bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Public Health Impact of Implementing a Concentration‐Based Microbiological Criterion for Controlling Salmonella in Ground Turkey
Authors: Lambertini Elisabetta , Ruzante Juliana M. , Kowalcyk Barbara B.
Published: December 2020

Despite initiatives to improve the safety of poultry products in the United States, progress has stalled, and salmonellosis incidence is still above Healthy People 2020's goal. One strategy to manage Salmonella and verify process control in poultry establishments is to implement microbiological criteria (MC) linked to public health outcomes. Concentration‐based MC have been used by the food industry; however, the public health impact of such approaches is only starting to be assessed. This study evaluated the public health impact of a concentration‐based MC for Salmonella in raw ground turkey consumed in the United States using a quantitative risk assessment modeling approach. The distribution of Salmonella concentration in ground turkey was derived from USDA‐FSIS monitoring surveys. Other variables and parameters were derived from public databases, literature, and expert opinion. Based on considered concentrations, implementing a MC of 1 cell/g led to an estimated 46.1% reduction (preventable fraction, PF) in the mean probability of illness when consumer cooking and cross‐contamination were included. The PF was consistent across scenarios including or excluding cross‐contamination and cooking, with slightly lower mean PF when cross‐contamination was included. The proportion of lots not compliant with the 1 cell/g MC was 1.05% in the main scenarios and increased nonlinearly when higher Salmonella concentrations were assumed. Assumptions on concentration variability across lots and within lots had a large impact, highlighting the benefit of reducing this uncertainty. These approach and results can help inform the development of MC to monitor and control Salmonella in ground turkey products.
Settler Colonialism and Rural Environmental Injustice: Water Inequality on the Navajo Nation*
Authors: Bray Laura A.
Published: December 2020

Environmental justice research highlights the distinct processes generating environmental problems in rural places. Rural communities of color suffer the dual disadvantage of spatial and racial marginalization, yet we know little about the role of race and racism within rural environmental inequality formation. This study draws on theories of settler colonialism and rural environmental justice to investigate the historical formation of water inequality in the American Southwest. In 1962, Congress authorized two water projects to divide the San Juan River between the Navajo Nation and New Mexico. The Navajo Indian Irrigation project (NIIP) would develop family farms on the Navajo Nation, while the San Juan‐Chama Project (SJCP) diverted water into the Rio Grande Basin for urban use. While New Mexico's project was completed ahead of schedule in 1973, the NIIP has yet to be finished today, almost six decades later. Using archival material, government documents, and secondary accounts, this study examines racial meanings in the years leading up to NIIP approval. Findings reveal that settler officials used the NIIP as a mechanism to appropriate Native resources. I show how racial projects within NIIP negotiations contributed to colonial domination by diminishing the political sovereignty of the Navajo Nation.
Longitudinal associations between Identity processes and goal engagement and disengagement: Directionality of effects and correlated change
Authors: Skhirtladze Nino , Luyckx Koen , Schwartz Seth J.
Published: December 2020

Developmental regulation strategies and identity processes are hypothesized as influencing one another over time. This three‐wave longitudinal study (N = 369; 20% male) examined, for the first time, the extent to which (a) identity exploration and commitment processes and (b) developmental regulation strategies (goal engagement and disengagement) predicted one another over time; and whether change in identity processes was correlated with change in developmental regulation strategies. Cross‐lagged analyses indicated that goal engagement predicted commitment processes and exploration in breadth whereas goal disengagement predicted exploration in depth and reconsideration of commitment. Change in goal engagement was correlated with change in commitment processes, reconsideration of commitment, and exploration in breadth and depth. Change in goal disengagement was correlated with change in all three exploration processes and in reconsideration of commitment. Our longitudinal results suggest mechanisms of human development (stability‐flexibility) and may suggest broader developmental principles underlying goal pursuit and identity work among emerging adults.
Solidarity, Disdain, and the Imagined Center of the Gay Imagined Community
Authors: Winer Canton
Published: December 2020

The concept of imagined community has been deeply influential in scholarly understandings of nationality. In the three decades since its inception, however, the concept has expanded to be applied to a wider array of communities and identities, such as the elderly, secularists, hackers, and the LGBTQ + community. The bulk of this research has emphasized the in‐group solidarity produced by imagined communities. Yet, a small body of research specifically on LGBTQ + imagined communities suggests that imagined community may also be alienating and marginalizing. Based on analysis of interviews with 29 non‐heterosexual men, I find that respondents simultaneously discursively use the gay imagined community to stake a claim in community membership and to distance themselves from what they perceive to be negative aspects of that same community. This suggests that imagined communities can serve a more ambivalent function, both fostering solidarity and building boundaries. Moreover, my findings suggest the importance of studying communities’ “imagined centers.”
Typologies of Scepticism in the Philosophical Tradition of Kalām
Authors: Mihirig Abdurrahman Ali
Published: December 2020

This article examines the role of scepticism in the Islamic philosophical tradition. It begins with a treatment of the origins and purpose of these discussions in classical kalām (c. 800–1100 CE). Then it moves on to the more mature discussions treating five forms of scepticism in the post‐classical period (c.1200–1800 CE), with the aim of demonstrating how they construed scepticism, the arguments for and against it, and what purposes scepticism played in their system. Three of these types of scepticism are unrestricted, meaning that their denial of knowledge is universal. The other two types are restricted to a denial of inferential knowledge, either entirely, or in certain subjects such as metaphysics and natural philosophy. The discussion will focus on two of the most widely studied works of kalām: Saʿd al‐Din al‐Taftāzānī's Sharḥ al‐ʿAqāʾid al‐Nasafiyya and Jalāl al‐Dīn al‐Dawānī's Sharḥ al‐ʿAqāʾid al‐ʿAḍudiyya, including some of their super‐commentaries.
Cheaper currencies and long‐term growth: The effect of exchange rate management and capital controls
Authors: Cumperayot Phornchanok , Kouwenberg Roy
Published: December 2020

In this paper, we test whether weakening the domestic currency can help boost economic growth. To estimate this policy‐relevant but yet complex link, we apply a new mediation analysis to isolate the long‐term growth effects of currency undervaluation induced by active exchange rate management and capital control policies. Using a dataset of 182 countries in the post‐Bretton‐Woods period, we find that changes in undervaluation driven by exchange rate management and capital control policies have no significant impact on long‐term growth. In addition, the direct growth effects of these policies are typically negative and offset the small positive impact gained indirectly through increased currency undervaluation.
A FRAMEWORK OF SPIRITUALITY FOR THE FUTURE OF NATURALISM
Authors: Chatlos John Calvin
Published: December 2020

William James wrote that the life of religion “consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto.” Naturalism organizes our experiences of the universe within a science‐grounded philosophical and/or religious framework aligning it with what is supremely good for our lives. This article describes a science‐grounded specific “Framework of Spirituality” identifying part of this unseen order that opens a “spiritual core” within persons as a source of healing and happiness. A cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) expanded process shows how experiences of human worth and dignity are keys to this new awareness and provides speculation for a brain function and evolutionary explanation. Details of this knowledge are related to various perspectives and authors of naturalism—scientific, religious, ecstatic, and ecological—to contribute to a future direction for the understanding, development, and further expression of naturalism.
A Theoretical/Numerical Study on Ultrasound Wave Coupling From Structure to Remotely Bonded Fiber Bragg Grating Ultrasound Sensor
Authors: Huang H. , Balusu K.
Published: December 2020

Recently published experimental works on remotely bonded fiber Bragg grating (FBG) ultrasound (US) sensors show that they display some unique characteristics that are not observed with directly bonded FBG sensors. These studies suggest that the bonding of the optical fiber strongly influences how the ultrasound waves are coupled from the structure to the FBG sensor. In this paper, the analytical model of the structure-adhesive-optical fiber section, treated as an ultrasound coupler, is derived and analyzed to explain the observed experimental phenomena. The resulting dispersion curve shows that the ultrasound coupler possesses a cutoff frequency, above which a dispersive longitudinal mode exists. The low propagation speed of the dispersive longitudinal mode leads to multiple resonances at and above the cutoff frequency. To characterize the resonant characteristics of the ultrasound coupler, a semi-analytical model is implemented and the scattering parameters (S-parameters) are introduced for broadband time-frequency analysis. The simulation was able to reproduce the experiment observations reported by other researchers. Furthuremore, the behaviors of the remotely bonded FBG sensors can be explained based on its resonant characteristics.
Application of templated vapor-liquid-solid growth to heteroepitaxy of InP on Si
Authors: Schneble Olivia D. , Neumann Anica N. , Mangum John S. , Norman Andrew G. , Warren Emily L. , Zimmerman Jeramy D.
Published: December 2020

Direct growth of III–V semiconductors on Si promises to combine the superior optoelectronic properties of III–Vs with the existing large-scale fabrication capabilities for Si. Vapor-liquid-solid-based growth techniques have previously been used to grow optoelectronic-quality III–Vs in polycrystalline films and various photolithography-defined features. We show that templated vapor-liquid-solid growth can produce epitaxial material when performed on crystalline substrates. In templated vapor-liquid-solid growth, the metal group-III precursor is evaporated along with a capping SiO2 layer on the crystalline substrate, then melted and converted with exposure to a vapor-phase group-V precursor. We demonstrate homoepitaxial growth of InP on InP wafers using two forms of the SiOx capping layer to confine the liquid metal: evaporated SiO2 and solgel SiOx, the latter of which is necessary for growth on Si. We then demonstrate heteroepitaxial growth of InP islands on Si substrates from both evaporated and electroplated In metals. The templated vapor-liquid-solid process provides better material utilization and growth rates than common vapor-phase techniques, with similar control and convenience, providing a path toward the large-scale fabrication of integrated optoelectronic components.
Stabilization of cold-field-emission current from a CeB6 single-crystal emitter by using a faceted (100) plane
Authors: Kusunoki Toshiaki , Hashizume Tomihiro , Kasuya Keigo , Arai Noriaki
Published: December 2020

A cerium hexaboride (CeB6) single crystal grown by the floating-zone method has a low work function of about 2.6 eV, and along with lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6), it is one of the most popular cathode materials. It has been widely used as the thermionic emitter of electron microscopes, such as SEMs and TEMs. However, cold-field emitters (CFEs) based on CeB6 and LaB6 have not been put to practical use due to their insufficient emission stability compared to that of conventional tungsten (W)-CFEs. In consideration of that background, in the present study, the stability of the emission current from a CeB6 single-crystal CFE was improved by using the (100) plane at the faceted tip of the single crystal. The CeB6⟨100⟩ single crystal was processed by electrochemical etching and successive high-temperature field evaporation and faceting under an appropriate electric field to make a (100) plane at the apex of the crystal. The improved CeB6(100)-CFE emitted a monochromatic electron beam, which has about three-quarters of the energy width of that of W(310)-CFEs. Emission current from the (100) plane maintained low emission noise, and emission decay in the electron-gun chamber of the SEM was suppressed. The resulting current noise is low enough to produce SEM images without image deterioration, and the relatively small decay makes it possible to use the CeB6(100) emitter for one flashing process per day.
Atypical Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli: from Kittens to Humans and Beyond!
Authors: Bhatt Shantanu
Published: December 2020

Atypical enteropathogenic
Escherichia coli
(aEPEC) are associated with diarrhea worldwide, yet genome-wide investigations to probe their virulome are lacking. V.
New constraints on the age, geochemistry, and environmental impact of High Arctic Large Igneous Province magmatism: Tracing the extension of the Alpha Ridge onto Ellesmere Island, Canada
Authors: Naber T.V. , Grasby S.E. , Cuthbertson J.P. , Rayner N. , Tegner C.
Published: December 2020

The High Arctic Large Igneous Province (HALIP) represents extensive Cretaceous magmatism throughout the circum-Arctic borderlands and within the Arctic Ocean (e.g., the Alpha-Mendeleev Ridge). Recent aeromagnetic data shows anomalies that extend from the Alpha Ridge onto the northern coast of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. To test this linkage we present new bulk rock major and trace element geochemistry, and mineral compositions for clinopyroxene, plagioclase, and olivine of basaltic dykes and sheets and rhyolitic lavas for the stratotype section at Hansen Point, which coincides geographically with the magnetic anomaly at northern Ellesmere Island. New U-Pb chronology is also presented.

The basaltic and basaltic-andesite dykes and sheets at Hansen Point are all evolved with 5.5–2.5 wt% MgO, 48.3–57.0 wt% SiO2, and have light rare-earth element enriched patterns. They classify as tholeiites and in Th/Yb vs. Nb/Yb space they define a trend extending from the mantle array toward upper continental crust. This trend, also including a rhyolite lava, can be modeled successfully by assimilation and fractional crystallization. The U-Pb data for a dacite sample, that is cut by basaltic dykes at Hansen Point, yields a crystallization age of 95.5 ± 1.0 Ma, and also shows crustal inheritance. The chronology and the geochemistry of the Hansen Point samples are correlative with the basaltic lavas, sills, and dykes of the Strand Fiord Formation on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Canada. In contrast, a new U-Pb age for an alkaline syenite at Audhild Bay is significantly younger at 79.5 ± 0.5 Ma, and correlative to alkaline basalts and rhyolites from other locations of northern Ellesmere Island (Audhild Bay, Philips Inlet, and Yelverton Bay West; 83–73 Ma). We propose these volcanic occurrences be referred to collectively as the Audhild Bay alkaline suite (ABAS). In this revised nomenclature, the rocks of Hansen Point stratotype and other tholeiitic rocks are ascribed to the Hansen Point tholeiitic suite (HPTS) that was emplaced at 97–93 Ma. We suggest this subdivision into suites replace the collective term Hansen Point volcanic complex.

The few dredge samples of alkali basalt available from the top of the Alpha Ridge are akin to ABAS in terms of geochemistry. Our revised dates also suggest that the HPTS and Strand Fiord Formation volcanic rocks may be the hypothesized subaerial large igneous province eruption that drove the Cretaceous Ocean Anoxic Event 2.
Stable Ca and Sr isotopes support volcanically triggered biocalcification crisis during Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a
Authors: Wang Jiuyuan , Jacobson Andrew D. , Sageman Bradley B. , Hurtgen Matthew T.
Published: December 2020

Large igneous province (LIP) eruptions are hypothesized to trigger biocalcification crises. The Aptian nannoconid crisis, which correlates with emplacement of the Ontong Java Plateau and Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE 1a, ca. 120 Ma), represents one such example. The Ca isotope (δ44/40Ca) system offers potential to detect biocalcification fluctuations in the rock record because Ca isotope fractionation is sensitive to precipitation rate. However, other primary and secondary processes, such as input-output flux perturbations and early diagenesis, can produce similar signals. Here, we exploit emergent properties of the stable Sr isotope (δ88/86Sr) system to resolve the origin of δ44/40Ca variability during OAE 1a. This study reports high-precision thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) δ44/40Ca, δ88/86Sr, and 87Sr/86Sr records for Hole 866A of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 143 drilled in Resolution Guyot, mid-Pacific Ocean. The samples span ∼27 m.y. from the Barremian (ca. 127 Ma) to the Albian (ca. 100 Ma). The δ44/40Ca and δ88/86Sr secular trends differ from the 87Sr/86Sr record but mimic each other. δ44/40Ca and [Sr], as well as δ44/40Ca and δ88/86Sr, strongly correlate and yield slopes predicted for kinetic control, which demonstrates that variable mass-dependent fractionation rather than end-member mixing dominated the isotopic relationship between carbonates and seawater. Positive δ44/40Ca and δ88/86Sr shifts that begin before OAE 1a and peak within the interval are consistent with reduced precipitation rates. All results combined point to a cascade of effects on rate-dependent Ca and Sr isotope fractionation, which derive from the dynamic interplay between LIP eruptions and biocalcification feedbacks.
Self-organized criticality: a new approach to multihadron production
Authors: Satz Helmut
Published: December 2020

We apply the concept of self-organized criticality in statistical physics to the study of multihadron production in high energy collisions.
Applications of the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model to the partonic structure of the pion
Authors: Broniowski Wojciech , Arriola Enrique Ruiz
Published: December 2020

We present a brief review of results of chiral quark models for soft matrix elements in the pion state, appearing in high-energy processes as well as accessible in present and future lattice studies. A particular attention is paid to the recently explored double parton distribution functions of the pion.
Dynamical quark mass generation in QCD3 within the Hamiltonian approach in Coulomb gauge
Authors: Spengler Felix , Campagnari Davide , Reinhardt Hugo
Published: December 2020

We investigate the equal-time (static) quark propagator in Coulomb gauge within the Hamiltonian approach to QCD in d = 2 spatial dimensions. Although the underlying Clifford algebra is very different from its counterpart in d = 3, the gap equation for the dynamical mass function has the same form. The additional vector kernel which was introduced in d = 3 to cancel the linear divergence of the gap equation and to preserve multiplicative renormalizability of the quark propagator makes the gap equation free of divergences also in d = 2.
Speed of sound and quark confinement inside neutron stars
Authors: Marczenko Michał
Published: December 2020

Several observations of high-mass neutron stars (NSs), as well as the first historic detection of the binary neutron star merger GW170817, have delivered stringent constraints on the equation of state (EoS) of cold and dense matter. Recent studies suggest that, in order to simultaneously accommodate a 2M⊙ NS and the upper limit on the compactness, the pressure has to swiftly increase with density and the corresponding speed of sound likely exceeds the conformal limit. In this work, we employ a unified description of hadron-quark matter, the hybrid quark-meson-nucleon (QMN) model, to investigate the EoS under NS conditions. We show that the dynamical confining mechanism of the model plays an important role in explaining the observed properties of NSs.
Why was it possible to understand the quantum world?
Authors: Hüfner Jörg
Published: December 2020

The question in the title is answered by analyzing a specific case, Max Planck’s discovery of the radiation law. Trial and error as method of research and a rather moderate enlargement of the “knowledge space” of classical physics had been sufficient to unravel the secrets of quantum phenomena.
Nonperturbative quark matter equations of state with vector interactions
Authors: Otto Konstantin , Oertel Micaela , Schaefer Bernd-Jochen
Published: December 2020

Nonperturbative equations of state (EoSs) for two and three quark flavors are constructed with the functional renormalization group (FRG) within a quark-meson model truncation augmented by vector mesons for low temperature and high density. Based on previous FRG studies without repulsive vector meson interactions the influence of isoscalar vector ω- and ϕ-mesons on the dynamical fluctuations of quarks and (pseudo)scalar mesons is investigated. The grand potential as well as vector meson condensates are evaluated as a function of quark chemical potential and the quark matter EoS in β-equilibrium is applied to neutron star (NS) physics. The tidal deformability and mass-radius relations for hybrid stars from combined hadronic and quark matter EoSs are compared for different vector couplings. We observe a significant impact of the vector mesons on the quark matter EoS such that the resulting EoS is sufficiently stiff to support two-solar-mass neutron stars.
From chord parity to chord index
Authors: Cheng Zhiyun , Fedoseev Denis A. , Gao Hongzhu , Manturov Vassily O. , Xu Mengjian
Published: December 2020

We give a brief survey of virtual knot invariants derived from chord parity or chord index. These invariants have grown into an area in its own right due to rapid developing in the last decade. Several similar invariants of flat virtual knots and free knots are also discussed.
Persistent homology for hypergraphs and computational tools — A survey for users
Authors: Ren Shiquan
Published: December 2020

In this paper, we give the users an introduction about the framework of persistent homology methods for hypergraphs. We list the steps for standard computations of the persistent homology and discuss about the algorithms. We also give some potential mathematical tools for efficient computing.
The Error Performance Evaluation of Pulse Position Modulation with Hadamard Code in High Order Modulation of Optical Wireless System
Authors: Ali Agha Yasir , Asghar Samiya , Iftikhar Rumaisa , Shujun Wang
Published: December 2020

This paper investigates the error probability of our proposed modulation technique which is produced by combining the existing pulse position modulation (PPM) technique with Hadamard code (HC). Moreover, the HC is also combined with differential PPM (DPPM). The error performances of existing technique and the proposed technique are compared at high-order modulation (HOM) and low-order modulation. The results show that the error performance of the proposed technique outperforms at HOM at the cost of higher bandwidth. This error performance is improved due to the bipolar nature of HC and it reduces the power requirements of the system.
Quasi-injectivity of partially ordered acts
Authors: Yavari Mahdieh , Ebrahimi M. Mehdi
Published: December 2020

It is well known that injective objects play a fundamental role in many branches of mathematics. The question whether a given category has enough injective objects has been investigated for many categories. Also, quasi-injective modules and acts have been studied by many categorists. In this paper, we study quasi-injectivity in the category of actions of an ordered monoid on ordered sets ([Formula: see text]) with respect to embeddings. Also, we give the relation between injectivity, quasi-injectivity (with respect to embeddings), and poset completeness in the category [Formula: see text] and some of its important subcategories.
TESTING TRADE-OFF THEORY BETWEEN NETWORKING CAPITAL AND FIRM VALUE: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM
Authors: KHOA DUONG DANG , ANH PHAM THI TRAM , DUYEN LE THI MY
Published: December 2020

This study investigates empirically how net-working-capital (NWC) affects firm value, using a sample of the Vietnamese stock market. Our empirical results indicate an optimal NWC level that maximizes firm value. Our research also shows empirical evidence that deviations from actual and estimated NWC levels (above and below optimal level) can reduce firm value. We show that more than 40% of NWC observations in our sample on the right-hand side of the breakpoint reduce firm value. Managers tend to build up excessive working capital to prevent hiking funding costs after the 2008 crisis. Therefore, our findings help managers determine an optimal level of NWC, which enhances firm value. Our findings are consistent with the trade-off theory.
Major Power Relations in a Post-Pandemic World Order
Authors: Yang Jiemian
Published: December 2020

The still raging Covid-19 pandemic has brought sweeping and profound changes to the world. Having claimed more than one million lives and sickened many times more, the novel coronavirus has plunged the global economy into a deep recession, exacerbated existing political divisions, and changed the conception of human security. The global pandemic has not so much changed the basic direction of world history as accelerated the pace of it. The mega-trend toward greater equality and justice in global power distribution is unstoppable. At this moment of reordering, major powers need to assume the special responsibility for upgrading and updating the principles, concepts, and institutions for a new world order. Major obstacles to a smooth transition to a new order include the U.S. policy shift to unilateralism, protectionism, and nationalism on President Trump’s watch, the evolving coronavirus pandemic and its long-lasting aftershocks, emerging powers’ lack of strategic capability and/or political will to play a larger role, and glaring gaps between the mandates and means of international organizations. Just as it will take a coordinated global response to vanquish the virus, it will take complementary rather than confrontational policies of major powers to ensure a peaceful transition to a new world order.
The Serpukhovian in Britain: use of foraminiferal assemblages for dating and correlating
Authors: Cózar Pedro , Somerville Ian D.
Published: December 2020

Analysis of foraminiferal assemblages from the Viséan–Serpukhovian boundary interval in Britain has led to the recognition that levels correlated with the first occurrence of
Lochriea ziegleri
at the base of the Serpukhovian Stage can be established by the foraminifer
Neoarchaediscus gregorii
in England and Scotland, which first occurs from the Single Post and Cockleshell limestones in northern England and laterally equivalent levels, as well as
Asteroarchaediscus bashkiricus
, and
A. rugosus
(except for South Wales). Contrary to some previous studies, the base of the Serpukhovian does not equate with the base of the Namurian (Pendleian Substage), but lies approximately at the early–late Brigantian boundary, based on the first occurrence of
Neoarchaediscus postrugosus
. Four foraminiferal assemblages are distinguished in the early Serpukhovian (7–10) and four assemblages in the late Serpukhovian (11–14). Despite the contrast in facies, it is now recognized for the first time that throughout the Midland Valley of Scotland, northern England and South Wales the foraminiferal assemblages from shallow-water platform facies are completely compatible with the ammonoid subzones from deep-water basinal facies, with no apparent mismatches. There appears to be close comparability of foraminiferal assemblages and first appearance data of marker species with most of the international foraminiferal zonal schemes in Russia.
Prompto
Authors: Chan Samantha W. T. , Sapkota Shardul , Mathews Rebecca , Zhang Haimo , Nanayakkara Suranga
Published: December 2020

Prospective memory lapses, which involve forgetting to perform intended actions, affect independent living in older adults. Although memory training using smartphone applications could address them, users are sometimes unaware of available times for training or forget about it, presenting a need for proactive prompts. Existing applications mostly provide time-based prompts and prompts based on users' cognitive contexts remain an under-explored area. We developed Prompto, a conversational memory coach that detects physiological signals to suggest training sessions when users are relaxed and potentially more receptive. Our study with 21 older adults showed that users were more receptive to prompts and memory training under low cognitive load than under high cognitive load. Interviews and an in-the-wild deployment of Prompto indicated that majority of users appreciated the concept, found it helpful and were likely to respond to its prompts. We contribute towards developing technologies with cognitive context-aware prompting based on users' physiological readings.
ShadowSense
Authors: Hu Yuhan , Bejarano Sara Maria , Hoffman Guy
Published: December 2020

This paper proposes and evaluates the use of image classification for detailed, full-body human-robot tactile interaction. A camera positioned below a translucent robot skin captures shadows generated from human touch and infers social gestures from the captured images. This approach enables rich tactile interaction with robots without the need for the sensor arrays used in traditional social robot tactile skins. It also supports the use of touch interaction with non-rigid robots, achieves high-resolution sensing for robots with different sizes and shape of surfaces, and removes the requirement of direct contact with the robot. We demonstrate the idea with an inflatable robot and a standing-alone testing device, an algorithm for recognizing touch gestures from shadows that uses Densely Connected Convolutional Networks, and an algorithm for tracking positions of touch and hovering shadows. Our experiments show that the system can distinguish between six touch gestures under three lighting conditions with 87.5 - 96.0% accuracy, depending on the lighting, and can accurately track touch positions as well as infer motion activities in realistic interaction conditions. Additional applications for this method include interactive screens on inflatable robots and privacy-maintaining robots for the home.
QwertyRing
Authors: Gu Yizheng , Yu Chun , Li Zhipeng , Li Zhaoheng , Wei Xiaoying , Shi Yuanchun
Published: December 2020

The software keyboard is widely used on digital devices such as smartphones, computers, and tablets. The software keyboard operates via touch, which is efficient, convenient, and familiar to users. However, some emerging technology devices such as AR/VR headsets and smart TVs do not support touch-based text entry. In this paper, we present QwertyRing, a technique that supports text entry on physical surfaces using an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) ring. Users wear the ring on the middle phalanx of the index finger and type on any desk-like surface, as if there is a QWERTY keyboard on the surface. While typing, users do not focus on monitoring the hand motions. They receive text feedback on a separate screen, e.g., an AR/VR headset or a digital device display, such as a computer monitor. The basic idea of QwertyRing is to detect touch events and predict users' desired words by the orientation of the IMU ring. We evaluate the performance of QwertyRing through a five-day user study. Participants achieved a speed of 13.74 WPM in the first 40 minutes and reached 20.59 WPM at the end. The speed outperforms other ring-based techniques [24, 30, 45, 68] and is 86.48% of the speed of typing on a smartphone with an index finger. The results show that QwertyRing enables efficient touch-based text entry on physical surfaces.
Teaching American Sign Language in Mixed Reality
Authors: Shao Qijia , Sniffen Amy , Blanchet Julien , Hillis Megan E. , Shi Xinyu , Haris Themistoklis K. , Liu Jason , Lamberton Jason , Malzkuhn Melissa , Quandt Lorna C. , Mahoney James , Kraemer David J. M. , Zhou Xia , Balkcom Devin
Published: December 2020

This paper presents a holistic system to scale up the teaching and learning of vocabulary words of American Sign Language (ASL). The system leverages the most recent mixed-reality technology to allow the user to perceive her own hands in an immersive learning environment with first- and third-person views for motion demonstration and practice. Precise motion sensing is used to record and evaluate motion, providing real-time feedback tailored to the specific learner. As part of this evaluation, learner motions are matched to features derived from the Hamburg Notation System (HNS) developed by sign-language linguists. We develop a prototype to evaluate the efficacy of mixed-reality-based interactive motion teaching. Results with 60 participants show a statistically significant improvement in learning ASL signs when using our system, in comparison to traditional desktop-based, non-interactive learning. We expect this approach to ultimately allow teaching and guided practice of thousands of signs.
Acoussist
Authors: Jin Wenqiang , Xiao Mingyan , Zhu Huadi , Deb Shuchisnigdha , Kan Chen , Li Ming
Published: December 2020

To cross uncontrolled roadways, where no traffic-halting signal devices are present, pedestrians with visual impairments must rely on their other senses to detect oncoming vehicles and estimate the correct crossing interval in order to avoid potentially fatal collisions. To overcome the limitations of human auditory performance, which can be particularly impacted by weather or background noise, we develop an assisting tool called Acoussist, which relies on acoustic ranging to provide an additional layer of protection for pedestrian safety. The vision impaired can use the tool to double-confirm surrounding traffic conditions before they proceed through a non-signaled crosswalk.

The Acoussist tool is composed of vehicle-mounted external speakers that emit acoustic chirps at a frequency range imperceptible by human ears, but detectable by smartphones operating the Acoussist app. This app would then communicate to the user when it is safe to cross the roadway. Several challenges exist when applying the acoustic ranging to traffic detection, including measuring multiple vehicles' instant velocities and directions with the presence many of them who emit homogeneous signals simultaneously. We address these challenges by leveraging insights from formal analysis on received signals' time-frequency (t-f) profiles. We implement a proof-of-concept of Acoussist using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) portable speakers and smartphones. Extensive in-field experiments have been conducted to validate the effectiveness of Acoussist in improving mobility for people with visual impairments.
How Do You Feel Online
Authors: Ruensuk Mintra , Cheon Eunyong , Hong Hwajung , Oakley Ian
Published: December 2020

Emotions are an intrinsic part of the social media user experience that can evoke negative behaviors such as cyberbullying and trolling. Detecting the emotions of social media users may enable responding to and mitigating these problems. Prior work suggests this may be achievable on smartphones: emotions can be detected via built-in sensors during prolonged input tasks. We extend these ideas to a social media context featuring sparse input interleaved with more passive browsing and media consumption activities. To achieve this, we present two studies. In the first, we elicit participant's emotions using images and videos and capture sensor data from a mobile device, including data from a novel passive sensor: its built-in eye-tracker. Using this data, we construct machine learning models that predict self-reported binary affect, achieving 93.20% peak accuracy. A follow-up study extends these results to a more ecologically valid scenario in which participants browse their social media feeds. The study yields high accuracies for both self-reported binary valence (94.16%) and arousal (92.28%). We present a discussion of the sensors, features and study design choices that contribute to this high performance and that future designers and researchers can use to create effective and accurate smartphone-based affect detection systems.
HealthWalks
Authors: Lin Zongyu , Lyu Shiqing , Cao Hancheng , Xu Fengli , Wei Yuqiong , Samet Hanan , Li Yong
Published: December 2020

Can health conditions be inferred from an individual's mobility pattern? Existing research has discussed the relationship between individual physical activity/mobility and well-being, yet no systematic study has been done to investigate the predictability of fine-grained health conditions from mobility, largely due to the unavailability of data and unsatisfactory modelling techniques. Here, we present a large-scale longitudinal study, where we collect the health conditions of 747 individuals who visit a hospital and tracked their mobility for 2 months in Beijing, China. To facilitate fine-grained individual health condition sensing, we propose HealthWalks, an interpretable machine learning model that takes user location traces, the associated points of interest, and user social demographics as input, at the core of which a Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA) model is proposed to auto-generate explainable features to capture useful signals. We evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed model, which achieves 40.29% in micro-F1 and 31.63% in Macro-F1 for the 8-class disease category prediction, and outperforms the best baseline by 22.84% in Micro-F1 and 31.79% in Macro-F1. In addition, deeper analysis based on the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) showcases that HealthWalks can derive meaningful insights with regard to the correlation between mobility and health conditions, which provide important research insights and design implications for mobile sensing and health informatics.
Real-time Arm Gesture Recognition in Smart Home Scenarios via Millimeter Wave Sensing
Authors: Liu Haipeng , Wang Yuheng , Zhou Anfu , He Hanyue , Wang Wei , Wang Kunpeng , Pan Peilin , Lu Yixuan , Liu Liang , Ma Huadong
Published: December 2020

"In air" gesture recognition using millimeter wave (mmWave) radar and its applications in natural human-computer-interaction for smart home has shown its potential. However, the state-of-the-art works still fall short in terms of limited gesture space, vulnerable to surrounding interference, and off-line recognition. In this paper, we propose mHomeGes, a real-time mmWave arm gesture recognition system for practical smart home-usage. To this end, we first distill arm gesture's position and dynamic variation, and then custom-design a lightweight convolution neural network to recognize fine-grained gestures. Next, we propose a user discovery method to focus on the target human gesture, thus eliminating the adverse impact of surrounding interference. Finally, we design a hidden Markov model-based voting mechanism to handle continuous gesture signals at run-time, which leads to continuous gesture recognition in real-time. We implement mHomeGes on a commodity mmWave radar and also perform a user study, which demonstrates that mHomeGes achieves high recognition accuracy above 95.30% in real-time across various smart home scenarios, regardless of the impact of surrounding movements, concurrent gestures, human physiological conditions, and outer packing materials. Moreover, we have also publicly archived a mmWave gesture data-set collected during developing mHomeGes, which consists of about 22,000 instances from 25 persons and may have an independent value of facilitating future research.
Your Smart Speaker Can "Hear" Your Heartbeat!
Authors: Zhang Fusang , Wang Zhi , Jin Beihong , Xiong Jie , Zhang Daqing
Published: December 2020

Vital sign monitoring is a common practice amongst medical professionals, and plays a key role in patient care and clinical diagnosis. Traditionally, dedicated equipment is employed to monitor these vital signs. For example, electrocardiograms (ECG) with 3-12 electrodes are attached to the target chest for heartbeat monitoring. In the last few years, wireless sensing becomes a hot research topic and wireless signal itself is utilized for sensing purposes without requiring the target to wear any sensors. The contact-free nature of wireless sensing makes it particularly appealing in current COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, promising progress has been achieved and the sensing granularity has been pushed to millimeter level, fine enough to monitor respiration which causes a chest displacement of 5 mm. While a great success with respiration monitoring, it is still very challenging to monitor heartbeat due to the extremely subtle chest displacement (0.1 - 0.5 mm) - smaller than 10% of that caused by respiration. What makes it worse is that the tiny heartbeat-caused chest displacement is buried inside the respiration-caused displacement. In this paper, we show the feasibility of employing the popular smart speakers (e.g., Amazon Echo) to monitor an individual's heartbeats in a contact-free manner. To extract the submillimeter heartbeat motion in the presence of other interference movements, a series of novel signal processing schemes are employed. We successfully prototype the first real-time heartbeat monitoring system using a commodity smart speaker. Experiment results show that the proposed system can monitor a target's heartbeat accurately, achieving a median heart rate estimation error of 0.75 beat per minute (bpm), and a median heartbeat interval estimation error of 13.28 ms (less than 1.8%), outperforming even some popular commodity products available on the market.
Review—Electrochemical Discharge Machining: Gas Film Electrochemical Aspects, Stability Parameters, and Research Work
Authors: Rajput Viveksheel , Goud Mudimallana , Suri Narendra Mohan
Published: December 2020

Electrochemical discharge machining (ECDM) utilizes the principle of thermal melting and chemical dissolution for machining “non-conductive” materials like ceramics, glass, silicon wafers. These materials exhibit colossal applications in the fields of MEMS and lab-on-chips. Since its first demonstration, different aspects of the ECDM process have been studied for improving its efficiency. However, only a few numbers of studies were delineated to comprehend the mechanism of gas film and effective parameters for its stability concerning the machining repeatability. This paper comprehensively reviews the gas film mechanism concentrating on bubble formation, bubble adherence, bubble amalgamation, departure and breakdown behavior. The parameters for controlling the gas film stability such as voltage, current, gas film formation time, gas film thickness, surface tension, viscosity, surface topography, magnetic field, tool electrode’s motions and material, are also likewise discussed. Moreover, research findings on ECDM performance based on discrete input parameters is also covered and presented. It was concluded that stabilized gas film significantly influences machining efficacy and can be achieved effectively by controlling the electrolyte’s electrochemical properties, tool electrode shape and motions. Further, the paper underlines the future possibilities that may have the potential to enhance the ECDM performance.
Correlation between Microstructural Characteristics and Corrosion Properties of Mg-RE Alloys in Ringer’s Solution
Authors: Emami Mohammad , Bozorg Mansoor , Binesh Behzad , Jafari Nodooshan Hamid Reza
Published: December 2020

The effects of aging heat-treatment and cooling rate from annealing temperature on the microstructure and corrosion properties of a cast Mg-5Gd-2.5Nd-0.5Zn-0.5Zr alloy were studied. The as-cast structure comprised Gd/Nd-rich eutectic phases in α-Mg grain boundaries. In water-quenched and aged specimens, fine Zn/Zr-rich precipitates were developed in the matrix. Furnace cooling caused a significant increase in the volume fraction of both fine and coarse precipitates because of the large difference between the solubility of alloying elements at elevated and room temperatures. Immersion tests for up to 240 h in Ringer’s solution showed a respective corrosion rate of 0.84, 0.73, 0.41, and 0.39 mm y−1 for the furnace-cooled, as-cast, water-quenched, and aged samples. The corrosion behavior was further studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and polarization measurements after 1 and 24 h of immersion in the solution. An increase in the volume fraction of Gd/Nd-rich phases led to a decrease in the corrosion resistance. Large second phases acted as cathodic sites for galvanic corrosion and also locally disturbed the protectiveness of the Mg(OH)2 passive film. Rare earth elements in solid-solution were less detrimental to the corrosion resistance. Less severe corrosion resulted according to SEM observations in the aged and water-quenched samples.
Websites of Note - Winter 2020
Authors: Suroviec Alice
Published: December 2020

Columnist Alice Suroviec has hand selected websites pertaining to the H-TEMP Division.
Manufacturing Techniques of Thin Electrolyte for Planar Solid Oxide Electrochemical Cells
Authors: Feng Wuxiang , Wu Wei , Jin Congrui , Ding Dong
Published: December 2020

Solid oxide electrochemical cell (SOC) technology, such as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for distributed power generation and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC) for hydrogen production, increasingly attracts interest from the research community due to its advantages of efficient direct conversion of energy and environmentally benign operation. The conventional SOCs using oxygen-ion conducting electrolytes suffer from many challenges associated with high operating temperature (typically above 750°C), which not only results in fast degradation but also problems, such as expensive refractory materials in the system components, less competitive cost, slow start-up, and burden on thermal insulation.
In-situ Absorbance Monitoring of NAD+ Reduction Using Platinum-Modified Carbon Paper Electrodes
Authors: Wolfe Kody D. , Cliffel David E. , Kane Jennings G.
Published: December 2020

2020 H. H. Uhlig Summer Research Fellowship – Summary Report
Cardiac expression and location of hexokinase changes in a mouse model of pure creatine deficiency
Authors: Branovets Jelena , Karro Niina , Barsunova Karina , Laasmaa Martin , Lygate Craig A. , Vendelin Marko , Birkedal Rikke
Published: December 2020

In creatine-deficient AGAT−/− and GAMT−/− mice, the myocardial creatine kinase system is substrate limited. It is unknown whether subcellular localization and mitochondrial ADP channeling by hexokinase and adenylate kinase may compensate as alternative phosphotransfer systems. Our results show no changes in adenylate kinase, which is the main alternative to creatine kinase in heart. However, we found increased expression and activity of hexokinase I in AGAT−/− cardiomyocytes. This could affect mitochondrial regulation and reactive oxygen species production.