There is a strong requirement for enriching text based communications in real time over the internet with advanced techniques which make easier the communication of emotions. This is exemplified with the MSN chat application where emocons are used routinely. The presentation will focus on our work on emotion extraction engines from text which operate in real time and allow the identification of the emotional state of the written sentences by users. Such techniques and engines are very useful in many applications, whether stand alone or networked. The engines we have developed allow the analysis of sentences and classification of emotions into categories, (sad, happy fear, anger etc) and for each emotion we display automatically an appropriate expressive facial image on the screen of the communicating user. The generation of expressive images from a single default photograph automatically will be discussed. The emotional momentum theory will be presented, which we have developed in order to support out findings will also be discussed. Time permitting a series of applications we have developed using the core text to emotion engine will be discussed.

Electromagnetic design and analysis problems are usually categorized as frequency -domain or time-domain problems. In frequency-domain problems, Maxwell’s equations under certain hypotheses and boundary conditions can be Fourier transformed, to eliminate the time variable, and the resulting equations describe the steady-state time-harmonic solution to the problem. This approach has been used for analytical and computational solutions, for electromagnetic wave scattering calculations, and for analysis of narrowband antennas and propagation. In time-domain electromagnetic, Maxwell’s equations are presented in a fundamental time-dependent form. The equations with appropriate source terms, boundary and initial conditions, describe fully the time evolution of electromagnetic fields. An analytical solution is impossible for most problems, however trivial they may be. The computational approach has reached its full usage, after very large computer systems became available. The numerical methods that can approximate the solutions of Maxwell’s equations with very good accuracy and give results that are beyond expectations are mainly the FDTD – Finite Difference Time Domain Method and the TDFEM-Time Domain Finite Element Method. These methods are flexibly applied to a wide variety of applications selected for a particular method, being dependent on the structure under consideration. Long computational times and large memory requirements are necessary in most cases. Many research centers have developed software packages, with strong preference for the Finite Element Method, and for some other alternative options, such as Boundary Element Method, Finite Volume Method, Singular Complement Method, etc. Descriptions of the aforementioned methods are given with some applications and derived results.

Recently, the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) released a draft standard under reference ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25 N1102, inviting comments from members prior to finalising it onto a standard entitled “Information Technology – Generic Cabling – Industrial premises”. In the light of this draft above, the characteristics of the various types of POF will be reviewed for their suitability to meet this imminent standard. Appropriate measurements with various types of POF will be used to show that in many circumstances other types of POF that have not been explicitly included in the draft standard can also meet it. The choice in what type of fibre to use may, in some applications, be of great importance.

Novel photonics polymer devices for broadband technologies are described, focusing on the high-speed GI-POF (Graded-Index Plastic Optical Fiber), the high-quality photonics polymer films and waveguide devices for LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and other flat panel displays. Based on these photonics polymer devices, the concept of "Fiber to the Display" is proposed, where the GI-POF is directly distributed to the display from main server in building or house. Therefore, the real-time face-to-face communication with HDTV quality becomes possible, that can not be achieved by current technologies. We believe that new innovative concepts of broadband society in 21st century will be realized by "the proposal from the material side"

With the fast advancement of information and communication technology, gradient-index plastic optical fiber (GI-POF) has drawn much interest as high-speed data-transmission media for short-haul applications such as local area network (LAN) and home network. A new manufacturing technology has been developed to produce PMMA-based GI-POF that is capable of higher than 1 Gbps-100m. Various technical aspects of designing and fabricating the GI-POF are discussed.

Traditionally, plastic optical fibers (POF) have offered a single major advantage: simple and inexpensive connection facilitated by a large core diameter. However, as high-performance graded-index POF has appeared on the scene, and the cost of precision connector components has plummeted, the value proposition of POF has changed dramatically. Instead of offering only simple interconnection with poor optical performance, POF now offers simple interconnection and high optical performance, as well as new advantages such high extreme ruggedness and ability to tolerate tight bends. In this talk, I will explain and quantify these new value propositions.