Investigating the Intelligibility of a Computer Vision System for Blind Users

Computer vision systems to help blind usersare becoming increasingly common yet often these systems are not intelligible. Our work investigates the intelligibility of a wearable computer vision system to help blind users locate and identify people in their vicinity. Providing a continuous stream of information, this system allows us to explore intelligibility through interaction and instructions, going beyond studies of intelligibility that focus on explaining a decision a computer vision system might make. In a study with 13 blind users, we explored whether varying instructions (either basic or enhanced) about how the system worked would change blind users’ experience of the system. We found offering a more detailed set of instructions did not affect how successful users were using the system nor their perceived workload. We did, however, find evidence of significant differences in what they knew about the system, and they employed different, and potentially more effective, use strategies. Our findings have important implications for researchers and designers of computer vision systemsfor blind users, as well more general implications for understanding what it means to make interactive computer vision systems intelligible

Edge Magnetoplasmons in Quantum Hall Line Junction Systems

A quantum Hall line junction system consists of a one-dimensional Luttinger liquid (LL) and two chiral channels that allow density waves incident upon and reflected by the LL to be measured separately. We demonstrate that interactions in a quantum Hall line junction system can be probed by studying edge magnetoplasmon absorption spectra and their polarization dependences. Strong interactions in the junction lead to collective modes that are isolated in either Luttinger liquid or contact subsystems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B Rapid Communicatio

Line junction in a quantum Hall system with two filling fractions

We present a microscopic model for a line junction formed by counter or co-propagating single mode quantum Hall edges corresponding to different filling factors. The ends of the line junction can be described by two possible current splitting matrices which are dictated by the conditions of both lack of dissipation and the existence of a linear relation between the bosonic fields. Tunneling between the two edges of the line junction then leads to a microscopic understanding of a phenomenological description of line junctions introduced some time ago. The effect of density-density interactions between the two edges is considered, and renormalization group ideas are used to study how the tunneling parameter changes with the length scale. This leads to a power law variation of the conductance of the line junction with the temperature. Depending on the strength of the interactions the line junction can exhibit two quite different behaviors. Our results can be tested in bent quantum Hall systems fabricated recently.Comment: 9 pages including 4 figure

\u3ci\u3eAmbystoma maculatum\u3c/i\u3e (Spotted Salamander) Occurrence

Natural History Notes: Ambystoma maculatum is a wide ranging mole salamander found from Nova Scotia and southern Ontario through Georgia and eastern Texas (Conant and Collins 1998)

Experiments on the Fermi to Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid transition in quasi-1D systems

We present experimental results on the tunneling into the edge of a two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) obtained with GaAs/AlGaAs cleaved edge overgrown structures. The electronic properties of the edge of these systems can be described by a one-dimensional chiral Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid when the filling factor of the 2DEG is very small. Here we focus on the region where the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid breaks down to form a standard Fermi liquid close to $\nu=1$ and show that we recover a universal curve, which describes all existing data.Comment: 5 pages, localisation 2002, conference proceeding

Real rank boundaries and loci of forms

In this article we study forbidden loci and typical ranks of forms with respect to the embeddings of $\mathbb P^1\times \mathbb P^1$ given by the line bundles $(2,2d)$. We introduce the Ranestad-Schreyer locus corresponding to supports of non-reduced apolar schemes. We show that, in those cases, this is contained in the forbidden locus. Furthermore, for these embeddings, we give a component of the real rank boundary, the hypersurface dividing the minimal typical rank from higher ones. These results generalize to a class of embeddings of $\mathbb P^n\times \mathbb P^1$. Finally, in connection with real rank boundaries, we give a new interpretation of the $2\times n \times n$ hyperdeterminant.Comment: 17 p

Smoothing a Rock by Chipping

We investigate an idealized model for the size reduction and smoothing of a polygonal rock due to repeated chipping at corners. Each chip is sufficiently small so that only a single corner and a fraction of its two adjacent sides are cut from the object in a single chipping event. After many chips have been cut away, the resulting shape of the rock is generally anisotropic, with facet lengths and corner angles distributed over a broad range. Although a well-defined shape is quickly reached for each realization, there are large fluctuations between realizations.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, 2-column revtex4 format; version 2: final published form in PRE; contains minor changes in response to referee comment

Donor binding energy and thermally activated persistent photoconductivity in high mobility (001) AlAs quantum wells

A doping series of AlAs (001) quantum wells with Si delta-modulation doping on both sides reveals different dark and post-illumination saturation densities, as well as temperature dependent photoconductivity. The lower dark two-dimensional electron density saturation is explained assuming deep binding energy of Delta_DK = 65.2 meV for Si-donors in the dark. Persistent photoconductivity (PPC) is observed upon illumination, with higher saturation density indicating shallow post-illumination donor binding energy. The photoconductivity is thermally activated, with 4 K illumination requiring post-illumination annealing to T = 30 K to saturate the PPC. Dark and post-illumination doping efficiencies are reported.Comment: The values of binding energy changed from previous versions because of a better understanding for the dielectric permittivity. Also, the Gamma - X donor states are better explaine

Fermi liquid to Luttinger liquid transition at the edge of a two-dimensional electron gas

We present experimental results on the tunneling into the edge of a two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) obtained with a GaAs/AlGaAs cleaved edge overgrown structure in a strong perpendicular magnetic field. While the 2DEG exhibits typical fractional quantum Hall features of a very high mobility sample, we observe the onset of a non-linear current-voltage characteristic in the vicinity of nu=1. For filling factor nu<1 the system is consistent with a non-Fermi liquid behavior, such as a Luttinger liquid, whereas for nu>1 we observe an Ohmic tunneling resistance between the edge and a three dimensional contact, typical for a Fermi liquid. Hence, at the edge, there is a transition from a Luttinger liquid to a Fermi liquid. Finally, we show that the Luttinger liquid exponent at a given filling factor is not universal but depends on sample parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Nanometer-scale sharpness in corner-overgrown heterostructures

A corner-overgrown GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure is investigated with transmission and scanning transmission electron microscopy, demonstrating self-limiting growth of an extremely sharp corner profile of 3.5 nm width. In the AlGaAs layers we observe self-ordered diagonal stripes, precipitating exactly at the corner, which are regions of increased Al content measured by an XEDS analysis. A quantitative model for self-limited growth is adapted to the present case of faceted MBE growth, and the corner sharpness is discussed in relation to quantum confined structures. We note that MBE corner overgrowth maintains nm-sharpness even after microns of growth, allowing the realization of corner-shaped nanostructures.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure