Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
No Hidden Catch, No Strings Attached: Twelve Steps to Cross-Disciplinary Conversations about Technology

While the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field widely recognises the need for interdisciplinarity, academic traditions from older fields still limit the scope of cross-disciplinary discourse. As HCI scholars come from a variety of backgrounds, developing new HCI-specific research agendas requires a deep immersion in a cross-disciplinary discussion and a thorough understanding of those with a different academic upbringing. This may be difficult in the eventful life of an HCI academic. In this paper, we propose a twelve-step programme that helps foster a better cross-disciplinary discourse. Having successfully survived a multitude of intense arguments between a computer scientist and a psychologist, we offer an easy way to have fruitful and civilised cross-disciplinary discussions. Our programme is designed to help HCI academics broaden their mind and interface with other disciplines while preserving their sanity.
PoCoPo: Handheld Pin-based Shape Display for Haptic Rendering in Virtual Reality

We introduce PoCoPo, the first handheld pin-based shape display that can render various 2.5D shapes in hand in realtime. We designed the display small enough for a user to hold it in hand and carry it around, thereby enhancing the haptic experiences in a virtual environment. PoCoPo has 18 motor-driven pins on both sides of a cuboid, providing the sensation of skin contact on the user's palm and fingers. We conducted two user studies to understand the capability of PoCoPo. The first study showed that the participants were generally successful in distinguishing the shapes rendered by PoCoPo with an average success rate of 88.5%. In the second study, we investigated the acceptable visual size of a virtual object when PoCoPo rendered a physical object of a certain size. The result led to a better understanding of the acceptable differences between the perceptions of visual size and haptic size.
Brainsourcing: Crowdsourcing Recognition Tasks via Collaborative Brain-Computer Interfacing

This paper introduces brainsourcing: utilizing brain responses of a group of human contributors each performing a recognition task to determine classes of stimuli. We investigate to what extent it is possible to infer reliable class labels using data collected utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) from participants given a set of common stimuli. An experiment (N=30) measuring EEG responses to visual features of faces (gender, hair color, age, smile) revealed an improved F1 score of 0.94 for a crowd of twelve participants compared to an F1 score of 0.67 derived from individual participants and a random chance of 0.50. Our results demonstrate the methodological and pragmatic feasibility of brainsourcing in labeling tasks and opens avenues for more general applications using brain-computer interfacing in a crowdsourced setting.
Practical Constraint Solving for Generating System Test Data

The ability to generate test data is often a necessary prerequisite for automated software testing. For the generated data to be fit for their intended purpose, the data usually have to satisfy various logical constraints. When testing is performed at a system level, these constraints tend to be complex and are typically captured in expressive formalisms based on first-order logic. Motivated by improving the feasibility and scalability of data generation for system testing, we present a novel approach, whereby we employ a combination of metaheuristic search and Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) for constraint solving. Our approach delegates constraint solving tasks to metaheuristic search and SMT in such a way as to take advantage of the complementary strengths of the two techniques. We ground our work on test data models specified in UML, with OCL used as the constraint language. We present tool support and an evaluation of our approach over three industrial case studies. The results indicate that, for complex system test data generation problems, our approach presents substantial benefits over the state-of-the-art in terms of applicability and scalability.
From Human-Human Collaboration to Human-AI Collaboration: Designing AI Systems That Can Work Together with People

Artificial Intelligent (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms are coming out of research labs into the real-world applications, and recent research has focused a lot on Human-AI Interaction (HAI) and Explainable AI (XAI). However, Interaction is not the same as Collaboration. Collaboration involves mutual goal understanding, preemptive task co-management and shared progress tracking. Most of human activities today are done collaboratively, thus, to integrate AI into the already-complicated human workflow, it is critical to bring the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) perspective into the root of the algorithmic research and plan for a Human-AI Collaboration future of work. In this panel we ask: Can this future for trusted human-AI collaboration be realized? If so, what will it take? This panel will bring together HCI experts who work on human collaboration and AI applications in various application contexts, from industry and academia and from both the U.S. and China. Panelists will engage the audience through discussion of their shared and diverging visions, and through suggestions for opportunities and challenges for the future of human-AI collaboration.
ARphy: Managing Photo Collections Using Physical Objects in AR

ARphy is a tangible interface that extends current ways of organizing photo collections by enabling people to interact with digital photos using physical objects in Augmented Reality. ARphy contextually connects photos with real objects and utilizes physical affordances so that people can add more meanings to their collections and interact with them naturally. We also created an ARphy Interaction Design Toolkit, which can add ARphy-compatible interactions to any object, so that people can register their own things for organizing collections. We developed a prototype using seven everyday objects and evaluated ARphy through a qualitative user study. Our findings indicate that ARphy is intuitive, immersive, and enjoyable and has the potential for selectively managing collections using photos and objects that have personal meanings.
NeMo

Neuromorphic computing is a broad category of non–von Neumann architectures that mimic biological nervous systems using hardware. Current research shows that this class of computing can execute data classification algorithms using only a tiny fraction of the power conventional CPUs require. This raises the larger research question: How might neuromorphic computing be used to improve application performance, power consumption, and overall system reliability of future supercomputers? To address this question, an open-source neuromorphic processor architecture simulator called NeMo is being developed. This effort will enable the design space exploration of potential heterogeneous compute systems that combine traditional CPUs, GPUs, and neuromorphic hardware. This article examines the design, implementation, and performance of NeMo. Demonstration of NeMo’s efficient execution using 2,048 nodes of an IBM Blue Gene/Q system, modeling 8,388,608 neuromorphic processing cores is reported. The peak performance of NeMo is just over ten billion events-per-second when operating at this scale.
Using Social Comparisons to Facilitate Healthier Choices in Online Grocery Shopping Contexts

This exploratory research examines how we might nudge consumers towards making healthier food choices in online grocery shopping or other digitally mediated food consumption contexts. Our pilot study investigated how different forms of social comparisons could be used to encourage consumers to reduce the number of calories contained in their online grocery basket. Our findings show that participants who were less interested in trying new diets were more willing to reduce calories when presented with a comparison to people unlike them, an out-group member comparison, while those who were interested in trying new diets were more willing to reduce calories regardless of social comparison type. These findings imply that one size does not fit all when nudging. More research is needed to see how social comparisons influence the effectiveness of digital health behavior projects.
Embroidered Resistive Pressure Sensors: A Novel Approach for Textile Interfaces

We present a novel method for augmenting arbitrary fabrics with textile-based pressure sensors using an off-the-shelf embroidery machine. We apply resistive textiles and conductive yarns on top of a base fabric, to yield a flexible and versatile continuous sensing device, which is based on the widespread principle of force sensitive resistors. The patches can easily be attached to measurement and/or computing devices, e.g. for controlling accessories. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of related design and fabrication parameters, introduce five different pattern designs, and discuss their pros and cons. We present crucial insights and recommendations for design and manufacturing of embroidered pressure sensors. Our sensors show a very low activation threshold, as well as good dynamic range, signal-to-noise ratio, and part-to-part repeatability.
Cotton root and rhizosphere responses to free‐air CO2 enrichment

Plant responses to above-ambient levels of CO{sub 2} have been summarized in several excellent reviews of recent origin, each with its own special intent. Very little is known of how root and rhizosphere processes are affected by additional CO{sub 2}. To help fill this gap in our knowledge base we have begun work in this area. Herein, we describe the early results of a first ever study of cotton growing in an open filed enriched with CO{sub 2}. Data suggest that elevated atmospheric CO{sub 2} stimulates cotton root proliferation. It may be inferred that other below ground processes impacted by root proliferation could also shift. Both root length density and root weight density appear to increase, especially in the upper layers of the soil profile. Enhanced growth of cotton roots resulted in a more thorough exploration of the soil volume occupied, possibly increasing water and nutrient availability. Increased rooting induced by CO{sub 2} enrichment could become very important for seedling establishment, especially for a crop under stress. For agronomic conditions where water and nutrients are essentially unlimited, denser root patterns may have less significance than under the limiting circumstances of more primitive or sustainable agricultural systems, or in natural ecosystems.more » A more thorough understanding of the implications of CO{sub 2}-enhanced root growth must await further experimentation. 43 refs., 2 figs., 10 tabs. « less
User Experience Design Patterns for Pseudo-Sentient Agents

Software agents with truly human-level intelligence may be years or decades away - or a practical impossibility. Yet from an end-user perspective, we already live in an era of seemingly sentient agents. Virtual personal assistants are now ubiquitous on mobile and smart home devices. But as long as human-level artificial intelligence remains speculative, the ability of today's pseudo-sentient agents to understand and fulfill the full range of human user demands is, by definition, limited and failure-prone. We need better strategies for designing natural, graceful, failure-tolerant user experiences with pseudo-sentient agents. To better support researchers and practitioners actively working on this problem, we propose a Special Interest Group at CHI 2020: a pop-up studio to design the near-future of user interactions with pseudo-sentient agents.
Make This! Introduction to Electronics Prototyping Using Arduino

This course is a hands-on introduction to interactive electronics prototyping for people with a variety of backgrounds, including those with no prior experience in electronics. Familiarity with programming is helpful, but not required. Participants learn basic electronics, microcontroller programming and physical prototyping using the Arduino platform, then use digital and analog sensors, LED lights and motors, to build, program and customize a small paper robot.
Genetic Systems in Phytopathogenic Bacteria

Studies of bacterial genetics have made a major contribution to the knowl­ edge of the nature, function, and regulation of the genetic determinants of phenotype. Although the genetics of bacteria has been intensively investi­ gated, the scope of these studies remained so narrow that Millard Susman, with tongue in cheek, stated that "bacteria" means Escherichia coli K12 (93). This viewpoint is apparent when surveying the literature for informa­ tion on the role of the bacterial genome in biological interactions between organisms, especially in phytopathogenicity. It is evident that this area has received little attention. Phytopathologists are interested in defining mechanisms of pathogenicity among diverse bacterial pathogens (leaf-spotters, wilt-inducers, toxin-pro­ ducers, blighters, gall-inducers, and soft-rotters). One obvious advantage in using genetics to study pathogenicity would be employing a different point of view in approaching these studies. Hitherto, classical studies of phytopa­ thogenesis have considered how the environment affects the expression of pathogenicity, how the host defends against the pathogen, or how the chemical products produced in host-pathogen interactions might contribute to pathogenesis. The critical question of what is in the genome of the pathogen that makes it capable of causing pathogenesis has been largely left unstudied.
A Human Touch: Social Touch Increases the Perceived Human-likeness of Agents in Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality experiences and games present believable virtual environments based on graphical quality, spatial audio, and interactivity. The interaction with in-game characters, controlled by computers (agents) or humans (avatars), is an important part of VR experiences. Pre-captured motion sequences increase the visual humanoid resemblance. However, this still precludes realistic social interactions (eye contact, imitation of body language), particularly for agents. We aim to make social interaction more realistic via social touch. Social touch is non-verbal, conveys feelings and signals (coexistence, closure, intimacy). In our research, we created an artificial hand to apply social touch in a repeatable and controlled fashion to investigate its effect on the perceived human-likeness of avatars and agents. Our results show that social touch is effective to further blur the boundary between computer- and human-controlled virtual characters and contributes to experiences that closely resemble human-to-human interactions.
GAZED Gaze-guided Cinematic Editing of Wide-Angle Monocular Video Recordings

We present GAZED eye GAZe-guided EDiting for videos captured by a solitary, static, wide-angle and high-resolution camera. Eye-gaze has been effectively employed in computational applications as a cue to capture interesting scene content; we employ gaze as a proxy to select shots for inclusion in the edited video. Given the original video, scene content and user eye-gaze tracks are combined to generate an edited video comprising cinematically valid actor shots and shot transitions to generate an aesthetic and vivid representation of the original narrative. We model cinematic video editing as an energy minimization problem over shot selection, whose constraints capture cinematographic editing conventions. Gazed scene locations primarily determine the shots constituting the edited video. Effectiveness of GAZED against multiple competing methods is demonstrated via a psychophysical study involving 12 users and twelve performance videos.
Embedding a VR Game Studio in a Sedentary Workplace: Use, Experience and Exercise Benefits

Many people, especially those in sedentary occupations, fail to achieve the recommended levels of physical activity. Virtual reality (VR) games have the potential to overcome this because they are fun and also can be physically demanding. This paper explores whether a VR game studio can help workers in sedentary jobs to get valuable levels of exercise. We studied how 11 participants used our VR game studio in a sedentary workplace over 8-weeks and their perceptions of the experience. We analysed the physical exertion in the VR game studio, comparing this to their step counts from a smartwatch. All participants achieved valuable levels of physical activity and mood benefits. Importantly, for 6 participants, only with the VR game studio did they meet recommended activity levels. Our key contributions are insights about the use of a workplace VR game studio and its health benefits.
Becoming a Robot - Overcoming Anthropomorphism with Techno-Mimesis

Employing anthropomorphism in physical appearance and behavior is the most widespread strategy for designing social robots. In the present paper, we argue that imitating humans impedes the full exploration of robots' social abilities. In fact, their very 'thingness' (e.g., sensors, rationality) is able to create 'superpowers' that go beyond human abilities, such as endless patience. To better identify these special abilities, we develop a performative method called 'Techno-Mimesis' and explore it in a series of workshops with robot designers. Specifically, we create 'prostheses' to allow designers to transform themselves into their future robot to experience use cases from the robot's perspective, e.g., 'seeing' with a distance sensor rather than with eyes. This imperfect imitation helps designers to experience being human and being robot at the same time, making differences apparent and facilitating the discovery of a number of potential physical, cognitive, and communicational robotic superpowers.
The Effect of Carboxy Methyl Cellulose (A Soluble Polysaccharide) on the Rate of Marker Excretion from the Gastrointestinal Tract of Broilers

Abstract Five-week-old broilers were used to estimate the retention time parameters of DM in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. From 3 to 5 wk of age semisynthetic diets were fed with 0, 1, and 2% carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC, an indigestible soluble polysaccharide). These diets were obtained by exchanging cellulose by CMC. The cumulative excretion curves of a marker (Cr)-containing meal were fitted to the data at fecal and intestinal level, using a generalized logistic curve. The transit time (time of first appearance at site of measurement) was estimated as well as some retention time parameters (time of 50% excretion of the Cr intake; time at and rate of maximal Cr excretion). Addition of CMC decreased the transit time from mouth to feces by 60 min (0% CMC versus 2% CMC, respectively). The first differences in transit time were observed in the posterior part of the jejunum. In contrast to transit time, 2% CMC increased the time of 50% Cr excretion by 2 h. Furthermore, CMC reduced the maximal rate of marker excretion, suggesting a more intensive mixing between the Cr-containing meal and the rest of the chyme. Because the transit time was not related to shape of the excretion curves, the former should be used cautiously as an indication of the mean retention time in the GI tract. However, determination of a cumulative excretion curve at fecal level might also be erroneous, because marker entrance into the ceca may depend on dietary composition.
Can a Conversational Agent Lower Sexual Violence Victims' Burden of Self-Disclosure?

Sexual violence victims hesitate to disclose their story to other people for help and often do not report the case to the police because it might lead to unwanted consequences. Thus, conversational agents (CAs) have been in the spotlight as a counselor since they are easily-accessible and nonjudgmental unlike humans. Despite the optimistic view, it is still important to look at what burden victims have when trying to converse with a machine. Thus, this paper aims to identify victims' burdens of human-police (HPI) vs. human-chatbot interaction (HCI). We conducted interviews with ten sex crime professionals (eight police officers and two counselors). As a result, we discovered seven burdens that can occur both in HPI and HCI. Based on our findings, we suggest design efforts and guidelines to develop CAs for sexual violence victims.
User-defined Swarm Robot Control

A swarm of robots can accomplish more than the sum of its parts, and swarm systems will soon see increased use in applications ranging from tangible interfaces to search and rescue teams. However, effective human control of robot swarms has been shown to be demonstrably more difficult than controlling a single robot, and swarm-specific interactions methodologies are relatively underexplored. As we envision even non-expert users will have more daily in-person encounters with different numbers of robots in the future, we present a user-defined set of control interactions for tabletop swarm robots derived from an elicitation study. We investigated the effects of number of robots and proximity on the user's interaction and found significant effects. For instance, participants varied between using 1-2 fingers, one hand, and both hands depending on the group size. We also provide general design guidelines such as preferred interaction modality, common strategies, and a high-agreement interaction set.
Dynamics of a grizzly bear population during a period of industrial resource extraction. II. Mortality rates and causes of death

The causes and rates of grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) mortality in a radio-marked population in southeastern British Columbia were studied for 9 years during a period of timber harvest, gas exploration, and outdoor recreation, including grizzly hunting. During 110 bear-years of radio tracking 55 radio-collared grizzly bears and their dependent offspring, one bear with a functioning radio collar died from natural causes and eight others from human intervention; in addition, four dependent offspring were thought to have died. Excluding trap-related mortalities, the best estimate for the annual survival rates were as follows: 0.82 for cubs, 0.88 for yearlings, 0.93 for subadults, and 0.93 for adults. Of the eight bears killed by human intervention, two were killed by legal harvest, five by illegal harvest (one of these in a trap), and one was killed in a trap by another bear. No mortalities were directly attributable to industrial activities. Resource extraction industries do contribute to grizzly bear mortali.