Modeling optically induced halftone mottle from the variability of lateral light scattering by the unprinted paper surface

Abhijit Bhattacharya¹, Swati Bandhyopadhyay², Phil Green³
E-mails: abhijit.bhattacharya@itc.in; swatib1@yahoo.com; philip.green@hig.no
¹ ITC Ltd., Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division Unit: Bhadrachalam, Sarapaka, Khammam District, A. P., IN-507128, India
² Printing Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Salt Lake Campus, Block-LB, Plot-8, Sector-III, Salt Lake,
Kolkata IN-700098, West Bengal, India
³ The Norwegian Colour and Visual Computing Laboratory, Gjøvik University College, Teknologivn 22, N-2815 Gjøvik, Norway

Abstract

Mottle in halftone prints reduces the perceived quality of printed images. One of the sources of mottle in halftone print is the variation in apparent area of printed dots. Inhomogeneous lateral light scattering within the paper surface in between the printed dots leads to optical dot gain variation which is perceived as halftone mottle. Absence of a reliable model that can predict the paper surface’s susceptibility to halftone mottle before printing poses serious challenges in controlling factors in papermaking that contribute to lateral light scattering variability and hence to optically induced halftone mottle.

In this work, the variability in the paper surface’s lateral light scattering is modeled from the variability in spatial distances between colorimetric coordinates obtained from high resolution microscopic imaging of a knife edge shadow projection on the unprinted paper surface. We present a new model based upon multivariate paired T2 statistic for characterizing the variability in knife edge shadow response of the paper surface in order to estimate its lateral light scattering variability. The proposed model has been found to effectively predict the visual perception of halftone mottle that arises from inhomogeneous optical interactions between the printed dots and the paper surface.

Keywords: Halftone mottle, optical dot gain, light scattering, multivariate paired T2

JPMTR 042 ⎮ 1410 Original scientific paper
UDC 655-774+676

Received: 2014-07-03
Accepted: 2014-09-22

Life cycle oriented analysis of laminating films for the printing and packaging industry using a multi-level approach

Kirsten Rademacher¹, Ulrich Jung¹, Joachim M. Marzinkowski²
E-mails: radermacher@uni-wuppertal.de; marzinko@uni-wuppertal.de; marzinko@uni-wuppertal.de
¹ University of Wuppertal, Print and Media Technologies, Rainer-Gruenter-St. 21, D-42119 Wuppertal (Germany)
² University of Wuppertal, Safety Engineering, Environmental Chemistry, Gauss St. 20, D-42119 Wuppertal (Germany)

Abstract

The gloss coatings of printed products in the packaging industry have become increasingly important through adding some additional properties. These coating materials are commonly made from crude oil. The world-wide scarcity of oil resources generates a need to develop product alternatives based on renewable materials, e.g., cellulosic films.

In this paper, a comparative lifecycle-oriented analysis of two different laminating films is presented: (a) one film type is based on crude oil, viz. polypropylene and (b) one laminating film manufactured from wood. The analysis is focused on the cellulosic film type and aims to give information about the environmental impact of this product alternative in comparison to the polypropylene film. The resource consumption of the main materials is included in the study. Furthermore, the global warming potential, which is one of the best investigated and most reliable impact categories, is calculated.

The interpretation of the LCA results was conducted in accordance to a so-called ‘multi-level approach’ developed by the authors. This approach analyzes the LCA results level-by-level and hence generates a high degree of information in the LCA study. The LCA results show savings in the impact category ‘oil consumption’ and a higher global warming potential for the cellulosic film than for the polypropylene based one. However, a reversed product ranking is possible considering the uncertainty analysis for this impact category. The manufacturing of the cellulosic film is energy-consuming and requires a certain amount of chemicals. Hence, these process types are the main contributors, in addition to the transports.

We conclude that the use of renewable material in the cellulosic film type preserves the world-wide oil resources. The benefit of this film type is also apparent in the end-of-life phase: CO₂ emissions occurring in the incineration of the glossy cardboard are biogenic for the cellulosic film and fossil for the polypropylene based film. This loop approach is common in LCAs and has a great influence on the comparative LCA in the impact category ‘global warming potential’ in this study. However, there are no advantages of this product alternative concerning the global warming potential. In further work, the LCA study on the film types will be extended including further impact categories to reach a complete LCA.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, renewable resources, global warming potential, coatings, laminating film

JPMTR 043 ⎮ 1331 Research paper
UDC 676.8:551.588.7

Received: 2013-12-11
Accepted: 2014-07-24

An analysis of the motivation, structure and success factors of supply chain co-operation in the Sino-German printing industry

Hongzhen Diao¹, Suicheng Li², Alexander W. Roos¹
E-mails: diao@hdm-stuttgart.de; roos@hdm-stuttgart.de; lisc@xaut.edu.cn
¹ Hochschule der Medien, Nobelstr. 10, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
² Technical University Xi’an, Jin Hua Nan Lu 5, 710048 Xi’an, PR China

Abstract

The German and Chinese printing and packaging industries are among the main players in the globalization process within their business sector. As there is not yet much literature available explaining the details of the interactions between the involved enterprises, this paper aims to investigate the motivations and the supply chain structures, explore the key factors of success, establish a framework of supply chain co-operation in the Sino-German printing and packaging industry, and analyze the findings of different case studies. The study is based on literature review, on interviews and on cases studies on transnational co-operations. The findings in this investigation indicate that for the analyzed enterprises there did not exist ‘The One’ key factor for successful co-operations. It shows that there are various drivers to be considered more in detail. This paper aims to become a starting point for deeper understanding of and further investigations and research into the Sino-German globalization process.

Keywords: supply chain co-operation, Sino-German printing industry, key factors of success

JPMTR 044 ⎮ 1212 Research paper
UDC 655.1+681:6586

Received: 2012-07-31
Accepted: 2014-05-02

Narrative engagement and reading performance on digital and printed platforms

Olli Nurmi, Janne Laine, Timo Kuula
E-mails: olli.nurmi@vtt.fi; janne.laine@vtt.fi; timo.kuula@vtt.fi
VTT – Technical Research Centre of Finland, P. O. Box 1000, FIN-02044 VTT, Espoo, Finland

Abstract

Narrative transportation theory proposes that when people lose themselves in a story, their attitudes and intentions change to reflect that story. Travel can be used as a metaphor for reading to conceptualize narrative transportation as a state of detachment from the world of origin that the story receiver experiences because of his or her engrossment in the story. The state of narrative transportation makes the world of origin partially inaccessible to the story receiver, thus marking a clear separation in terms of here/there and now/before, or narrative world/world of origin.

Narrative engagement is part of narrative transportation and it consists of four dimensions: narrative understanding, attentional focus, emotional engagement and narrative presence.

This study compares the narrative engagement that reading novel-type texts evokes using either a printed book or an eBook as the reading platform. A reading test in controlled laboratory conditions was conducted and the results show that there were no statistically significant differences in narrative engagement. This result was verified in more natural reading environments through a qualitative study.

Keywords: eBooks and printed books, narrative engagement, reading speed, comprehension

JPMTR 045⎮ 1409 Research paper
UDC 655.1:004

Received: 2014-06-24
Accepted: 2014-10-03

Explorative scenarios of emerging media trends

Malin Picha Edwardsson and Daniel Pargman
E-mails: picha@kth.se; pargman@kth.se
Media Technology and Interaction Design, School of Computer Science and Communication and Centre for Sustainable Communications, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract

Dealing with the on-going structural changes in the media landscape is one of the most urgent challenges in today’s society, both for people working in the media industry and for consumers trying to adapt to a large and increasing number of new media technologies and services. In this article, we present and discuss a number of current media trends, outline possible future scenarios and evaluate and discuss these scenarios in terms of future media consumption, mainly focusing on the Nordic media market. The research questions are: What are the main media consumption trends today, and what could be the most important characteristics of media consumption in different future scenarios? We have used a combination of a future studies approach, semi-structured expert interviews and design fiction methodology. We have organized two reference group workshops and then interviewed 11 media experts, both from the media industry and the academic world, and combined the results of these interviews and workshops with the significant media trends generated through design fiction methodology in the project course “The Future of Media” at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

One of the conclusions drawn is that the mobile phone (smartphone) and other mobile devices such as tablets, etc., are playing an increasingly important role in current media consumption trends. We can see this through an increased number of mobile devices, an increased use of multiple devices (often used simultaneously) and in the fact that users tend to be “always connected and always synchronized”. Another conclusion drawn is that there is an increased focus on personalized and individualized news with more co-creation and sharing of media content. The amount of non-text formats for news, e.g., video, is increasing, as well as the need for a high-speed, high-quality infrastructure/network. The news consumers are increasingly time-pressed, and commute more, which creates new and different demands on the media content, such as being easily accessible at all times and places. Finally, more data is collected by media companies about the consumption habits of media users and more surveillance is performed on citizens by governments and corporations. When interviewed about the scenarios and trends in this study, the experts considered the most desirable future society to have a balanced mix of governmental control and commercial powers. As an example, public service media was considered an important counterbalance to commercially oriented media companies. According to the experts that were interviewed, aspects of all four proposed scenarios could however become true in the future, depending on choices made both on an individual level and on a societal level.

Keywords: media consumption, media trends, scenarios, future, design fiction

JPMTR 046⎮1406 Research paper
UDC 659.3:001.9

Received: 2014-03-31
Accepted: 2014-06-10