Current mobile devices do not leverage the rich haptic channel of information that our hands can sense, and instead focus primarily on touch based graphical interfaces. Our goal is to enrich the user experience of these devices through bidirectional haptic and tactile interactions (display and control) around the edge of hand-held devices. We propose a novel type of haptic interface, a Haptic Edge Display, consisting of actuated pins on the side of a display, to form a linear array of tactile pixels (taxels). These taxels are implemented using small piezoelectric actuators, which can be made cheaply and have ideal characteristics for mobile devices. We developed two prototype Haptic Edge Displays, one with 24 actuated pins (3.75mm in pitch) and a second with 40 pins (2.5mm in pitch). This paper describes several novel haptic interactions for the Haptic Edge Display including dynamic physical affordances, shape display, non-dominant hand interactions, and also in-pocket "pull" style haptic notifications. In a laboratory experiment we investigated the limits of human perception for Haptic Edge Displays, measuring the just-noticeable difference for pin width and height changes for both in-hand and simulated in-pocket conditions.

In recent years, an increasing amount of effort has gone into the design of GIS user interfaces. On the one hand, Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) with a high degree of sophistication have replaced line-driven commands of first-generation GIS. On the other hand, a number of alternative approaches have been suggested, most notably those based on Virtual Environments (VEs). In this paper we discuss a novel interface for GIS, which springs from recent work carried out in the field of Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs). The philosophy behind TUIs is to allow people to interact with computers via familiar tangible objects, therefore taking advantage of the richness of the tactile world combined with the power of numerical simulations. Two experimental systems, named Illuminating Clay and SandScape , are described here and their applications to GIS are examined. Conclusions suggest that these interfaces might streamline the landscape design process and result in a more effective use of GIS, especially when distributed decision-making and discussion with non-experts are involved.

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The characteristic odor constituenta from boiled short-necked clam, clam, and corbicula were investigated. Some distinctions in the composition of sulfur-and/or nitrogen-containing substances were observed among the shellfish species. Pyrrolidino[ 1,2-e]-4H-2,4-dimethyl-1,3,5-dithiazine (I), which is a common component from cooked small shrimp, was also found in clam and corbicula. The presence of a large quantity of compound I should contribute a roasted odor to the taste of boiled corbicula. Compound I possesses an extremely low odor threshold. 1-Pyrroline and compound I were produced at the same time during heating and were increased by longer heating. It is postulated that compound I was formed secondarily from 1-pyrroline with ethanal and hydrogen sulfide in the shellfish during heating. INTRODUC~IONVarious kinds of shellfish are used as food materials throughout the world. Such shellfish as oysters (Ronald and Thomson, 1964;Josephson et al., 1985) and ascidian (Fujimoto et al., 1982) are preferred for their characteristic fresh aroma, but many shellfish are eaten after being cooked, because they give a pleasant and appetizing aroma when heated. In Japanese dishes, corbicula, short-necked clam, and clam are often used as ingredients of soup. Among them, corbicula is usually cooked with miso, which is a fermented product from soy beans, to mask the earthy odor of corbicula. As these bivalves each present a characteristic aroma of their own when heated, details of their cooked volatiles have been published by Nishibori et al. (1972), Kawai e t al. (1990), Gadbois et al. (1967), and Mendelsohn and Brooke (1968). However, no direct comparison among them can be drawn because the heating conditions were quite different. In this paper, the volatiles of boiled corbicula, short-necked clam, and clam were separated under almost the same conditions, and the compositions of the volatiles among them were compared.The formation of pyrrolidino[ 1,2-e]-4H-2,4-dimethyll1,3,5-dithiazine, which has been previously found in the volatiles of cooked small shrimps (Kubota et al., 1988), was also investigated to learn fundamental data about its formation mechanism in seafood. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURESSample Preparation. Three kinds of live bivalves, corbicula (Corbicula japonica, Lake Shinji, Japan), short-necked clam (Tapes phillppinarum, Lake Hamana, Japan), and clam (Meretrix lusoria, Mie coast, Japan), were used as samples. The bodies of the short-necked clams and clams were isolated along with the juice by hand-shucking. Corbicula was used without sucking the body from its shell. One kilogram of the edible part of samples with 1 L of deionized water was refluxed for 2 h in a modified Likens-Nickerson apparatus (Likens and Nickerson, 1964), and 50 mL of purified diethyl ether was used for extraction. After being dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate, the solvent was distilled at 39 O C to obtain the volatiles. The effect of heating time on the volatile components of corbicula was also investigated under the same conditions. Methyl ...