilbert fractal antenna for the purpose of detecting and classifying different common partial discharge (PD) types in an oil-paper insulated system. Three common types of PDs are considered for the multi-class classification problem, namely, PD from a sharp point to ground plane, surface discharge, and PD from a void in the insulation. The different PD types showed variation in the detected frequency contents. The collected samples were processed using pattern recognition techniques to identify their corresponding PD types. A recognition rate of 95% was achieved when K-nearest neighbors was used as the classifier.

The minimum variance controller has been extensively used as a benchmark in the performance assessment of both univariate and multivariate control loops when time delay is the fundamental performance limitation. In this paper, the spatial and temporal performance limitations in the cross-directional (CD) control of paper machines are analyzed. The idea of minimum variance benchmarking is extended to the CD process based on these performance limitations. Based on an industrial CD controller, a user-specified benchmark, which is more practical and less aggressive, is also proposed. In addition, several related performance indices are proposed for the CD process based on both the minimum variance benchmark and the user-specified benchmark. Illustrative examples from a paper machine simulator and industrial data sets are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed performance indices.

Gassing problems and premature insulation failures in wind turbine transformers indicate reliability concerns about the insulation of such components. This fact necessitates investigating degradation of transformer insulation systems under high-dV/dt pulse voltages that exist in today's wind energy plants. For this purpose, PD activity, generally assumed to be the main long-term cause of insulation deterioration, needs to be analyzed. This work evaluates the effects of impulse voltage parameters such as rate of rise and repetition frequency on inception voltage and intensity of PD activities. PD parameter measurement under high-dV/dt voltages is challenging due to interferences from fast oscillations, and difficulties of PD energy measurements. To avoid such issues, which are related to electromagnetic detection methods under pulse energization, this work uses a chemical approach to compare PD activities, based on the rate of hydrogen generation in a controlled test chamber with oil/paper samples. Gas monitoring of the oil containing impregnated paper samples reveals that a faster rate of rise increases PD energy as well as inception voltage. Results based on experiments conducted in small oil chambers show good correlation between the amount of hydrogen detected and PD energy level; hence it can be used as a benchmark for comparing PD energy levels under various impulse waveforms.

The IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science Best Paper Award is an annual award to recognize the best paper published in the Transactions in a given year. The Award is sponsored by the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society and the winning paper is selected according to its quantifiable usefulness to the community. The authors of papers published in the Transactions in the third year prior to the year of the award are eligible for consideration. The 2019 award is, therefore, awarded to the paper published in calendar year 2016 judged to be the most useful to our community based on metrics calculated for the years 2016, 2017, and 2018.

In this paper, we extend the interference channel with degraded message sets model by introducing multiple secondaries. The new model allows for multiple concurrent transmissions in a wireless network by employing dirty paper and superposition coding. We apply the proposed scheme to the communication between nodes in a wireless mesh network (WMN). The cases of different WMN topologies are analyzed, and numerical results show that considerable capacity gains are achieved when using the proposed model with multiple secondaries.

This paper investigates an optimization of the conventional relay selection for multirelay environments. In contrast with previously reported selection schemes, where a selected relay accesses the channel in a dedicated cooperative slot, the proposed scheme recovers the bandwidth loss of the half-duplex constraint by allowing two relays to simultaneously access the channels. Based on an appropriate dirty-paper coding (DPC) technique among relays, the proposed scheme enables a relay to establish communication with the destination at the same time that another relay forwards the data from the source. It is proven that the interplay between relay selection and the superposition DPC weight factor provides a tradeoff between relaying and new data performance. Hence, an appropriate codesign of the superposition DPC parameter and opportunistic relay selection can achieve efficient communication for the new data without affecting the relaying performance. The proposed scheme is compared with conventional relaying approaches, and its enhancements are provided through theoretical studies and numerical results.

Recently perovskite solar cells (PSCs), as photoelectric conversion devices, exhibit excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) and low-processing cost, and have become one of the most promising devices to replace conventional silicon-based solar cells and address current pressing energy issues. Among them, the flexible PSCs are especially more widely applicable and may propel the rapid advancements of wearable electronics, causing a significant paradigm shift in consumer electronics. Current flexible PSCs use non-biodegradable petroleum-based polymer substrates, discarding of which will aggravate “white pollution”. Therefore, development of green, biodegradable and low-cost flexible substrates will provide a great alternative to flexible PSCs. Here we have developed transparent nanocellulose paper (NCP) with coating of acrylic resin as substrates to fabricate flexible PSCs, which are biodegradable and easily disposable. The PCE of these NCP-based PSCs reached 4.25%, while the power per weight (the ratio of power to device weight) was as high as 0.56 W g–1. The flexible PSCs also showed good stability, retaining >80% of original efficiency after 50 times of bending. The NCP-based substrates can also be applied to other electronic systems, which may prosper next-generation green flexible electronics. Modified nanocellulose paper has been shown to be excellent biodegradable substrate for flexible perovskite solar cells and potentially other green flexible devices. A team of Chinese scientists led by Prof Wei Huang from Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing Tech University fabricate flexible perovskite solar cells on transparent nanocellulose paper. This becomes feasible only after they develop a treatment recipe to improve the mechanical, optical properties and the waterproof ability of the pure nanocellulose paper. The flexible solar cells on the modified substrates show high specific power of 0.56 W g-1 and good stability and mechanical durability. Another key advantage of nanocellulose paper is its biodegradation capability, making it a better substrate compared to PEN and PET for the next generation green flexible electronics.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems for the paper industry is an emerging research topic due to the need for an automated identification system for the paper industry which would carry on the identification codes of paper and board reels throughout their life cycle. This paper discusses the application of passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID systems to the paper industry. Challenges, benefits, and the application environment of using passive UHF RFID systems in the paper industry are presented and discussed. The major challenges are development of globally operable tag antenna designs and integration of reader units and reader antennas to paper handling machinery. To confront and solve these challenges, this paper presents novel tag antenna designs for paper and board reel identification and proposes solutions for reader and reader antenna integration to paper handling machinery. In addition, the identification locations within the paper reel supply chain and the effects of RFID systems to supply chain visibility are presented and discussed. In addition, test results of using passive UHF RFID systems in the paper industry environment are presented.

In-cell adaptive touch technology for use in an electrophoretic display (EPD) has been developed and implemented in 11.5 in. UXGA flexible electronic paper display. Here, two types of a-Si:H photo-sensor arrays fabricated on a stainless steel substrate at the process temperature of 250 °C have been used along with an overall capacitive sensor formed on top of the flexible panel. Thus, we can resolve the sensing issue of normal photo-sensor array as well as maintain the feature of low power consumption in the EPD. Moreover, new touch algorithm adapted depending upon the amount of light intensity has been applied to enhance touch sensitivity regardless of environmental light conditions.

SUMMARY In the late years, personal information must be protected at the agency in the field of insurance. We develop an agency contract system that protects personal information of the contractor and information to confirm intention to contract by background texture watermarks. When the contractor carries an application form, it may be folded, rumpled, or waved little. In this case, contractor's information must be recognized from background watermarks printed on the application form. But it cannot be recognized surely folded, rumpled, or waved application form by the conventional method. In this paper, we propose a new recognition of watermark dot information from folded, rumpled, or waved application form. The new recognition is composed of crooked point sequence recognition expressing character borders by searching around calculated point, and dot recognition by shading folded, rumpled, or waved paper and emphasizing dot in luminosity from this paper. As a result, we got correct recognition ratio of more than 99% from folded, rumpled, or waved paper.

Sensors and instrumentation play an important role to improve the lifestyle of people and their surroundings. The IEEE IMS Faculty Course Development Award supports and encourages faculty members to develop a new course or significantly revise existing accredited engineering/physics/science curricula with specific focus on instrumentation and/or measurement. The Faculty Course Development Award 2013 provided funding that helped to develop this paper named "Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation" with a special emphasis on measurement of remote environmental parameters at Massey University, New Zealand. (In New Zealand, we call classes a paper, not a course. For example, in the Bachelor degree program, each year we have eight papers and the students need to do thirty-two papers for the degree. The "course" means the complete program.) The objectives are to provide an overview of the importance of environmental monitoring; to have students develop necessary skills to select appropriate sensors and develop the associated signal conditioning to monitor important environmental parameters; to train the students/engineers on the best methods to transmit, store, analyze, and interpret the data from the sensors; and to provide a hands-on experience in electronic system design concepts, particularly for environmental monitoring. Engineering students will gain knowledge to take up the challenges to design, fabricate and implement sensing systems and necessary instrumentation circuits for monitoring the environment. The content of the paper has been presented at other universities, and the materials are available for any faculty to use in their own teaching. The content of the paper can be collected from Prof. Subhas C. Mukhopadhyay (S.C.Mukhopadhyay@massey.ac.nz).

This paper solves the controller tuning problem of machine-directional predictive control for multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) paper-making processes represented as superposition of first-order-plus-dead-time (FOPDT) components with uncertain model parameters. A user-friendly multi-variable tuning problem is formulated based on user-specified time domain specifications and then simplified based on the structure of the closed-loop system. Based on the simplified tuning problem and a proposed performance evaluation technique, a fast multi-variable tuning technique is developed by ignoring the constraints of the MPC. In addition, a technique to predict the computation time of the tuning algorithm is proposed. The efficiency of the proposed method is verified through Honeywell real time simulator platform with a MIMO paper-making process obtained from real data from an industrial site.

As striking lightning impulse waveforms in power transformers are quite different from the standard lightning impulse waveform (SLIW) used in the withstand voltage tests, it is essential to identify the breakdown characteristics of oil-impregnated paper (OIP) under non-SLIW and to quantitatively compare them with those under SLIW. On that basis, the impulse insulation levels of power transformers can be rationally determined and then the insulation specifications can be evaluated to maintain high equipment reliability. In this paper, with damped alternating oscillation waveform as a representative basis, the breakdown characteristics of oil-impregnated paper were experimentally obtained by changing the frequency and damping rate of the applied voltage. All experiments were conducted using a column-column electrode model. In addition to the 50% breakdown voltages (U50), Minimum breakdown voltage Umin and V-t characteristics under different circumstances, the influence of various parameters on breakdown characteristics and the possible reasons were discussed. After comparing waveforms and corresponding results, the specific relationship between waveform parameters and U50 were expressed as a single equation. As a result, the breakdown voltage was 1.106 to 1.435 times higher than that under SLIW depending on frequency and damping rate. The steepness of the wave peak and the duration of high voltage around wave crests are considered to be two important factors affecting the breakdown voltage. An effective way was proposed to predict U50 of oil-impregnated paper as a reference for insulation specifications irrespective of wave shape. These results support the rationalization of insulation for actual lightning impulse waveforms in the power transformers.

This paper presents a novel technique to determine the optimized slope of triangular excitation in frequency domain spectroscopy that can provide better information about condition of oil-paper insulation. In conventional frequency domain spectroscopy, estimation of frictional losses due to the interactions of oscillating dipoles helps in investigating insulation condition. But, different types of dipoles in insulation cannot have similar dielectric relaxation times. Therefore, excitation having multiple frequencies is necessary for the dipoles to undergo more synchronized oscillations. This synchronized oscillation of dipoles reduces the inter-dipolar interactions and provides better information regarding insulation condition. Hence, in this work, triangular excitation is used for frequency domain spectroscopy since its harmonic contents can be varied by changing the slope. The slope of the triangular excitation is optimized to obtain more accurate information about the insulation condition. The optimized triangular excitation for insulation is determined using the proposed equivalent circuit model. To experimentally determine the effectiveness of the model, three test samples having preset moisture content in paper have been prepared in the laboratory. The optimized triangular excitations are then applied to the test samples to estimate their insulation condition. Experimental results show that the use of optimized triangular excitation provides information regarding the condition of oil-paper insulation with greater accuracy. In order to investigate the applicability of the proposed equivalent circuit model, the experiment has also been performed on real-life transformers.

This paper presents an experimental work investigating the failure data of oil-impregnated paper under pulsating DC voltage. The failure data of the oil-impregnated paper specimens were obtained through constant voltage stress tests; the Weibull distribution was used to estimate the statistical distribution of failure data. The exponential function (EF) and the inverse power function (IPF) were used to modify the Weibull distribution of failure data, so as to obtain two dual-variable Weibull failure distributions (WFDs), which were used to analyze failure data of oil-paper specimens obtained under pulsating DC and individual DC and AC voltages. Their adequacies were evaluated by using failure data obtained through the constant stress tests under various voltages. Both EF-modified and IPF-modified WFDs show more adequacy for failure data of oil-paper insulation under DC and pulsating DC voltages than AC voltages. The EF-modified WFD was more adequate than IPF-modified WFD in estimating the statistical distribution of failure data.

The pulp and paper industry offers a wide spectrum of research challenges to the control systems community. Implementations of control technology, production planning, scheduling, and operations can lead to tangible improvements in terms of increased capital returns and reduced environmental impact. This paper presents an overview of operations in an integrated pulp and paper mill and reviews the control challenges for important process units. It also summarizes current and future research areas in the pulp and paper industry

This paper presents a new strategy for steam pressure control during web breaks in the paper machine. The aim was to restart paper production with the same drying properties of the cylinder as before the break. A detailed physical dynamic model of the drying cylinder has been developed. The accuracy of the model has been verified through experiments made at the M-real paper mill in Husum, Sweden. Verifications are made both during normal operation and during web breaks. The dynamic model has been reduced in order to derive simple transfer functions which were used to find the optimal steam pressure trajectory during web breaks. The resulting strategy has been tested on a paper machine with good results and it has been well received at the mill.

We developed new principle of electronic paper that is one side (for 2D image) or double side (for stereoscopic 3D image) light printable rewritable matter with polarization dependent gray scale. It consists of one or two liquid crystal displays based on Optical Rewritable (ORW) technology, which is the development of rotation azo-dye photoalignment. Each ORW display uses bare plastic or polarizers as substrates. The conductor is not required, as the image is formed by rewritable states of azimuthal direction, which results in 2D pattern of the liquid crystal twist angle. Continuous grey image maintains proper performance even when the device is bent. Simple construction provides durability and low cost, thin substrates minimize parallax for 3D image. Fluorescent dye dopant of liquid crystal partly absorbs light in blue and re-emit in green specter range improving photopic reflection and enhancing color of the ORW e-paper.