Institute and Academy of Multimedia

In a world with different readers with varying needs, the idea that readers might be given the option of text formatting their own text in advance seems very appealing. In this research, differences between reading speed, reading comprehension, and reading comfort were compared with the pre-set and self-set texts. The respondents read paragraphs and identified illogical words contained therein, while reading two comparable blocks of self-set and pre-set texts. The differences in the number of paragraphs read and the mistakes made in a limited timeframe were compared using a web test that was based on the Tinker's test. The results showed that the respondents encounter different difficulties while reading digital text. We statistically proved that people with dyslexia chose larger type sizes more frequently than people without dyslexia, whereas no such statistically significant trend was observed for all other variables (typeface, tracking, and leading). We did not observe any significant differences between the reading speed associated with pre-set and self-set texts; however, the reading speed was higher in the group of people without dyslexia. A significant difference was observed in reading comprehension, because reading comprehension was better in the case of self-set text used.

We propose and demonstrate a novel frequency-stabilization scheme that provides linewidth narrowing and at the same time is compatible with high-speed frequency agility. The method relies on sensing and control of a heterodyne beat signal derived from a fiber interferometer and functions in the absence of a fixed reference frequency. Our demonstration utilizes a short-external-cavity diode laser equipped with an intracavity electro-optic crystal for frequency correction. The stabilization method is shown to suppress impressed laser frequency modulation by nearly 2 orders of magnitude. Without further modification of our scheme we also demonstrate laser frequency tuning control.

We have demonstrated real-time all-optical bit-rate conversion and bit-sequence time reversal, using a variation of the swept-carrier frequency-selective optical storage/retrieval process. Working in the Mbit/s regime, we obtained order-of-magnitude bit-rate enhancements and reductions. Output signals appear in a time-forward or time-reversed format after an adjustable buffering storage time. Analysis of the method of its potential indicates applicability at substantially higher data rates.