Integrating Haptic Feedback to Pedestrian Navigation Applications

The development of a haptic-feedback enabled mobile application for pedestrian routing is described. One of the challenges presented to users of pedestrian navigation applications on mobile devices is the requirement that the user continuously interacts with the visual interface on the mobile device. Haptic feedback or haptics, is a technology that uses forced feedback, vibrations and/or motions to the user which are interpreted using our sense of touch. The haptic user interface, in our application, on a mobile device provides unobtrusive feedback in the form of vibration alarms to assist the user in navigating from one point to the other. The user can hold the mobile device discretely in their hand without the need to view the screen. For spatial data the OpenStreetMap (OSM) database is used while the Cloudmade routing API is used as the routing engine

A flexible model for haptic-assisted pedestrian navigation mobile applications

Pedestrian navigation applications, specifically for mobile devices, have received much research and development attention over the past decade or so with many different types of solutions developed (Kenteris et al.; 2011). The most common interface is a map-based interface with written and/or verbal turn-by-turn directions (possibly including landmark information). Haptic technology, or haptics, is a tactile feedback technology that takes advantage of our sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, and/or motions to the user (Nakao et al.; 2010). The potential of haptic technology has only recently started to receive the attention of the research community (Jacob et al.; 2010). In mobile devices haptic-feedback is delivered in the form of vibrations which can be programmatically controlled using the phone software API. In this paper we describe a simple, flexible, model for the integration of haptic feedback into pedestrian navigation applications on mobile devices. A constraint is that the mobile device must have an onboard GPS and compass. The vibration motor on the mobile device must also be capable of being controlled from software running on the device itself. Our model allows a “heads up” approach to pedestrian navigation with the mobile device where the user is not required to keep looking down to check the screen of the mobile device. For testing purposes text-based navigation assistance is provided in conjunction with the haptic-feedback on the device screen in our prototype implementation. Three distinct modes of vibration of the device are used to provide haptic feedback to the user

Using a fully open source approach to working with OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a very exciting and vibrant project aiming to make accessing geographic data easier. Our research group at the Department of Computer Science NUI Maynooth Ireland is carrying out research into a broad range of topics including: map data generalisation, geographic shape complexity, web map services, map-based interface for pedestrian navigation. One of the common themes across this research is the use of OpenStreetMap as the principal source of geospatial data. In this paper we describe how our research productivity, research collaboration, and general data interoperability have been greatly enhanced from our early adoption of a fully open source GIS approach to working with OpenStreetMap. While one can work successfully with OpenStreetMap in non-Open Source environments the flexibility offered by an open source approach is a major advantage. This flexibility is delivered in many flavours including: a wide choice of software, inter-connectability of software packages and components, a wide network of support through documentation, message boards, and free and open exchange of ideas

Using a fully open source approach to working with OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a very exciting and vibrant project aiming to make accessing geographic data easier. Our research group at the Department of Computer Science NUI Maynooth Ireland is carrying out research into a broad range of topics including: map data generalisation, geographic shape complexity, web map services, map-based interface for pedestrian navigation. One of the common themes across this research is the use of OpenStreetMap as the principal source of geospatial data. In this paper we describe how our research productivity, research collaboration, and general data interoperability have been greatly enhanced from our early adoption of a fully open source GIS approach to working with OpenStreetMap. While one can work successfully with OpenStreetMap in non-Open Source environments the flexibility offered by an open source approach is a major advantage. This flexibility is delivered in many flavours including: a wide choice of software, inter-connectability of software packages and components, a wide network of support through documentation, message boards, and free and open exchange of ideas

Second-Harmonic Generation in Silicon Nitride Ring Resonators

The emerging field of silicon photonics seeks to unify the high bandwidth of optical communications with CMOS microelectronic circuits. Many components have been demonstrated for on-chip optical communications, including those that utilize the nonlinear optical properties of silicon[1, 2], silicon dioxide[3, 4] and silicon nitride[5, 6]. Processes such as second harmonic generation, which are enabled by the second-order susceptibility, have not been developed since the bulk $\chi^{(2)}$ vanishes in these centrosymmetric CMOS materials. Generating the lowest-order nonlinearity would open the window to a new array of CMOS-compatible optical devices capable of nonlinear functionalities not achievable with the?$\chi^{(3)}$ response such as electro-optic modulation, sum frequency up-conversion, and difference frequency generation. Here we demonstrate second harmonic (SH) generation in CMOS compatible integrated silicon nitride (Si3N4) waveguides. The $\chi^{(2)}$ response is induced in the centrosymmetric material by using the nanoscale structure to break the bulk symmetry. We use a high quality factor Q ring resonator cavity to enhance the efficiency of the nonlinear optical process and detect SH output with milliwatt input powers.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

A Revised Historical Light Curve of Eta Carinae and the Timing of Close Periastron Encounters

The historical light curve of the 19th century "Great Eruption" of etaCar provides a striking record of violent instabilies encountered by the most massive stars. We report and analyze newly uncovered historical estimates of the visual brightness of etaCar during its eruption, and we correct some mistakes in the original record. The revised light curve looks substantially different from previous accounts: it shows two brief eruptions in 1838 and 1843 that resemble modern supernova impostors, while the final brightening in December 1844 marks the time when etaCar reached its peak brightness. We consider the timing of brightening events as they pertain to the putative binary system in etaCar: (1) The brief 1838 and 1843 events peaked within weeks of periastron if the pre-1845 orbital period is shorter than at present due to the mass loss of the eruption. Each event lasted only 100 days. (2) The main brightening at the end of 1844 has no conceivable association with periastron, beginning more than 1.5yr afterward. It lasted 10yr, with no obvious influence of periastron encounters during that time. (3) The 1890 eruption began to brighten at periastron, but took over 1yr to reach maximum and remained there for almost 10yr. A second periastron passage midway through the 1890 eruption had no effect. While evidence for a link between periastron encounters and the two brief precursor events is compelling, the differences between the three cases above make it difficult to explain all three phenomena with the same mechanism.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. submitted to MNRAS on october 12. updated reference

A Functional Agonist of Insect Olfactory Receptors: Behavior, Physiology and Structure

Chemical signaling is ubiquitous and employs a variety of receptor types to detect the cacophony of molecules relevant for each living organism. Insects, our most diverse taxon, have evolved unique olfactory receptors with as little as 10% sequence identity between receptor types. We have identified a promiscuous volatile, 2-methyltetrahydro-3-furanone (coffee furanone), that elicits chemosensory and behavioral activity across multiple insect orders and receptors. In vivo and in vitro physiology showed that coffee furanone was detected by roughly 80% of the recorded neurons expressing the insect-specific olfactory receptor complex in the antenna of Drosophila melanogaster, at concentrations similar to other known, and less promiscuous, ligands. Neurons expressing specialized receptors, other chemoreceptor types, or mutants lacking the complex entirely did not respond to this compound. This indicates that coffee furanone is a promiscuous ligand for the insect olfactory receptor complex itself and did not induce non-specific cellular responses. In addition, we present homology modeling and docking studies with selected olfactory receptors that suggest conserved interaction regions for both coffee furanone and known ligands. Apart from its physiological activity, this known food additive elicits a behavioral response for several insects, including mosquitoes, flies, and cockroaches. A broad-scale behaviorally active molecule non-toxic to humans thus has significant implications for health and agriculture. Coffee furanone serves as a unique tool to unlock molecular, physiological, and behavioral relationships across this diverse receptor family and animal taxa

Proton-proton scattering above 3 GeV/c

A large set of data on proton-proton differential cross sections, analyzing powers and the double polarization parameter A_NN is analyzed employing the Regge formalism. We find that the data available at proton beam momenta from 3 GeV/c to 50 GeV/c exhibit features that are very well in line with the general characteristics of Regge phenomenology and can be described with a model that includes the rho, omega, f_2, and a_2 trajectories and single Pomeron exchange. Additional data, specifically for spin-dependent observables at forward angles, would be very helpful for testing and refining our Regge model.Comment: 16 pages, 19 figures; revised version accepted for publication in EPJ

MFA15 (MFA 2015)

Catalogue of a culminating student exhibition held at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, May 1 - August 2, 2015 . Introduction / Heather Corcoran and Patricia Olynyk -- Diana Casanova / Emily J. Hanson -- Andrea M. Coates : in the operating theater / Stephanie Dering -- Margaux Crump -- Brandon Daniels -- Addoley Dzegede : do you prefer answers or truth? / Aaron Coleman -- Vita Eruhimovitz -- Carling Hale -- Amanda Helman -- Mike Helms / Ming Ying Hong -- Ming Ying Hong / Emily J. Hanson -- Sea A Joung / Ervin Malakaj -- Stephanie Kang / Jeremy Shipley -- Dayna Jean Kriz / Andrew Johnson -- Thomas Moore : you should move to the city / Nathaniel Rosenthalis -- Jacob Muldowney -- Laurel Panella / Garrett Clough -- Caitlin Penny -- On the bridge, between Juarez and El Paso / Eric Lyle Schultz -- Jeremy Shipley -- Emmeline Solomon -- Kellie Spano / Margaux Crump -- Michael Aaron Williams -- Austin R. Wolf : monumental labor / Adam Turl.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/books/1015/thumbnail.jp