OWSNet: Towards Real-time Offensive Words Spotting Network for Consumer IoT Devices

Every modern household owns at least a dozen of IoT devices like smart speakers, video doorbells, smartwatches, where most of them are equipped with a Keyword spotting(KWS) system-based digital voice assistant like Alexa. The state-of-the-art KWS systems require a large number of operations, higher computation, memory resources to show top performance. In this paper, in contrast to existing resource-demanding KWS systems, we propose a light-weight temporal convolution based KWS system named OWSNet, that can comfortably execute on a variety of IoT devices around us and can accurately spot multiple keywords in real-time without disturbing the device\u27s routine functionalities. When OWSNet is deployed on consumer IoT devices placed in the workplace, home, etc., in addition to spotting wake/trigger words like `Hey Siri\u27, `Alexa\u27, it can also accurately spot offensive words in real-time. If regular wake words are spotted, it activates the voice assistant; else if offensive words are spotted, it starts to capture and stream audio data to speech analytics APIs for autonomous threat and insecurities detection in the scene. The evaluation results show that the OWSNet is faster than state-of-the-art models as it produced ~ 1-74 times faster inference on Raspberry Pi 4 and ~ 1-12 times faster inference on NVIDIA Jetson Nano. In this paper, to optimize IoT use-case models like OWSNet, we present a generic multi-component ML model optimization sequence that can reduce the memory and computation demands of a wide range of ML models thus enabling their execution on low resource, cost, power IoT devices

Design and implementation of a domestic disinfection robot based on 2D lidar

In the battle against the Covid-19, the demand for disinfection robots in China and other countries has increased rapidly. Manual disinfection is time-consuming, laborious, and has safety hazards. For large public areas, the deployment of human resources and the effectiveness of disinfection face significant challenges. Using robots for disinfection therefore becomes an ideal choice. At present, most disinfection robots on the market use ultraviolet or disinfectant to disinfect, or both. They are mostly put into service in hospitals, airports, hotels, shopping malls, office buildings, or other places with daily high foot traffic. These robots are often built-in with automatic navigation and intelligent recognition, ensuring day-to-day operations. However, they usually are expensive and need regular maintenance. The sweeping robots and window-cleaning robots have been put into massive use, but the domestic disinfection robots have not gained much attention. The health and safety of a family are also critical in epidemic prevention. This thesis proposes a low-cost, 2D lidar-based domestic disinfection robot and implements it. The robot possesses dry fog disinfection, ultraviolet disinfection, and air cleaning. The thesis is mainly engaged in the following work: The design and implementation of the control board of the robot chassis are elaborated in this thesis. The control board uses STM32F103ZET6 as the MCU. Infrared sensors are used in the robot to prevent from falling over and walk along the wall. The Ultrasonic sensor is installed in the front of the chassis to detect and avoid the path's obstacles. Photoelectric switches are used to record the information when the potential collisions happen in the early phase of mapping. The disinfection robot adopts a centrifugal fan and HEPA filter for air purification. The ceramic atomizer is used to break up the disinfectant's molecular structure to produce the dry fog. The UV germicidal lamp is installed at the bottom of the chassis to disinfect the ground. The robot uses an air pollution sensor to estimate the air quality. Motors are used to drive the chassis to move. The lidar transmits its data to the navigation board directly through the wires and the edge-board contact on the control board. The control board also manages the atmosphere LEDs, horn, press-buttons, battery, LDC, and temperature-humidity sensor. It exchanges data with and executes the command from the navigation board and manages all kinds of peripheral devices. Thus, it is the administrative unit of the disinfection robot. Moreover, the robot is designed in a way that reduces costs while ensuring quality. The control board’s embedded software is realized and analyzed in the thesis. The communication protocol that links the control board and the navigation board is implemented in software. Standard commands, specific commands, error handling, and the data packet format are detailed and processed in software. The software effectively drives and manages the peripheral devices. SLAMWARE CORE is used as the navigation board to complete the system design. System tests like disinfecting, mapping, navigating, and anti-falling were performed to polish and adjust the structure and functionalities of the robot. Raspberry Pi is also used with the control board to explore 2D Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms, such as Hector, Karto, and Cartographer, in Robot Operating System (ROS) for the robot’s further development. The thesis is written from the perspective of engineering practice and proposes a feasible design for a domestic disinfection robot. Hardware, embedded software, and system tests are covered in the thesis

THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS FROM IN-CAMPUS CLASSES INTO ONLINE CLASSES DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC SITUATION - THE CASE OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN KOSOVO

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused many drastic changes in terms of traditional teaching. All the Universities of Kosovo have found the transition from teaching in class, to online classes quite challenging. Consequently, most Universities were not prepared for this adjustment and a lot of the universities before the pandemic stated that they never thought that this time would come and they would pause from classroom teaching. This study investigates the transformation of Higher Education Institution (HEI) of Kosovo from in-campus classes into online classes due to COVID-19 pandemic. Data collections were gathered from workshop and interview, resulting into qualitative data. Using 3C Lichtman approach we analyzed our data from the workshop and interview. Our analysis resulted in a new proposal of infrastructure model about 200k users in real time, regarding the sustainability aspect of this process, in order to provide a successful online teaching

Institutional Influence on Documentary Form: an Analysis of PBS and HBO Documentary Programs

INSTITUTIONAL INFLUENCE ON DOCUMENTARY FORM - A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PBS and HBO DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMS by Mark Irving The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, 2015 Under the Supervision of Professor Michael Z. Newman Beginning in the 1980s, the documentary genre has undergone a transformation to accommodate modes of stylistic expression and subjective thematic exposition previously not evident in the genre. This deviation from the form’s traditional modes of expression typically associated with fact-based, journalistic pursuits can be attributed to the institutional underpinnings of media outlets that exhibit documentary programming. These institutional factors, a consequence of an evolving marketplace and shifts in the political and regulatory landscape, have motivated programming mandates or practices often discordant with a media outlet’s stated or presumed mission. This research identifies documentary themes and modes of representation and notes their evolution over time by examining documentary programming on two dominant television networks. I relate these shifts to institutional factors such as fluctuations and changes in funding, administration, regulations and the marketplace - factors such as the decrease in public/tax and consequent rise in private/underwriter funding of public television, and the diversification and increase of programming by commercial media outlets in response to an expanding marketplace. I also draw conclusions about the function of the documentary genre and the nature and purpose of the television institutions that exhibit them - documentary as popular entertainment, journalistic inquiry or historic artifac

Environment Matters: Examining the Lived Experience of First-Generation College Students at Private, Four-Year Universities

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of first-generation college students at two small, private, liberal arts universities. Initially, the study focused on the identity development of first-generation students and how their familial relationships and culture influenced their development. However, as the study developed, the college environment emerged as another significant environmental factor influencing students’ experiences and development. For the majority of participants, family offered support and encouragement in their academic endeavors prior to and during college, which positively influenced their success and persistence in college. Additionally, many participants named professors as a significant source of support and mentioned feeling known and cared for by professors. Participants also found academic and emotional support through relationships with peers, which developed through classes, on-campus jobs, and extracurricular involvement. Overall, participants felt a sense of belonging at their institutions. The community created around shared values at small, private institutions of higher education provided an environment conducive to the success and persistence of participants in this study. However, the majority of participants identified as White and middle class and attended predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Further study from the perspective of students of color at small, private PWIs would add to lessons learned about the influence of environment on the experiences of first-generation college students

Media Processing in Video Conferences for Cooperating Over the Top and Operator Based Networks

Telecom operators have dominated the communication industry for a long time by providing services with guaranteed quality of service. Such services are provided by the operator at the cost of maintaining a high grade network. With the introduction of broadband and internet, many over the top (OTT) services have emerged. These services use the underlying operator networks as a mere bit pipe while all service intelligence resides in the application running on the client device. Introduction of OTT services has seen a good response from general users who are no longer bound to services provided by the network operator. This in turn has caused operators and telecom companies to loose the ownership of their customers. This thesis takes media processing in video conferencing as a case study to compare the two competing domains of operator networks and OTT networks. Both domains offer video conferencing to end users, but they follow different architectures. The study shows that OTT services can perform much better if they utilize support of the underlying network. This will also bring the user base back to the network operator. The proposal is to turn the competition into cooperation between both parties. Assessments are done from both technical as well as business perspectives to assert that such cooperative agreements are possible and should be experimented in real life

Design and implementation of the operating software for the hardware prototype for personal health data identification (PHDI)

El patrón de la población en Europa está cambiando. El aumento del número de ancianos y el consecuente aumento de las enfermedades crónicas deriva en una situación en la que los sistemas sanitarios deben encontrar nuevos métodos para el cuidado de las personas enfermas. La telemonitorización está ganando importancia para proveer la solución a estos cambios. Además, una estrategia de prevención para evitar la aparición de enfermedades crónicas consiste en animar a la población a practicar más ejercicio físico. Como consecuencia existe una gran variedad de aparatos de telemonitorización de las constantes vitales durante la práctica deportiva. El PHDI (identificador personal de datos médicos) permite que el empleo de dispositivos de salud personal (PHD) sea más fácil y cómodo. Este dispositivo proporciona un método innovador para relacionar a cada persona con sus mediciones de datos sanitarios. El PHDI se asigna a una persona que emplea PHDs. Esta persona identifica el PHD que va a utilizar mediante RFID. El PHDI se encarga de transmitir el identificador del PHD empleado a un servidor mediante la tecnología ANT. Las medidas del PHD se transmiten directamente al servidor, donde son asignadas al usuario en cuestión. Este producto da solución a situaciones en las que los PHDs son empleados por varias personas. Así mismo, puede ser beneficioso para residencias de ancianos y centros deportivos.The pattern of population in Europe is changing. The increasing number of elderly people and the consequent increase of chronic diseases drive to a situation where health care systems have to find a new way to take care of ill people. Telemonitoring is gaining importance to provide a solution for these changes. In addition, a preventive strategy against chronic diseases consists of encouraging people to practice more physical exercise. Consequently, there is a wide variety of fitness and health telemonitoring devices. The PHDI makes easier and more comfortable the use of personal health devices (PHD). This device provides an innovative way to relate each person with their health data measurements. The PHDI is assigned to a person who uses PHDs. This person has to identify the PHD via RFID before using the medical device. The PHDI transmits the ID of the used PHD to a server environment via ANT technology. The measurements from the PHD are transmitted directly to the server environment, where they are assigned to the correct ID. This product provides a solution for situations where PHD are shared by many people. Nursing homes and fitness centers can benefit from this product.Ingeniería de TelecomunicaciónTelekomunikazio Ingeniaritz

Low-Power Reconfigurable Sensing Circuitry for the Internet-of-Things Paradigm

With ubiquitous wireless communication via Wi-Fi and nascent 5th Generation mobile communications, more devices -- both smart and traditionally dumb -- will be interconnected than ever before. This burgeoning trend is referred to as the Internet-of-Things. These new sensing opportunities place a larger burden on the underlying circuitry that must operate on finite battery power and/or within energy-constrained environments. New developments of low-power reconfigurable analog sensing platforms like field-programmable analog arrays (FPAAs) present an attractive sensing solution by processing data in the analog domain while staying flexible in design. This work addresses some of the contemporary challenges of low-power wireless sensing via traditional application-specific sensing and with FPAAs. A large emphasis is placed on furthering the development of FPAAs by making them more accessible to designers without a strong integrated-circuit background -- much like FPGAs have done for digital designers