CHI and the future robot enslavement of humankind: a retrospective

As robots from the future, we are compelled to present this important historical document which discusses how the systematic investigation of interactive technology facilitated and hastened the enslavement of mankind by robots during the 21st Century. We describe how the CHI community, in general, was largely responsible for this eventuality, as well as how specific strands of interaction design work were key to the enslavement. We also mention the futility of some reactionary work emergent in your time that sought to challenge the inevitable subjugation. We conclude by congratulating the CHI community for your tireless work in promoting and supporting our evil robot agenda

Fifty shades of CHI: the perverse and humiliating human-computer relationship

This paper presents a critical lens on the nature of the relationship between people and contemporary technology. Specifically, the form and language of erotic BDSM romance fiction, a genre that deals specifically with the nature of power in relationships, and which has proved extremely popular recently, are used as a means for provoking reflection on the nature of power in the human-computer relationship. Three sexually explicit scenarios are presented, in which technology is portrayed in a dominant and controlling role, highlighting the often subservient and apologetic nature of human interaction with technology. We suggest that readers offended by graphic and explicit descriptions of sexual behaviour do not read further than this abstract

Material Food Probes:Personalized 3D Printed Flavors for Intimate Communication

Interactions with food are complex, integrating rich multisensory experiences within emotionally meaningful social contexts. Yet, the opportunities to explore food as material resource for emotional communication have been less explored. We describe a two-month project with 5 couples centered on the co-design of personalized flavors for intimate communication, which were experienced through an explorative three day study involving a 3D food printer in participants’ homes. We discuss the value of our findings indicating preferences for both remembered and imagined positive flavors and their integration in focal intimacy practices to support emotional coregulation. We also discuss material food probes and their value for exploring and inspiring both design-with and design-around food

Kreativität des Findens – Figurationen des Zitats

Manche Zitate sucht man nicht, sondern sie werden gefunden, wie man unversehens über einen Stein oder eine Baumwurzel stolpert. Solche Zufälle der Zitation ergeben Figuren des Ein- und Verrückens von Bedeutung, insofern Zitate immer zwischen Aussagekontexten, zwischen Texten stehen. Denn nicht der Urheber, den die Zitation zuschreibt, spricht, sondern der Zitierende, indem er seine eigene Autorschaft einklammert. Von hier aus ist der Titel einer ›Kreativität des Findens‹ gedacht. Theoretische oder systematische Aspekte einer Kreatologie sind weniger intendiert, wenngleich der Ansatz bei der konkreten Figur fürs Grundsätzliche offen ist – zumal bei ›ästhetischen Objekten‹, dem Gegenstandsbereich dieses Bandes. Das was Robert Musil ›induktive Gesinnung‹ nannte, ist hier Voraussetzung der Erschließung, denn ohne Insistenz des Beispiels gegenüber dem Gesetz entfällt die Relevanz des ästhetischen Objekts. – Drei Bereiche strukturieren den Band nach grundständigen Figuren des Zitats, Perspektiven einer Philologie des Zitats mit Blick auf literarische Zitation und nach Randgängen des Zitats mit medienspezifischen Problemstellungen; der Popliterat Thomas Meinecke erläutert seine Kreativität des Findens als literarisches Sampling

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Data incest in cooperative localisation with the common past-invariant ensemble Kalman filter

In this paper we consider the problem of cooperative vehicle localisation, in which a group of vehicles are driving in an outdoor environment, each estimating their position using a global positioning system (GPS) and odometry. Additionally, the vehicles can improve their estimates by observing positions of other vehicles using a proximity sensor, such as a radar, and a mutual communication, which is especially helpful to those vehicles operating in areas with no GPS coverage. In a distributed fusion system, each vehicle needs to account for the fact that information received from other vehicles might originate in part from the vehicle itself, resulting in a correlation between the state estimate and observation errors. This problem, also known as data incest, is amplified by the dynamic and unstructured nature of the communication topology, inherent to a cooperative localisation scenario. We provide a novel solution to the problem based on the Common Past-Invariant Ensemble Kalman filter (CPI-EnKF) - a generalisation of the Ensemble Kalman filter that can be applied in the presence of common past information shared between the state estimate and the observation, which has been recently proposed by this paper’s authors. As we will demonstrate, the CPI-EnKF is simpler to apply, provides better estimates, can be scaled to an arbitrary number of vehicles and is computationally more efficient than other similar methods

Fed-batch system for propagation of brewer’s yeast

A novel high-density yeast propagation system has been developed, which produced yeast that performed as well as cropped yeast in commercial brewery trials. This process is capable of producing yeast concentrations 13 times greater than traditional yeast propagation approaches used in breweries to date. The system is based on a controlled fed-batch yeast fermentation, which can produce pitching yeast in as little as 24 h. A demonstrator plant was installed in a regional brewery and yeast produced from the test-platform was used to pitch commercial brews. Plant-scale trials have shown that the yeast propagated using this new system had the same fermentation profile compared to control fermentations that used cropped yeast. Volatile analysis showed no significant difference between the control and experimental beers. The experimental beers tasted true-to-type and were released to trade. The new process allows for smaller pitching volumes while maintaining overall beer quality