Finger joint angle estimation based on sEMG signals by Attention-MLP

sEMG(Surface electromyography) signal was widely applied in human-machine interactive field, especially in robotic arm control. In this paper, we built the Attention-MLP (Multilayer Perceptron) model to implement a type of continuous joint angle estimation method based on sEMG for six grasp movements, we tested this model on Ninapro dataset and the average Pearson correlation coefficient (CC) and the average root mean square error (RMSE) of the proposed Attention-MLP method achieved 0.812±0.02 and 10.51±1.98; the average CC and RMSE of this method are better than Sparse Pseudo-input Gaussian processes (SPGP), its average CC and RMSE are 12.14±2.30 and 0.727±0.07. Compared with the traditional method SPGP, our model performed better on continuously estimation of ten main hand joint angles under 6 grip movements.

Astrobiology in Europe, 20 years of expectations

During 20 years, the European astrobiologists collaborated within EANA, the European Astrobiology Network Association, to help European researchers developing astrobiology programmes to share their knowledge, to foster their cooperation, to attract young scientists to this quickly evolving interactive field of research, and to explain astrobiology to the public at large. The experiment of Stanley Miller in 1953 launched the ambitious hope that chemists would be able to shed light on the origins of life by recreating a simple life form in a test tube. However, the dream has not yet been accomplished, despite the great volume of effort and innovation put forward by the scientific community.

Common Ground in Demonstrative Reference: The Case of Mano (Mande)

That demonstratives often have endophoric functions marking referents outside the physical space of interaction but accessible through cognition, especially memory, is well-known. These functions are often classified as independent from exophoric ones and are typically seen as secondary with respect to spatial deixis. However, data from multiple languages show that cognitive access to referents functions alongside of perceptual access, including vision. Cognitive access is enabled by prior interactions and prior familiarity with the referents. As a result of such interactions, the interlocutors share a great deal of knowledge about the referents, which facilitates reference to objects in the interactive field. The centrality of common ground in reference to an object at the interactive scene challenges the often assumed classification of demonstrative reference into exophoric and endophoric. I illustrate this idea throughout the paper by using first-hand data from Mano, a Mande language of Guinea. Adding another argument in favor of viewing demonstrative reference as a social, interactive process, the Mano data push the idea of salience of non-spatial parameters further and emphasizes the importance of short and long-term interactional history and cultural knowledge both for the choice of demonstratives in exophoric reference and for the structuring of the demonstrative paradigm.

Interactive Field Effect of Atomic Bonding Forces on the Equivalent Elastic Modulus Estimation of Micro-Level Single-Crystal Copper by Utilizing Atomistic-Continuum Finite Element Simulation

This study uses the finite element analysis (FEA)-based atomistic-continuum method (ACM) combined with the Morse potential of metals to determine the effects of the elastic modulus (E) of a given example on atomic-level single-crystal copper (Cu). This work aims to overcome the estimated drawback of a molecular dynamic calculation applied to the mechanical response of macro in-plane-sized and atomic-level-thick metal-based surface coatings. The interactive energy of two Cu atoms within a face-centered metal lattice was described by a mechanical response of spring stiffness. Compared with the theoretical value, the parameters of the Morse potential dominated the predicted accuracy through the FEA-based ACM. Moreover, the analytic results indicated that the effective E of a single-crystal Cu was significantly sensitive to the given range of the interactive force field among atoms. The reliable elastic moduli of 86.8, 152.6, and 205.2 GPa along the Cu(100), Cu(110), and Cu(111) orientations of the Cu metal were separately acquired using the presented FEA-based ACM methodology.

SERIES IN SEARCH OF INTERACTIVITY

The article analyzes such a phenomenon of screen culture as interactivity; it considers the historical prerequisites for the emergence of interactive works of art, their evolvement in literature, contemporary art (performance, action, happening), cinema, TV series and computer games. The author pays special attention to the formation of a serial narrative conditioned by the continuous interaction between the showrunners and the audience, thanks to which the viewer, sometimes without knowing it, turns into a coauthor. Among the difficulties of developing the logics of a serial narrative is parallel work of scriptwriters with the small and the large narrative (double formal structure). Indeed, as the viewers unravel the plot of yet another episode (the investigation of a specific crime in a detective series or the treatment of a certain patient in a medical one), they never stop complementing the cumulative narrative (which happens to the characters over several seasons). In this regard, interactive narrative forms suggest not only to significantly enhance cooperation and co-creation between product creators and recipients, but also to change the relationship between the large and small narratives within a serial. Interactive screen forms cancel (or at least veil) the dictates of the author, who offers the public one single version of the scenario. As the recipients select actions, plot twists or supporting content, they get a cinematic experience that cannot match another’s cinematic experience. Basically, everyone is watching their own movie, which cannot be copied. The author considers the formation of an interactive culture on the basis of both the latest experiments based on Internet services and streaming platforms (Imagine, Mosaic, Black Mirror), and earlier experiments with interactive cinema (Kinoautomat: One man and his house, Videodrome, D–dag). However, in addition to the aesthetic and artistic features that interactivity carries, it is associated with an important ethical problem: the viewers are able to take responsibility for making decisions only within the interactive field, but not outside of it. Their involvement in the creation is a priori limited by the form of the game, in which any action is annullable, and possible negative consequences (financial, legal, etc.) are borne exclusively by the content creators. This fundamental rule of the interactivity format eliminates the possibility of genuine co-authorship, making this dialogue an imitation.

Everything in Its Right Place: A Study on the Field of Ritual in a Gauḍīẏa Vaiṣṇava Temple

The focus of this article is on the spatial aspect of the daily temple rites of Gauḍīẏa Vaiṣṇavism. The study is a contribution to theoretical reflection on rituals and their role within religious systems. Studies on rituals as multi-media entities have tended to concentrate on “visible”aspects of ritual such as objects, actors or symbols, while ritual space has often been neglected. However, in this essay, I would like to show that ritual space may operate as an interactive “field of ritual,”which structures the conduct of practitioners and is subsequently structured by them. The text is modelled as an interpretative case-study grounded in field research performed in a Gauḍīẏa Vaiṣṇava temple in Kolkata. The goal of the article is to develop a theoretical approach appropriate for this particular set of data which, nevertheless, could serve as an inspiration for theorizing in analogical cases.

Building Bridges and Crossing Boundaries

Where are the boundaries between things located? When we meet another person or when we meet the tree in the forest or the sand by the shore each is changed by the other. We all know that at one level of reality we are different and yet we also know that the apparent rigidity between me and other dissolves in a constant and mutual exchange of cells, conversations and consciousness. In nature, the bridge between two points of apparent difference is a dynamic, interactive field of reciprocal engagement. Indeed, in nature, complex, reciprocal relationships are the sine qua non of ecosystems. Everything touches and is touched by everything else. It is in meeting, touching, listening and communicating with another that we discover most completely what we are and are able to express most eloquently who we are. The helping professions are increasingly seeking ways to bridge the epistemological gap between the atomistic and the ecological and cross those professional boundaries that have for too long kept helpers of every stripe separated and isolated from one another. Ironically, it is a new rediscovery of an ancient wisdom that is creating a catalyst for hope and change. Recently, those hopes to discover new linkages and a new era of collaborative professional partnerships to address pressing social and environmental problems took a small step forward. Professional helpers from a variety of disciplines including social work, psychology, nursing, education and environmental studies gathered in Calgary, Canada in May, 2009 for a first of its kind multi-disciplinary conference entitled: Building Bridges, Crossing Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Dialogues on Person, Planet and Professional Helping. The conference was suffused with both urgency and anticipation as professional helpers worked to better understand each other and those many ways they might cooperate across professional borders to build bridges to a more balanced and interdisciplinary view of the helping enterprise. This brief introduction provides a short sketch of the historical realities which created the ideological boundaries that the conference sought to bridge and how that has begun to change. It also provides a brief overview of each contributor’s work.

Serious Game Attributes for the Construction of a Hazard Identification Framework

In recent years gaming products have increasingly been used to enhance learning and training development in the academic and commercial sectors. Gaming is an approach that applies technology to provide an almost real experience with interactive field training. It is an approach that supports the theory of learning by doing with a real case scenario. The purpose of this paper is to determine serious game attributes to support effective training using serious game approach. Through systematic literature review on eleven selected articles, nineteen game attributes were identified. Hence, based on the definition and description from the articles, text analyses were conducted to determine categories of attributes based on educational theories' perspectives. This study adopted the deductive content analysis approach which 14 relevant research articles between 1994 and 2016 were identified from the Web of Science and SCOPUS databases. It appears that serious game attributes according to the educational perspectives are being practised using various ideas, terms and concepts. Hence, the findings can be justified that serious game attributes are important to enhance the effectiveness of training modules. All these attributes will become part of the serious game framework for hazard identification training modules. The target is to deliver effective and active training module to construction-related workers.

Fintech platforms in SME’s financing: EU experience and ways of their application in Ukraine

The main aim of the given research is to develop an appropriate approach for creation of information FinTech platform with the EU standards compliance mainly for SMEs in order to support innovativeness of SMEs, improve their access to finance and simplify different financial processes. The authors defined the main features of FinTech platforms underlining types of FinTech, its participants and the most influential factors. The main trends of FinTech platforms development in the EU countries, such as the level of investment, impact of EU FinTech platforms on the global scale, features of investments into B2B FinTech, were determined. It was considered that in Ukraine, some positive changes in legislation were adopted, but the challenges like lack of finance, slow adoption of innovations in the financial market, not sufficient clarity of legislation remain among the main constraints for further development of FinTech platforms in Ukraine. The conducted analysis on the level of FinTech types performance by Ukrainian platforms showed only the great share of digital payments and money transfers, while other modern innovative FinTech instruments should not be underestimated for proper FinTech application in Ukraine. For this purpose, the authors have developed the Information Platform on Support for SMEs’ Innovations that consolidates interests of both SMEs and scientists. To determine both the SMEs’ opinion about the necessity of a particular Internet platform for them and the types of services that could be provided by the sme-sci.com platform, the authors conducted a survey in which 374 medium-sized and 380 small businesses took part. The results of the survey that are presented in the article confirm the necessity of the Information Platform on Support for SMEs’ Innovations and demand for it from the SMEs. Finally, the result of the research proves that such a unique informational platform as sme-sci. com that will serve as an interactive field for exchanging ideas and information of both representatives of scientific and business world is of great importance.