On-device text segmentation and user interface with multiple paste options

With user permission, on-device text segmentation, e.g., using neural networks, is performed to identify segments within selected text, e.g., contents of a clipboard. The identified segments are provided in a user interface to enable users to perform corresponding actions. For example, multiple paste options are provided, including options to paste entire clipboard contents or an identified text segment. The techniques can be implemented as a feature of an operating system and enable users to take actions with text segments even when software applications do not support partial copying of text

Content aware user interface retargeting

This disclosure describes the preservation of important elements of a user interface (UI) during retargeting of the interface image on a mobile device. An on-device machine learned (ML) model is utilized to detect saliency or lack thereof of various UI elements in the user interface. Training of the ML model is performed by utilizing training data from repositories of software application designs and screenshot data from online marketplaces and app evaluation services. The trained ML model is utilized to detect salient UI elements that are to be preserved during display retargeting. During resizing of the UI, with express user permission, content-aware image retargeting techniques are utilized for the preservation of elements identified as important by the UI saliency detection model. Past interactions are utilized, and interpretation or corrective action is performed only upon permission from the user

DISPLAYING INFORMATION RELATING TO SELECTED TEXT

A device (e.g., a mobile phone, a camera device, a smart display, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a gaming system, a media player, an e-book reader, a television platform, a vehicle infotainment system or head unit, etc.) may display useful information such as a translation, definition, and/or description of text selected on the device by a user. The user may select text, such as a character, word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, passage, etc. on the device (e.g., by using a long press, drag, tap, click, or other gesture or input) to cause a language identification module to identify the language of the selected text and determine whether the language of the selected text is a language the user understands. If the language identification module determines that the language of the selected text is not a language the user understands (e.g., based on a system language, user preferences, etc.), a dictionary module and/or other module for displaying information related to the selected text may display a translation, definition, and/or description of the selected text in a non-obtrusive manner on the device (e.g., the translation may be in-line with the selected text, positioned above the selected text, positioned below the selected text, etc.)

Smart Notifications Based on Priority and Context

Current Operating Systems (OSs) of devices such as desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, and tablets, provide applications with capabilities to serve information to users via builtin notification mechanisms. If the information presented by a notification is not useful or timely, the user’s current task is needlessly disrupted. Moreover, the user is likely to dismiss an inopportune notification quickly, thus reducing user engagement. The techniques of this disclosure enable smart delivery of notifications such that notifications are delivered to the user at an opportune time. On-device neural networks are utilized to make the determination of the opportune time. With user permission, the content of a generated notification is processed to determine whether it is to be shown immediately, by interrupting the user, or whether the delivery is to be deferred until an opportune time

Digital and multi-channel citizen participation in Germany: A comprehensive overview of patterns, methods and determinants

Citizen participation has played an increasingly relevant role in spatial planning and development aiming to shape sustainable and innovative processes since the 1970s. Nevertheless, analogue participation is associated with various problems, such as social selectivity and a loss of civic trust in administration and politics. Against this background, high expectations lie in the development of digital participation formats, which have significantly changed the participation landscape. Despite the rapid development of digital participation based on new technologies and external factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic, there is still a lack of comprehensive empirical studies on spatial patterns and determinants. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to give an overview of the patterns, methods and determinants of digital and multi-channel participation in Germany. We comprehensively investigated digital and multi-channel participation processes on the websites of German cities and districts – about 4,000 approaches in total. The results show spatial disparities in digital participation processes. While the availability of broadband internet and public debt do not significantly influence the digital participation density in districts and cities, low election turnouts go along with high densities. This suggests that the administrations are responding to political disinterest with digital participation. The results also indicate that digital participation can be less socially selective, as high shares of population without German citizenship, high migration rates and low employment rates have significant positive effects on digital participation

Smart linkification of content within applications

When a user initiates text selection within an application, the operating system can examine text content displayed within the application to predict text selection bounds along with a possible destination application for the selected text. Until the user initiates selection, there may be no indication that a piece of text content might be actionable. Further, the functionality may not work as intended in cases where application developers implement a custom operation for the input mode utilized for passing the text content and associated action from one application to another. With user permission, this disclosure applies regular expression parsing and neural network processing to the text portion of the on-screen content to detect text entities that might be actionable by the OS or other applications on the device. After merging the actionable text entities identified via either of the two techniques, the corresponding text is presented, e.g., by underlining the corresponding text and linking it to invoke the corresponding action

Miniaturized Laser Altimeter for Small Satellite Applications

Laser Altimetry is a powerful tool to create absolutely calibrated digital terrain maps of planetary surfaces, to analyze their surface geology, and to get insight into the interior structure of planetary bodies by measuring tidal elevations and libration amplitudes and frequencies. The recent ESA missions BepiColombo and the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) carry the first European laser altimeter instruments, i.e., the BepiColombo Laser Altimeter (BELA) and the Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA), the latter of which has a strong contribution from JAXA teams. The measurement principle of a laser altimeter is very simple. It is based on the time-of-flight measurement of an optical pulse. BELA, which is now on the way to Mercury orbit, applies a diode-laser pumped Nd:YAG laser sending pulses with an energy of 50 mJ, a width of about 5 ns, and a repetition rate of 10 Hz. Over typical ranging distances of 400 km to more than 1000 km, the BELA telescope collects pulses with a few hundred photons and a width of about 25 ns where the time of arrival gives the mean topographic altitude of the area illuminated by the 5 to 40 m diameter laser beam. The return pulse width further gives information on slope and roughness within this area. GALA is a similar instrument with 17 mJ pulse energy but 30 Hz repetition rate and was launched in April 2023 to enter the Jovian system after a eight-year cruise to fly-by at Europa and Callisto and finally orbit the Jovian moon Ganymede at an altitude of about 500 km above its icy surface. BELA and GALA are instruments that consume about 50 W and have a mass of close to 15 kg and 25 kg, respectively. The instrument dimensions are largely determined by the telescope diameter of about 30 cm. In order to enable the use of these instruments on small satellites the size, weight and power (SWaP) budgets need to be drastically reduced. This can be achieved by deriving the time-of-flight information from just a single return photon. The reduction factor of about 100 in the detected photon number can be shared by a reduction in laser energy and a reduction of telescope aperture diameter. Our aim is to reduce laser pulse energy from 17 mJ to 1 mJ and telescope diameter from 22 cm (for GALA) to 8 cm which implies in total a reduction factor about 130. GALA typically detects 700 photons per pulse at an altitude of 500 km which leads to about 5 photons to be analyzed per event by a single photon detection laser altimeter. The major challenges for a single photon detection laser altimeter are the reduction of the background photon rate by reducing the field-of-view of the telescope as well as better spectral filtering. We present first results from a conceptual experimental study of such a system designed for use on small satellites applying a newly developed detection scheme using a Single Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) and a diode-laser pumped microchip Nd:YAG laser emitting 1 mJ pulses with a pulse width of 1 ns. The reductions in dimension, mass, and power consumption of this instrument are discussed, and the scientific performance is simulated based on first experimental results. The feasibility of accommodating the instrument on the modular TUBiX20 microsatellite platform developed by Technische Universität Berlin is explored and the necessary requirements for attitude and orbit determination and control as well as SWaP budgets are derived

The BrainScaleS-2 Neuromorphic Platform — A Report on the Integration and Operation of an Open Science Hardware Platform within EBRAINS

This report presents the challenges encountered and the solutions created for the operation of the BrainScaleS neuromorphic platform, and the overall progress leading to this state at the end of the Human Brain Project (HBP)

The prognostic significance of a negative PSMA-PET scan prior to salvage radiotherapy following radical prostatectomy.

AIM The optimal management for early recurrent prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy (RP) in patients with negative prostate-specific membrane antigen positron-emission tomography (PSMA-PET) scan is an ongoing subject of debate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of salvage radiotherapy (SRT) in patients with biochemical recurrence with negative PSMA PET finding. METHODS This retrospective, multicenter (11 centers, 5 countries) analysis included patients who underwent SRT following biochemical recurrence (BR) of PC after RP without evidence of disease on PSMA-PET staging. Biochemical recurrence-free survival (bRFS), metastatic-free survival (MFS) and overall survival (OS) were assessed using Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression assessed predefined predictors of survival outcomes. RESULTS Three hundred patients were included, 253 (84.3%) received SRT to the prostate bed only, 46 (15.3%) additional elective pelvic nodal irradiation, respectively. Only 41 patients (13.7%) received concomitant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Median follow-up after SRT was 33 months (IQR: 20-46 months). Three-year bRFS, MFS, and OS following SRT were 73.9%, 87.8%, and 99.1%, respectively. Three-year bRFS was 77.5% and 48.3% for patients with PSA levels before PSMA-PET ≤ 0.5 ng/ml and > 0.5 ng/ml, respectively. Using univariate analysis, the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) grade > 2 (p = 0.006), metastatic pelvic lymph nodes at surgery (p = 0.032), seminal vesicle involvement (p 0.5 ng/ml (p = 0.004), and lack of concomitant ADT (p = 0.023) were significantly associated with worse bRFS. On multivariate Cox proportional hazards, seminal vesicle infiltration (p = 0.007), ISUP score >2 (p = 0.048), and pre SRT PSA level > 0.5 ng/ml (p = 0.013) remained significantly associated with worse bRFS. CONCLUSION Favorable bRFS after SRT in patients with BR and negative PSMA-PET following RP was achieved. These data support the usage of early SRT for patients with negative PSMA-PET findings

The Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) for the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE): Mission, science, and instrumentation of its receiver modules

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is a science mission led by the European Space Agency, being developed for launch in 2023. The Ganymede Laser Altimeter (GALA) is an instrument onboard JUICE, whose main scientific goals are to understand ice tectonics based on topographic data, the subsurface structure by measuring tidal response, and small-scale roughness and albedo of the surface. In addition, from the perspective of astrobiology, it is imperative to study the subsurface ocean scientifically. The development of GALA has proceeded through an international collaboration between Germany (the lead), Japan, Switzerland, and Spain. Within this framework, the Japanese team (GALA-J) is responsible for developing three receiver modules: the Backend Optics (BEO), the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA), and the Analog Electronics Module (AEM). Like the German team, GALA-J also developed software to simulate the performance of the entire GALA system (performance model). In July 2020, the Proto-Flight Models of BEO, FPA, and AEM were delivered from Japan to Germany. This paper presents an overview of JUICE/GALA and its scientific objectives and describes the instrumentation, mainly focusing on Japan’s contribution