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Confocal microscopes can provide depth-based imaging which can be useful in detecting skin cancers in early stages. However, confocal microscopes are very costly and are not easily available. To solve this problem, a study on the optical and electrical components of discarded DVD players have been done to prove their usability in a miniature, and cost-effective scanning confocal microscope. The Optical pickup of DVD players is studied to be used as the light source and detector for the microscope. A single mode fiber is used to carry the laser light from the source to the sample and back. The single mode fiber also works as a pinhole, satisfying the confocal condition of the microscope. Electrical components of DVD players have been used for developing a scanner stage. Several experiments have been performed which prove the workability of the setup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on empowerment towards creating analytical archivally based audiovisual essays. It focuses on to create a particular type of audiovisual essay which would integrate film analysis with archivally based historical analysis and also highlights understanding how to use archival and other primary sources as commercial DVD player.

The article focuses on the recorded opera and opera performances. Topics include discusses recordings in diminished terms of compression rather than hi fidelity; and identifies relationship between live and recorded performance with opera studies, DVDs and productions to explore transmedial relationships.

Memory cards are flash memory devices that enable storage and circulation of music in audio and video formats. In some regions in Asia, the bandwidth to stream musical content is unavailable, and people go to 'download vendors', who add content to their memory cards. We investigate regional standards/formats that allow Chinese DVD players to be sold in India and North Korea that can play not only VCDs/DVDs but also memory cards. Contemporary platform discourse disproportionately studies algorithm and-interface-based online platforms that support streaming cultures. We explore offline digital platforms that enable download cultures by considering memory cards as medial objects that are attached to various platform ecosystems. Such ecosystems based on informal business models and network logic act as both intermediaries and foundations that provide users with opportunities to share and participate. Going beyond instrumental uses of platforms, we discern their affectivity: their ability to provide pleasurable entertainment and aesthetic experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes a magic trick based on a Reed-Solomon code and includes a set of manipulatives for the trick's implementation. It discusses the concepts of the Reed-Solomon code that are relevant to the said trick and explains its design and how it works. Also provided is information regarding the use of the trick as a teaching tool in error-correcting codes course and application to compact disc (CD) and DVD players.

Forecasting the adoption of innovative products is an important managerial task. In this paper we examine the usefulness of a probabilistic neural network ( PNN) algorithm for forecasting new product adoption. We compare this approach with one widely accepted forecasting procedure, the binomial logit model, and two other neural network algorithms: a feed-forward neural network model estimated with backward propagation ( NNBP), and a feed-forward neural network model estimated with a genetic algorithm ( NNGA). To test the relative forecasting accuracy of these algorithms, we examine the first-time adoption of DVD players. Our analysis is based on longitudinal consumer data collected between March 2000 and March 2001. We find that the PNN algorithm significantly outperforms the logit model and the two remaining neural network algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This small-scale study focuses on young children’s reported information and communication technology (ICT) experiences in the home and the role of parents in providing technological opportunities, recognition and support. The children of the parents involved were all enrolled in nursery and reception classes (4—5 years of age) in two settings (referred to hereafter as Stafford School and Hill School). The term home is used here to denote any context in children’s lives beyond the school/nursery environs whilst the interpretation of ICT is equally broad and inclusive in nature and encompasses any technology associated with the handling and electronic transmission of information and/or its use in controlling the operations of machines and other devices (HMI, 1989). In this context therefore ICT would include such things as telephones, televisions, video, audio recorders, CD and DVD players, CD-ROMs, programmable toys, games consoles, radios and, of course, computers. The study found that differences in the incidence and availability of ICT in the children’s homes could be subtle on occasion and were the result of a number of factors. Children might have ‘access’ to certain technologies in that they were present in their home environments but this did not necessarily mean that children were always able and/or allowed to ‘use’ those technologies. It supports the arguments made by Marsh and others elsewhere (Marsh, 2004; Marsh et al., 2005) that young children are already in possession of ICT knowledge and competences when they arrive in nursery and reception classes partly as a result of varying levels of parental intervention and modelling as well as being in the process of acquiring new knowledge, skills and attitudes. The study also argues that parents’ involvement with ICT was often characterized by conscious but sometimes uncertain efforts to limit opportunities and access to ICT in the perceived best interests of the children (Clarke, 2006). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sensors are crucial in many daily operations including security, environmental control, human diagnostics and patient monitoring. Screening and online monitoring require reliable and high-throughput sensing. We report on the demonstration of a high-throughput label-free sensor platform utilizing cantilever based sensors. These sensors have often been acclaimed to facilitate highly parallelized operation. Unfortunately, so far no concept has been presented which offers large datasets as well as easy liquid sample handling. We use optics and mechanics from a DVD player to handle liquid samples and to read-out cantilever deflection and resonant frequency. Also, surface roughness is measured. When combined with cantilever deflection the roughness is discovered to hold valuable additional information on specific and unspecific binding events. In a few minutes, 30 liquid samples can be analyzed in parallel, each by 24 cantilever-based sensors. The approach was used to detect the binding of streptavidin and antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates complementarities between DVD player adoption and availability of content on DVD. We use household level quasi-panel data on adoption decisions of 47,893 unique households; monthly data on the availability of movies for rental on DVD at 140 different local regions, and monthly data on the number of movies released on DVD nationally. We focus on an early period after the technology launch (2000-2001), and estimate statistically and economically significant complementarities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts of the theory of endogenous coalition formation have not been utilized much to analyze issues in the field of applied economics. In this paper, we show how these concepts make a relevant and innovative contribution to these issues. We first illustrate the fundamentals of this theory and we present the concept of internal and external cartel stability. We provide an illustration of this concept through a basic example of an oligopoly in a cartelization situation. Then, we show the relevance of these concepts by analyzing the battle between the high-definition DVD-player standards: Sony's Blu-Ray and NEC/Toshiba's HD-DVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the diffusion of the digital television platforms introduced since the 1990s. Thus far, the adoption of these platforms has tended to break down on socioeconomic lines, prompting concerned observers to take note of a widening “digital television divide.” But even more disconcerting than this digital television divide is the research deficit that has accompanied it. Although the adopters of digital platforms are the subject of intensive corporate and scholarly research, industry talk and television studies scholarship rarely acknowledge these platforms' nonadopters. After attempting to account for the sporadic and halting nature of the diffusion of digital television devices and services, I conclude with thoughts about how television studies scholars might redress a research deficit to which we ourselves contribute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the effects of environmental claims and claim specificity on advertisement effectiveness. An experimental study is conducted using hypothetical print advertisements for three product categories, namely laundry machines, wrist watches, and DVD players. Findings indicate that the existence of environmental claims significantly improves respondent evaluations in the wrist watches and DVD players categories, whereas in the laundry machines category no such effects are observed. In addition, advertising claim specificity (using vague versus specific claims) significantly improves consumer evaluations of DVD players but does not seem to exert significant effects on evaluations of laundry machines and wrist watches. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate sales projections are of vital importance to the profitability and long-term survival of high-tech companies. This is especially true in the growth stage of product innovation, because major investments and marketing decisions are made in this phase. By examining recent empirical studies focusing on consumer behavior in high-technology markets, several factors are identified that can affect individual buying decisions and aggregate sales, namely, interpersonal communication, democratization of innovation, direct and indirect network effects, forward-looking behavior, and consumer heterogeneity. Against this background the diffusion-modeling and the utility-based approach are reviewed in terms of their basic conception and their applicability to the markets concerned. Based on this investigation a sales forecasting model for high-tech products, specifically in the growth stage, is developed. The model has a utility-theoretic background and a logistic structure. Since data are scarce in this early stage of the product life cycle two versions of the new approach are discussed, an extended version considering forward-looking behavior and a more parsimonious (“myopic”) one. The performance of the new model is demonstrated using real sales data on the CD player, the DVD player/recorder, and the digital camera market. The empirical comparisons include alternative specifications of the Bass diffusion model as well as a proportional hazard model and consist of two steps. First, the models are checked as to whether they are able to represent the sales data at all. It is shown that both versions of the proposed model are at least equivalent, if not superior, to the models used as benchmarks in terms of fit. In the next step, the models are applied to predict future sales in the three markets. The resulting forecasts show that the proposed model performs significantly better than its benchmarks. Its parsimony enables reliable predictions, even in cases, where only short time series are available for parameter estimation. The model is able to anticipate decreasing diffusion rates as they occur at the end of the growth stage and, thus, helps to avoid overoptimistic sales forecasts, which may cause severe economic damages. The new approach is easy to calibrate and can be applied without specialized econometric expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]