Development of a feedback interface for in-situ soundscape evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (4) ◽  
pp. 2253-2258
Author(s):  
Furi Andi Karnapi ◽  
Bhan Lam ◽  
Trevor Wong ◽  
Kenneth Ooi ◽  
Zhen-Ting Ong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Subjective Assessments ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Microcontroller Unit ◽  
Intuitive Interface

Studies involving subjective evaluation require feedback from human participants to assess the performance of a system or an environment. A participant is typically presented with a set of metrics to be observed and they present their assessment accordingly. Investigator-led in-situ soundscape evaluation in ISO 12913-2 collects perceptual responses along with other acoustical and locale information. This is a labor intensive and time-consuming processes. To alleviate and complement investigator-led evaluations, a portable and compact feedback system with an e-ink display and capacitive buttons was designed, and is undergoing field tests to address the aforementioned requirements. The system employs a low-cost, low-power microcontroller unit (MCU) with necessary hardware interfaces to enable capacitive sensing. Capacitive buttons provide an intuitive interface and avoid the inherent wear and tear of mechanical buttons. This digitized feedback interface affords the flexibility to synchronize (wired or wirelessly) with a playback system to evaluate an augmented soundscape, and is suitable for both supervised and unsupervised subjective assessments.

To Eliminate Curtain Effect of FIB TEM Samples by a Combination of Sample Dicing and Backside Milling

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Shing Luo ◽  
Hsiu Ting Lee
Keyword(s):  
Sample Preparation ◽  
Focused Ion Beam ◽  
Preparation Method ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Ion Beam ◽  
Sample Preparation Method ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Dual Beam ◽  
Transmission Electron

Abstract Several methods are used to invert samples 180 deg in a dual beam focused ion beam (FIB) system for backside milling by a specific in-situ lift out system or stages. However, most of those methods occupied too much time on FIB systems or requires a specific in-situ lift out system. This paper provides a novel transmission electron microscopy (TEM) sample preparation method to eliminate the curtain effect completely by a combination of backside milling and sample dicing with low cost and less FIB time. The procedures of the TEM pre-thinned sample preparation method using a combination of sample dicing and backside milling are described step by step. From the analysis results, the method has applied successfully to eliminate the curtain effect of dual beam FIB TEM samples for both random and site specific addresses.

Feasibility study of technology-enabled prevention intervention for children and families (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikki Theofanopoulou ◽  
Katherine Isbister ◽  
Julian Edbrooke-Childs ◽  
Petr Slovák
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Digital Camera ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Object A ◽  
Intervention Delivery ◽  
Parents And Children

BACKGROUND A common challenge within psychiatry and prevention science more broadly is the lack of effective, engaging, and scale-able mechanisms to deliver psycho-social interventions for children, especially beyond in-person therapeutic or school-based contexts. Although digital technology has the potential to address these issues, existing research on technology-enabled interventions for families remains limited. OBJECTIVE The aim of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of in-situ deployments of a low-cost, bespoke prototype, which has been designed to support children’s in-the-moment emotion regulation efforts. This prototype instantiates a novel intervention model that aims to address the existing limitations by delivering the intervention through an interactive object (a ‘smart toy’) sent home with the child, without any prior training necessary for either the child or their carer. This pilot study examined (i) engagement and acceptability of the device in the homes during 1 week deployments; and (ii) qualitative indicators of emotion regulation effects, as reported by parents and children. METHODS In this qualitative study, ten families (altogether 11 children aged 6-10 years) were recruited from three under-privileged communities in the UK. The RA visited participants in their homes to give children the ‘smart toy’ and conduct a semi-structured interview with at least one parent from each family. Children were given the prototype, a discovery book, and a simple digital camera to keep at home for 7-8 days, after which we interviewed each child and their parent about their experience. Thematic analysis guided the identification and organisation of common themes and patterns across the dataset. In addition, the prototypes automatically logged every interaction with the toy throughout the week-long deployments. RESULTS Across all 10 families, parents and children reported that the ‘smart toy’ was incorporated into children’s emotion regulation practices and engaged with naturally in moments children wanted to relax or calm down. Data suggests that children interacted with the toy throughout the duration of the deployment, found the experience enjoyable, and all requested to keep the toy longer. Child emotional connection to the toy—caring for its ‘well-being’—appears to have driven this strong engagement. Parents reported satisfaction with and acceptability of the toy. CONCLUSIONS This is the first known study investigation of the use of object-enabled intervention delivery to support emotion regulation in-situ. The strong engagement and qualitative indications of effects are promising – children were able to use the prototype without any training and incorporated it into their emotion regulation practices during daily challenges. Future work is needed to extend this indicative data with efficacy studies examining the psychological efficacy of the proposed intervention. More broadly, our findings suggest the potential of a technology-enabled shift in how prevention interventions are designed and delivered: empowering children and parents through ‘child-led, situated interventions’, where participants learn through actionable support directly within family life, as opposed to didactic in-person workshops and a subsequent skills application.

scholarly journals Converting copper sulfide to copper with surface sulfur for electrocatalytic alkyne semi-hydrogenation with water

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongmeng Wu ◽  
Cuibo Liu ◽  
Changhong Wang ◽  
Yifu Yu ◽  
Yanmei Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Binding Energy ◽  
Noble Metal ◽  
Atomic Hydrogen ◽  
Copper Sulfide ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Water Electrolysis ◽  
Metal Free ◽  
Copper Nanowire

AbstractElectrocatalytic alkyne semi-hydrogenation to alkenes with water as the hydrogen source using a low-cost noble-metal-free catalyst is highly desirable but challenging because of their over-hydrogenation to undesired alkanes. Here, we propose that an ideal catalyst should have the appropriate binding energy with active atomic hydrogen (H*) from water electrolysis and a weaker adsorption with an alkene, thus promoting alkyne semi-hydrogenation and avoiding over-hydrogenation. So, surface sulfur-doped and -adsorbed low-coordinated copper nanowire sponges are designedly synthesized via in situ electroreduction of copper sulfide and enable electrocatalytic alkyne semi-hydrogenation with over 99% selectivity using water as the hydrogen source, outperforming a copper counterpart without surface sulfur. Sulfur anion-hydrated cation (S2−-K+(H2O)n) networks between the surface adsorbed S2− and K+ in the KOH electrolyte boost the production of active H* from water electrolysis. And the trace doping of sulfur weakens the alkene adsorption, avoiding over-hydrogenation. Our catalyst also shows wide substrate scopes, up to 99% alkenes selectivity, good reducible groups compatibility, and easily synthesized deuterated alkenes, highlighting the promising potential of this method.

MOF-derived M-OOH with rich oxygen defects by in-situ electro-oxidation reconstitution for highly efficient oxygen evolution reaction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhikai Shi ◽  
Zebin Yu ◽  
Ronghua Jiang ◽  
Jun Huang ◽  
Yanping Hou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Evolution ◽  
Oxygen Evolution Reaction ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Highly Efficient ◽  
Oxygen Defects ◽  
Electro Oxidation

The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is an important half-reaction in the field of energy production. However, how effectively, simply, and greenly to prepare low-cost OER electrocatalysts remains a problem. Herein,...

scholarly journals Underwater Holographic Sensor for Plankton Studies In Situ Including Accompanying Measurements

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4863
Author(s):  
Victor Dyomin ◽  
Alexandra Davydova ◽  
Igor Polovtsev ◽  
Alexey Olshukov ◽  
Nikolay Kirillov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
World Ocean ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Measuring Systems ◽  
Water Turbidity ◽  
Background Data ◽  
Average Size ◽  
Size Dispersion

The paper presents an underwater holographic sensor to study marine particles—a miniDHC digital holographic camera, which may be used as part of a hydrobiological probe for accompanying (background) measurements. The results of field measurements of plankton are given and interpreted, their verification is performed. Errors of measurements and classification of plankton particles are estimated. MiniDHC allows measurement of the following set of background data, which is confirmed by field tests: plankton concentration, average size and size dispersion of individuals, particle size distribution, including on major taxa, as well as water turbidity and suspension statistics. Version of constructing measuring systems based on modern carriers of operational oceanography for the purpose of ecological diagnostics of the world ocean using autochthonous plankton are discussed. The results of field measurements of plankton using miniDHC as part of a hydrobiological probe are presented and interpreted, and their verification is carried out. The results of comparing the data on the concentration of individual taxa obtained using miniDHC with the data obtained by the traditional method using plankton catching with a net showed a difference of no more than 23%. The article also contains recommendations for expanding the potential of miniDHC, its purpose indicators, and improving metrological characteristics.

scholarly journals Identification of abnormal tribological regimes using a microphone and semi-supervised machine-learning algorithm

Friction ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vigneashwara Pandiyan ◽  
Josef Prost ◽  
Georg Vorlaufer ◽  
Markus Varga ◽  
Kilian Wasmer
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Normal Operation ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Wear And Tear ◽  
Validation Procedure ◽  
And Performance

AbstractFunctional surfaces in relative contact and motion are prone to wear and tear, resulting in loss of efficiency and performance of the workpieces/machines. Wear occurs in the form of adhesion, abrasion, scuffing, galling, and scoring between contacts. However, the rate of the wear phenomenon depends primarily on the physical properties and the surrounding environment. Monitoring the integrity of surfaces by offline inspections leads to significant wasted machine time. A potential alternate option to offline inspection currently practiced in industries is the analysis of sensors signatures capable of capturing the wear state and correlating it with the wear phenomenon, followed by in situ classification using a state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) algorithm. Though this technique is better than offline inspection, it possesses inherent disadvantages for training the ML models. Ideally, supervised training of ML models requires the datasets considered for the classification to be of equal weightage to avoid biasing. The collection of such a dataset is very cumbersome and expensive in practice, as in real industrial applications, the malfunction period is minimal compared to normal operation. Furthermore, classification models would not classify new wear phenomena from the normal regime if they are unfamiliar. As a promising alternative, in this work, we propose a methodology able to differentiate the abnormal regimes, i.e., wear phenomenon regimes, from the normal regime. This is carried out by familiarizing the ML algorithms only with the distribution of the acoustic emission (AE) signals captured using a microphone related to the normal regime. As a result, the ML algorithms would be able to detect whether some overlaps exist with the learnt distributions when a new, unseen signal arrives. To achieve this goal, a generative convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture based on variational auto encoder (VAE) is built and trained. During the validation procedure of the proposed CNN architectures, we were capable of identifying acoustics signals corresponding to the normal and abnormal wear regime with an accuracy of 97% and 80%. Hence, our approach shows very promising results for in situ and real-time condition monitoring or even wear prediction in tribological applications.

Low Cost Sensor Data Fusion in Omnidirectional Mobile Robot Feedback System to Improve the Navigation Accuracy

2014 ◽  
Vol 607 ◽  
pp. 791-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Kang Tey ◽  
Che Fai Yeong ◽  
Yip Loon Seow ◽  
Eileen Lee Ming Su ◽  
Swee Ho Tang
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Robot ◽  
Sensor Fusion ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Feedback System ◽  
Sensor Data ◽  
Research Setting ◽  
Fusion Technique ◽  
Omnidirectional Mobile Robot ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Navigation Accuracy

Omnidirectional mobile robot has gained popularity among researchers. However, omnidirectional mobile robot is rarely been applied in industry field especially in the factory which is relatively more dynamic than normal research setting condition. Hence, it is very important to have a stable yet reliable feedback system to allow a more efficient and better performance controller on the robot. In order to ensure the reliability of the robot, many of the researchers use high cost solution in the feedback of the robot. For example, there are researchers use global camera as feedback. This solution has increases the cost of the robot setup fee to a relatively high amount. The setup system is also hard to modify and lack of flexibility. In this paper, a novel sensor fusion technique is proposed and the result is discussed.

Comparison and verification of four field-based microbiological tests: H2S test, Easygel®, Colilert®, Petrifilm™

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patty Chuang ◽  
Stephanie Trottier ◽  
Susan Murcott
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Standard Method ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Single Test ◽  
Total Water ◽  
Microbiological Test ◽  
Technical Capacity ◽  
Larger Sample

The UN defines water supplies as ‘improved’ or ‘unimproved.’ These indicators are easy to measure, but do not reflect water quality, which requires laboratory or field tests. Laboratory and test availability, expense and technical capacity are obstacles for developing countries. This research compares and verifies four low-cost, field-based microbiological tests: the EC-Kit (Colilert® and Petrifilm™ tests), the H2S bacteria test, and Easygel®, against a standard method (Quanti-Tray®). The objectives are to: (1) verify the accuracy of the four field-based tests, (2) study the accuracy of these tests as a function of improved and unimproved sources; (3) recommend a single microbiological test, if appropriate, based on accuracy and cost, and/or (4) recommend a testing combination, if appropriate, based on accuracy and cost. The tests of 500+ total water samples from Capiz Province, Philippines and Cambridge, MA indicate that two-tests systems gave better results than a single test. Both the 100-mL H2S test + Petrifilm™ and the 20-mL H2S test + Easygel® combinations yield promising results, in addition to being inexpensive. None of the field-based tests should be used on their own. We recommend further verification of a larger sample size and scale be undertaken before these testing combinations are recommended for wider use.

Application of Epoxy Resin for Improvement of the Banana Stem-Acoustic Panel

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Azril Riduan ◽  
Mohd Jumain Jalil ◽  
Intan Suhada Azmi ◽  
Afifudin Habulat ◽  
Danial Nuruddin Azlan Raofuddin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oleic Acid ◽  
Kinetic Modelling ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Performic Acid ◽  
High Yield ◽  
Renewable Materials ◽  
Runge Kutta Method ◽  
To Come

Background: Greener epoxidation by using vegetable oil to create an eco-friendly epoxide is being studied because it is a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly commodity that is safer than non-renewable materials. The aim of this research is to come up with low-cost solutions for banana trunk acoustic panels with kinetic modelling of epoxy-based palm oil. Method: In this study, the epoxidation of palm oleic acid was carried out by in situ performic acid to produce epoxidized palm oleic acid. Results: Banana trunk acoustic panel was successfully innovated based on the performance when the epoxy was applied. Lastly, a mathematical model was developed by using the numerical integration of the 4th order Runge-Kutta method, and the results showed that there is a good agreement between the simulation and experimental data, which validates the kinetic model. Conclusion: Overall, the peracid mechanism was effective in producing a high yield of epoxy from palm oleic acid that is useful for the improvement of acoustic panels based on the banana trunk.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document