MOCA: A Low-Power, Low-Cost Motion Capture System Based on Integrated Accelerometers

Human-computer interaction (HCI) and virtual reality applications pose the challenge of enabling real-time interfaces for natural interaction. Gesture recognition based on body-mounted accelerometers has been proposed as a viable solution to translate patterns of movements that are associated with user commands, thus substituting point-and-click methods or other cumbersome input devices. On the other hand, cost and power constraints make the implementation of a natural and efficient interface suitable for consumer applications a critical task. Even though several gesture recognition solutions exist, their use in HCI context has been poorly characterized. For this reason, in this paper, we consider a low-cost/low-power wearable motion tracking system based on integrated accelerometers called motion capture with accelerometers (MOCA) that we evaluated for navigation in virtual spaces. Recognition is based on a geometric algorithm that enables efficient and robust detection of rotational movements. Our objective is to demonstrate that such a low-cost and a low-power implementation is suitable for HCI applications. To this purpose, we characterized the system from both a quantitative point of view and a qualitative point of view. First, we performed static and dynamic assessment of movement recognition accuracy. Second, we evaluated the effectiveness of user experience using a 3D game application as a test bed

Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) characterization of saline solutions with a low-cost portable measurement system

Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), a powerful technique used for wide range of applications, is usually carried out by means of benchtop instrumentation (LCR meters and ìmpedance analyzers), not suited for in-the-field measurements performed outside a laboratory.In this paper a new portable electronic system for EIS on liquid and semi-liquid media is presented that is capable to produce an electrical fingerprint of the sample under investigation. The proposed system was used for the characterization of four different saline solutions (NaCl, Na2CO3, K2HPO4 and CuSO4). A multi-frequency approach, based on the measurement of maximum value of the impedance imaginary component and its corresponding frequency, was tested for the first time to discriminate different saline solutions. The results show that the proposed method is capable to discriminate the different solutions and to measure the concentration (R2 = 0.9965) independently of the type of saline solution. Keywords: Impedance Spectroscopy, Measurement, Frequency, Sensor, Portable syste

Evaluation of Olive Oil Quality Grade using a Portable Battery-Operated Sensor System

Olive oil quality is normally assessed by chemical analysis as well as sensory analysis to detect the presence of organoleptic defects. Two of the most important parameters that define the quality of olive oil are the free acidity and the peroxide index. These chemical parameters are usually determinated by manual titration procedures that must be carried out in a laboratory by trained personnel. In this paper, a portable sensor system to evaluate the quality grade of olive oil is presented. The system is battery operated and is characterized by small dimensions, light weight and quick measurement response. The working principle is based on the measurement of the electrical conductance of an emulsion between an hydro-alcoholic solution and the olive oil sample. Tests have been carried out on a set of 17 olive oil samples. The results have shown how for fresh olive oil samples, the olive oil free acidity can be estimated from the electrical conductance of the emulsion. In the case of oxidized olive oil, the measured electrical conductance is also function of the oxidation level and a conductance threshold can be set to discriminate extra virgin olive oils from lower quality grade oils. The proposed system can be a low-cost alternative to standard laboratory analysis to evaluate the quality grade of olive oil

A Portable Battery-Operated Sensor System for Simple and Rapid Assessment of Virgin Olive Oil Quality Grade

Virgin olive oil quality is assessed by chemical as well as sensory analysis. Two of the most important parameters that define the quality of virgin olive oils are the free acidity and the peroxide index. These chemical parameters are usually determined by manual titration procedures that must be carried out in a laboratory by trained personnel. In this paper, a portable sensor system to support the quality grade assessment of virgin olive oil is presented. The system is battery operated and characterized by small dimensions, light weight and quick measurement response (about 30 s). The working principle is based on the measurement of the electrical conductance of an emulsion between a chemical reagent and the olive oil sample. Two different chemical reagents have been investigated: (1) a hydro-alcoholic solution (HAS), made of 60% ethanol and 40% distilled water; (2) 100% distilled water (DW). Tests have been carried out on a set of 40 olive oil samples. The results have shown how, for most of the fresh virgin olive oil samples (31 samples out of 40), the free acidity can be estimated with good accuracy from the electrical conductance of the emulsion using HAS as the reagent. In the case of the full set of samples, the emulsion electrical conductance, using HAS as the reagent, is a function of both the sample free acidity as well as the compounds produced by oil oxidation, and a compensation method based on the measured electrical conductance, using DW as the reagent, has been introduced to improve the accuracy in the estimated free acidity. Tests have also been carried out on the full set of samples, using a k-nearest neighbors algorithm, to demonstrate the feasibility of olive oil classification according to the quality grade. The results have shown how measurements carried out using only the HAS reagent provide better classification accuracy than measurements carried out using both the HAS and DW reagents. The proposed system can be a low-cost alternative to standard laboratory analyses to evaluate the quality grade of virgin olive oil

Absence of giant spin splitting in the two-dimensional electron liquid at the surface of SrTiO3 (001)

We reinvestigate the putative giant spin splitting at the surface of SrTiO3 reported by Santander-Syro et al. [Nature Mat. 13, 1085 (2014)]. Our spin- and angle-resolved photoemission experiments on fractured (001) oriented surfaces supporting a two-dimensional electron liquid with high carrier density show no detectable spin polarization in the photocurrent. We demonstrate that this result excludes a giant spin splitting while it is consistent with the unconventional Rashba-like splitting seen in band structure calculations that reproduce the experimentally observed ladder of quantum confined subbands.PostprintPeer reviewe

Observation of Large Topologically Trivial Fermi-Arcs in the Candidate Type-II Weyl Semimetal WTe2

We report angle-resolved photoemission experiments resolving the distinct electronic structure of the inequivalent top and bottom (001) surfaces of WTe2. On both surfaces, we identify a surface state that forms a large Fermi-arc emerging out of the bulk electron pocket. Using surface electronic structure calculations, we show that these Fermi arcs are topologically trivial and that their existence is independent of the presence of type-II Weyl points in the bulk band structure. This implies that the observation of surface Fermi arcs alone does not allow the identification of WTe2 as a topological Weyl semimetal. We further use the identification of the two different surfaces to clarify the number of Fermi surface sheets in WTe2.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review B Rapid Communication on 16 Aug 201

In situ strain tuning of the metal-insulator-transition of Ca2RuO4 in angle-resolved photoemission experiments

Pressure plays a key role in the study of quantum materials. Its application in angle resolved photoemission (ARPES) studies, however, has so far been limited. Here, we report the evolution of the k-space electronic structure of bulk Ca2RuO4, lightly doped with Pr, under uniaxial strain. Using ultrathin plate-like crystals, we achieve uniaxial strain levels up to -4.1%, sufficient to suppress the insulating Mott phase and access the previously unexplored electronic structure of the metallic state at low temperature. ARPES experiments performed while tuning the uniaxial strain reveal that metallicity emerges from a marked redistribution of charge within the Ru t2g shell, accompanied by a sudden collapse of the spectral weight in the lower Hubbard band and the emergence of a well-defined Fermi surface which is devoid of pseudogaps. Our results highlight the profound roles of lattice energetics and of the multiorbital nature of Ca2RuO4 in this archetypal Mott transition and open new perspectives for spectroscopic measurements