Smart Haptics Feedback to Fit Usage Scenario

Haptics feedback, such as vibration, does not take into account contextual factors related to the situation in which a device delivers such feedback. This can result in suboptimal user experience in some circumstances. With user permission, the techniques of this disclosure utilize sensors on a device to detect various usage scenarios. Prior to delivering the haptics feedback, various parameters of the feedback, such as intensity and salience, are adjusted to fit the detected usage scenario

Field Tuning of Linear Resonant Actuators Using Motion Sensor Feedback

Linear resonant actuators (LRAs) create tactile feedback in consumer devices by generating vibrations. LRA characteristics can change with time due to environmental conditions, thereby degrading the performance of the LRA. Variations in LRA performance can be compensated during operation by using techniques of parameter detection, measurement, and correction, which themselves rely on accurate back EMF measurement. A back EMF test is accurate so long as the LRA is stationary, the device is lying on a flat, vibration-free surface, and is free of external movement. This disclosure describes techniques that ensure accurate measurement of LRA parameters by performing back EMF measurements when onboard motion sensors indicate zero or low device motion

Micro Touchpad for Wearables

Users interact with electronic devices via a variety of input devices, such as buttons, touchpads, touchscreens, keyboards, styluses, and mice. Touchpads allow users to provide the electronic devices with a variety of commands and instructions because of their flexibility in receiving many types of input, including touches, swipes, gestures, taps, and holds from one or more fingers or other input devices. Touchpads also allow for robust construction and ergonomic variability in environments in which other input devices may not function as effectively. In particular, a micro touchpad sized for wearable devices, such as watches, activity trackers, or headphones, that retains the functionality of larger touchpads allows users to interact with electronic devices in ways normally reserved for larger devices. The micro touchpad includes multiple sensor pads arranged in small form factor and configured to receive a variety of inputs from a user of an electronic device

Duplicate Question Retrieval and Confirmation Time Prediction in Software Communities

Community Question Answering (CQA) in different domains is growing at a large scale because of the availability of several platforms and huge shareable information among users. With the rapid growth of such online platforms, a massive amount of archived data makes it difficult for moderators to retrieve possible duplicates for a new question and identify and confirm existing question pairs as duplicates at the right time. This problem is even more critical in CQAs corresponding to large software systems like askubuntu where moderators need to be experts to comprehend something as a duplicate. Note that the prime challenge in such CQA platforms is that the moderators are themselves experts and are therefore usually extremely busy with their time being extraordinarily expensive. To facilitate the task of the moderators, in this work, we have tackled two significant issues for the askubuntu CQA platform: (1) retrieval of duplicate questions given a new question and (2) duplicate question confirmation time prediction. In the first task, we focus on retrieving duplicate questions from a question pool for a particular newly posted question. In the second task, we solve a regression problem to rank a pair of questions that could potentially take a long time to get confirmed as duplicates. For duplicate question retrieval, we propose a Siamese neural network based approach by exploiting both text and network-based features, which outperforms several state-of-the-art baseline techniques. Our method outperforms DupPredictor and DUPE by 5% and 7% respectively. For duplicate confirmation time prediction, we have used both the standard machine learning models and neural network along with the text and graph-based features. We obtain Spearman's rank correlation of 0.20 and 0.213 (statistically significant) for text and graph based features respectively.Comment: Full paper accepted at ASONAM 2023: The 2023 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Minin

Contextual Haptics for Wearable Devices

Haptic feedback is an important feature for wearable devices such as watches, fitness bands, etc. Current techniques to provide hardware feedback either cannot generate specially customized haptic feedback, or are limited to predefined haptic effects, and are limited by the battery and peak power draw available on a wearable device. This document describes context-aware haptics that take into account the user state while using the wearable device. With permission from the user, the user state or activity, e.g., sitting, walking, running, etc. is detected by analyzing sensor readings from inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor(s) that are included in the wearable device. Based on the user state, dynamic haptics are provided that adapt to the determined user state/ context

Carry-Over Round Robin: A Simple Cell Scheduling Mechaniasm for ATM Networks

We propose a simple cell scheduling mechanism for ATM networks. The proposed mechanism, named Carry-Over Round Robin (CORR), is an extension of weighted round robin scheduling. We show that albeit its simplicity, CORR achieves tight bounds on end-to-end delay and near perfect fairness. Using a variety of video traffic traces we show that CORR often outperforms some of the more complex scheduling disciplines such as Packet-by-Packet Generalized Processor Sharing (PGPS). (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-96-45

A modular, partitioned, discrete element framework for industrial grain distribution systems with rotation machinery

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40571-015-0089-9A modular discrete element framework is presented for large-scale simulations of industrial grain-handling systems. Our framework enables us to simulate a markedly larger number of particles than previous studies, thereby allowing for efficient and more realistic process simulations. This is achieved by partitioning the particle dynamics into distinct regimes based on their contact interactions, and integrating them using different time-steps, while exchanging phase-space data between them. The framework is illustrated using numerical experiments based on fertilizer spreader applications. The model predictions show very good qualitative and quantitative agreement with available experimental data. Valuable insights are developed regarding the role of lift vs drag forces on the particle trajectories in-flight, and on the role of geometric discretization errors for surface meshing in governing the emergent behavior of a system of particles.Postprint (author's final draft

Increased toll-like receptor-2 expression on nonclassic CD16⁺monocytes from patients with inflammatory stage of eales' disease

Purpose.: To identify the distribution, differential Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression, and functional contribution of monocyte subpopulations in the inflammatory stage of Eales' disease (ED). Methods.: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from nine patients during the inflammatory stage of ED and nine age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The expression of CD14, CD16, TLR-2, and TLR-4 on monocytes was measured by flow cytometry. The CD14+, CD16−, and CD16+ monocyte populations were sorted on the basis of magnetic-activated cell-sorting methodology, and levels of cytokines were measured by ELISA. Results.: In ED patients, the number of circulating monocytes was significantly expanded compared with that in controls (P = 0.01), with a marked increase in the nonclassic CD16+ subset, which showed an activated phenotype in patients that correlated with levels of serum proinflammatory cytokines and clinical progression. A higher expression of cell surface TLR-2 (P = 0.02), but not TLR-4, was found in monocytes of patients with ED. Furthermore, TLR-2 was expressed at higher levels on CD16+ monocytes than on CD16− monocytes in patients, whereas no significant variation was found in TLR-4 expression on different monocyte subsets. Peptidoglycan-induced TNF-α expression correlated with TLR-2 expression in monocytes isolated from controls (r = 0.85, P = 0.0061), but not in monocytes isolated from ED patients (r = 0.553, P = 0.1328). Conclusions.: These results indicate that in the pathogenesis of ED, TLR activation and increased numbers of nonclassic CD16+ monocytes are crucial regulators, along with the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines that perpetuate the inflammatory process in the retina

Implementing a Negative Pressure Isolation Space within a Skilled Nursing Facility to Control SARS-CoV- 2 Transmission

Background: Isolation space must be expanded during pandemics involving airborne transmission. Little to no work has been done to establish optimal design strategies and implementation plans to ease surge capacity and expand isolation capacity over long periods in congregate living facilities.The COVID-19 pandemic has an airborne transmission component and requires isolation, which is difficult to accomplish in skilled nursing facilities. Purpose: In this study we designed, implemented, and validated an isolation space at a skilled nursing facility in Lancaster, PA. The overall goal was to minimize disease transmission betweenresidents and staff within the facility. Basic Procedures: We created an isolation space by modifying an existing HVAC system of the SNF. We measured pressure on-site and performed computational fluid dynamics and Lagrangian particle-based modeling to test containment and possible transmission extent given the isolation space is considered negative rather than individual rooms. Main Findings: Pressure data shows the isolation space maintained an average hourly value of (standard deviation) -2.3 Pa (0.12 Pa) pressure differential between it and the external hallway connected to the rest of the facility. No transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between residents isolated to the space occurred, nor did any transmission to the staff or other residents occur. The isolation space was successfully implemented and, as of writing, continues to be operational through the pandemic.</p

Implementing a Negative Pressure Isolation Space within a Skilled Nursing Facility to Control SARS-CoV-2 Transmission

Background: Isolation space must be expanded during pandemics involving airborne transmission. Little to no work has been done to establish optimal design strategies and implementation plans to ease surge capacity and expand isolation capacity over long periods in congregate living facilities. The COVID-19 pandemic has an airborne transmission component and requires isolation, which is difficult to accomplish in skilled nursing facilities. Purpose: In this study we designed, implemented, and validated an isolation space at a skilled nursing facility in Lancaster, PA. The overall goal was to minimize disease transmission between residents and staff within the facility. Basic Procedures: We created an isolation space by modifying an existing HVAC system of the SNF. We measured pressure on-site and performed computational fluid dynamics and Lagrangian particle-based modeling to test containment and possible transmission extent given the isolation space is considered negative rather than individual rooms. Main Findings: Pressure data shows the isolation space maintained an average (standard deviation) hourly value of -2.3 Pa (0.12 Pa) pressure differential between it and the external hallway connected to the rest of the facility. No transmission of SARS-CoV-2 between residents isolated to the space occurred, nor did any transmission to the staff or other residents occur. The isolation space was successfully implemented and, as of writing, continues to be operational through the pandemic. Key Words: aerosol transmission, airborne transmission, surge capacity, engineering controls, congregate living facilitie