TinyML-Based Concept System Used to Analyze Whether the Face Mask Is Worn Properly in Battery-Operated Conditions

As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, everyone’s attention was brought to the topic of the health and safety of the entire human population. It has been proven that wearing a face mask can help limit the spread of the virus. Despite the enormous efforts of people around the world, there still exists a group of people that wear face masks incorrectly. In order to provide the best level of safety for everyone, face masks must be worn correctly, especially indoors, for example, in shops, cinemas and theaters. As security guards can only handle a limited area of the frequently visited objects, intelligent sensors can be used. In order to mount them on the shelves in the shops or near the cinema cash register queues, they need to be capable of battery operation. This restricts the sensor to be as energy-efficient as possible, in order to prolong the battery life of such devices. The cost is also a factor, as cheaper devices will result in higher accessibility. An interesting and quite novel approach that can answer all these challenges is a TinyML system, that can be defined as a combination of two concepts: Machine Learning (ML) and Internet of Things (IoT). The TinyML approach enables the usage of ML algorithms on boards equipped with low-cost, low-power microcontrollers without sacrificing the classifier quality. The main goal of this paper is to propose a battery-operated TinyML system that can be used for verification whether the face mask is worn properly. To this end, we carefully analyze several ML approaches to find the best method for the considered task. After detailed analysis of computation and memory complexity as well as after some preliminary experiments, we propose to apply the K-means algorithm with carefully designed filters and a sliding window technique, since this method provides high accuracy with the required energy-efficiency for the considered classification problem related to verification of using the face mask. The STM32F411 chip is selected as the best microcontroller for the considered task. Next, we perform wide experiments to verify the proposed ML framework implemented in the selected hardware platform. The obtained results show that the developed ML-system offers satisfactory performance in terms of high accuracy and lower power consumption. It should be underlined that the low-power aspect makes it possible to install the proposed system in places without the access to power, as well as reducing the carbon footprint of AI-focused industry which is not negligible. Our proposed TinyML system solution is able to deliver very high-quality metric values with accuracy, True Positive Ratio (TPR), True Negative Ratio (TNR), precision and recall being over 96% for masked face classification while being able to reach up to 145 days of uptime using a typical 18650 battery with capacity of 2500 mAh and nominal voltage of 3.7 V. The results are obtained using a STM32F411 microcontroller with 100 MHz ARM Cortex M4, which proves that execution of complex computer vision tasks is possible on such low-power devices. It should be noted that the STM32F411 microcontroller draws only 33 mW during operation.

Standards of fair justice and their relationship to standards of proof in criminal proceedings

The purpose of the article is to define the concept, system and content of fair justice standards and outline their relationship to standards of evidence in criminal proceedings. The purpose of the study is to reveal the content of the right to a fair trial, distinguish fair justice standards and establish its relationship with standards of evidence in criminal proceedings. The research methodology consists of comparative law, structural system methods and formal legal methods. The study found that testing standards are covered by justice standards, expanding, specifying, and clarifying their content. The content of the fair justice standards "examination of the case by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law", "adversarial procedure", "equality of the parties", "frankness of the examination of evidence", "presumption of innocence" and reveals the "motivation of judicial decisions". It is concluded that each of these concepts is a heuristic contribution to test standards. As a result of the study, the author's definition of the concept of "fair justice standards" is formulated and the concept is based on its relationship with the standards of evidence in criminal proceedings.

CONCEPTSYSTEM OF MODERN ENGLISH GASTRONOMY ADVERTISING AESTHETIC DISCOURSE

The article presents a study that allowed us to construct a cognitive map of modern English gastronomic advertising aesthetic discourse. The main features in the understanding of gastronomic advertising discourse by the representatives of the English-speaking community – gourmet aesthetes are analyzed. The research material for the modern English gastronomic advertising aesthetic discourse was the gastronomic Internet texts of the social network Instagram, which contained a particularly expressive specific aesthetic component. It is established that the mental framework of the cognitive space of a modern English gourmet esthete is formed by 48 significant discourse-creating autochthons-concepts (sensations, emotions, recipe, ingredient, taste and others). The separation of the constants of the concept system of modern English gastronomic advertising aesthetic discourse – generative autochthonous concepts was carried out through the inventory of texts, fixation of objectifiers of concepts and their grouping into semantic areas. To verify the objectivity of the facts, a quantitative method of calculation is used, the criterion χ2. With the help of linguo quantitative methods, system connections (strong, medium and weak) between the main autochthonous concepts (RECIPE – INGREDIENT, TRADITIONAL MEAL – TEA, EXPERIENCE – SATISFACTION and others) were established and significant autochthonous concepts in modern English gastronomy were identified. The components of the conceptual system of modern English-language gastronomic aesthetic discourse and their combination builds a unique representation in the form of a cognitive map. The study allowed to construct a cognitive map of the studied type of discursive practice, which reproduces its conceptual system and, thus, explains the main mental cores of its participants – modern English gourmet aesthetes: characteristics of products, feelings and emotions they evoke, the principle of healthy eating, demonstration of their own gastronomic preferences in social networks in the form of blogs, because the modern English-speaking aesthetic and gourmet world of social network is impossible to imagine without a blog, where it is important to post on the social network Instagram, which describes the author's experience and feelings and emotions from food (first of all, pleasure and happiness), which provide the aesthetics of the advertising text. Key words: discourse; advertising discourse; gastronomic discourse; aesthetic discourse, cognitive mapping.

Closed-loop wearable naloxone injector system

Overdoses from non-medical use of opioids can lead to hypoxemic/hypercarbic respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, and death when left untreated. Opioid toxicity is readily reversed with naloxone, a competitive antagonist that can restore respiration. However, there remains a critical need for technologies to administer naloxone in the event of unwitnessed overdose events. We report a closed-loop wearable injector system that measures respiration and apneic motion associated with an opioid overdose event using a pair of on-body accelerometers, and administers naloxone subcutaneously upon detection of an apnea. Our proof-of-concept system has been evaluated in two environments: (i) an approved supervised injection facility (SIF) where people self-inject opioids under medical supervision and (ii) a hospital environment where we simulate opioid-induced apneas in healthy participants. In the SIF (n = 25), our system identified breathing rate and post-injection respiratory depression accurately when compared to a respiratory belt. In the hospital, our algorithm identified simulated apneic events and successfully injected participants with 1.2 mg of naloxone. Naloxone delivery was verified by intravenous blood draw post-injection for all participants. A closed-loop naloxone injector system has the potential to complement existing evidence-based harm reduction strategies and, in the absence of bystanders, help make opioid toxicity events functionally witnessed and in turn more likely to be successfully resuscitated.

Systematic Review of Dairy Processing Sludge and Secondary STRUBIAS Products Used in Agriculture

Worldwide dairy processing plants produce high volumes of dairy processing sludge (DPS), which can be converted into secondary derivatives such as struvite, biochar and ash (collectively termed STRUBIAS). All of these products have high fertilizer equivalent values (FEV), but future certification as phosphorus (P)-fertilizers in the European Union will mean they need to adhere to new technical regulations for fertilizing materials i.e., content limits pertaining to heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn), synthetic organic compounds and pathogens. This systematic review presents the current state of knowledge about these bio-based fertilizers and identifies knowledge gaps. In addition, a review and calculation of greenhouse gas emissions from a range of concept dairy sludge management and production systems for STRUBIAS products [i.e., biochar from pyrolysis and hydrochar from hydrothermal carbonization (HTC)] is presented. Results from the initial review showed that DPS composition depends on product type and treatment processes at a given processing plant, which leads to varied nutrient, heavy metal and carbon contents. These products are all typically high in nutrients and carbon, but low in heavy metals. Further work needs to concentrate on examining their pathogenic microorganism and emerging contaminant contents, in addition to conducting an economic assessment of production and end-user costs related to chemical fertilizer equivalents. With respect to STRUBIAS products, contaminants not present in the raw DPS may need further treatment before being land applied in agriculture e.g., heated producing ashes, hydrochar, or biochar. An examination of these products from an environmental perspective shows that their water quality footprint could be minimized using application rates based on P incorporation of these products into nutrient management planning and application by incorporation into the soil. Results from the concept system showed that elimination of methane emissions was possible, along with a reduction in nitrous oxide. Less carbon (C) is transferred to agricultural fields where DPS is processed into biochar and hydrochar, but due to high recalcitrance, the C in this form is retained much longer in the soil, and therefore STRUBIAS products represent a more stable and long-term option to increase soil C stocks and sequestration.

Ultrasound-driven Curveball in Table Tennis

Augmented Human (AH) is a research field enhancing human physical abilities or supporting human activity using advanced technologies. As one of the AH approaches, previous studies have attached an actuator to a human body or tools used for an activity. The attached actuators are used to control their movements to support an activity. In this study, instead of attaching actuators, we propose to directly apply noncontact ultrasound force to a lightweight tool to manipulate it. The advantage of using noncontact force is that users do not need to wear a specific device and to process tools used for the activity. As a proof-of-concept system, we developed an ultrasound-based curveball system by which table tennis players can shoot a curveball regardless of their physical ability. In the system, a moving ping-pong ball (PPB) is a target tool for remote manipulation. The system curves the trajectory of a moving PPB by continuously focusing ultrasound on it. Users can control the curve timing and the curve direction (left or right) using a racket-shaped controller. In the user study, we conducted an actual table tennis match using the curveball system and qualitatively confirmed that the player using the system had the upper hand. Another user study using a ball dispenser quantitatively showed that the ultrasound-driven curveball increased the number of mistakes of the opponent player 2.95 times. These results indicate that the proposed concept is feasible.

Integrated system responses for families impacted by violence: a scoping review protocol

IntroductionThe impacts of violence have a significant effect on health and well-being, particularly for women and children. Violence within families is widely recognised as a complex problem constituted by constantly interacting and evolving social, economic, health and cultural elements. Calls for integrated services have arisen from growing understanding about the implications of this complexity, which suggest family violence and solutions to it are generated endogenously from the reflexive nonlinear interactions of system agents. Despite these calls for integration, services designed to support families impacted by violence and the systems that design and fund them are often responsive only to one part of the problem and might not pay attention to agent interactions and their adaptive reflexivity. This paper outlines a scoping protocol to explore how integrated approaches to family violence are conceptualised in current literature, with innovative use of a complexity theory lens.MethodOur scoping review protocol follows the framework outlined by Arksey and O’Malley and refined by Levac. It searches 6 databases, 3 journals and 10 websites using keywords to capture the notion of integration and a complex adaptive system, namely the participant (system agents), concept (system agent interaction) and the context (family violence). Selection criteria require the articles to be written in English, have full-text article available, and were published after 2010. Items selected also need to be evidence based showing interaction between system agents. Applying complexity theory, sensitises us to the reflexive patterns of interaction between system elements and routine ways of interacting.Ethics and disseminationThe nature of this review means that ethics approval is not required. Findings will be disseminated via academic publications, conferences and discussions with policy decision-makers. The findings will be used to develop a plan for stakeholder consultation to share and validate learnings and inform future research.

Dynamic-and-Systemic Principles of Synergetics in Functional Linguistics.

Th article describes the specifis, principles and methods of synergetics as a promising area of modern research. Synergetics is presented by the author as a holistic integral paradigm used in many sciences which confims its interdisciplinary and even universal nature. Th object of this paradigm is the interaction of complex systems, and since the mere concept ‘system’ is widely used in many scientifi filds, the relevance of synergetics is beyond doubt. Th author describes the main characteristics of the structure and functioning of a system. Th key concepts of synergetics and their explanation are also given. Further, the article discusses the branches of linguistics which use principles of synergetics – linguosynergetics and functional linguosynergetics as its variety. Since the study of text and discourse and their parameters as complex systems is of particular interest to many linguists, linguosynergetics has become one of the demanded scientifi paradigms in this area of research. Th author points out the objectives and tasks of linguistic synergetics, and functional linguosynergetics in particular, their basic concepts, principles and methods. Attention is also paid to the functioning of linguistic means, as well as the formation and interpretation of meaning depending on certain discursive space. Th author comes to the conclusion that thanks to synergetics language can be studied from specifi angles, and the application of its principles greatly contributes to the theory of the evolution of language. Linguosynergetics provides ample opportunities for describing language/text/discourse as a complex dynamic open system, and functional linguosynergetics, in turn, helps describe the features of its functioning and evolution.

Distributed Base Station: A Concept System for Long-Range Broadband Wireless Access

We propose a concept system termed distributed base station (DBS) which enables distributed transmit beamforming at large carrier wavelengths to achieve significant range extension and/or increased downlink data rate, providing a low-cost infrastructure for applications such as rural broadband. We consider a frequency division duplexed (FDD) system using feedback from the receiver to achieve the required phase coherence. At a given range, N cooperating transmitters can achieve N2-fold increase in received power compared to that for a single transmitters, and feedback-based algorithms with near-ideal performance have been prototyped. In this paper, however, we identify and address key technical issues in translating such power gains into range extension via a DBS. First, to combat the drop in per-node SNR with extended range, we design a feedback-based adaptation strategy that is suitably robust to noise. Second, to utilize available system bandwidth, we extend narrowband adaptation algorithms to wideband channels through interpolation over OFDM subcarriers. Third, we observe that the feedback channel may become a bottleneck unless sophisticated distributed reception strategies are employed, but show that acceptable performance can still be obtained with standard uplink reception if channel time variations are slow enough. We quantify system performance compactly via outage capacity analyses.