Recent Development of Optofluidics for Imaging and Sensing Applications

Optofluidics represents the interaction of light and fluids on a chip that integrates microfluidics and optics, which provides a promising optical platform for manipulating and analyzing fluid samples. Recent years have witnessed a substantial growth in optofluidic devices, including the integration of optical and fluidic control units, the incorporation of diverse photonic nanostructures, and new applications. All these advancements have enabled the implementation of optofluidics with improved performance. In this review, the recent advances of fabrication techniques and cutting-edge applications of optofluidic devices are presented, with a special focus on the developments of imaging and sensing. Specifically, the optofluidic based imaging techniques and applications are summarized, including the high-throughput cytometry, biochemical analysis, and optofluidic nanoparticle manipulation. The optofluidic sensing section is categorized according to the modulation approaches and the transduction mechanisms, represented by absorption, reflection/refraction, scattering, and plasmonics. Perspectives on future developments and promising avenues in the fields of optofluidics are also provided.

A time for consolidation: A bibliometric analysis of L2 vocabulary research 1985–1989

This paper uses a co-citation analysis to examine the research on L2 vocabulary acquisition that was published in 1989. Two analyses are presented. The first is a detailed account of the 1989 research on its own terms. The second analysis places this work in a larger context by looking at research published in a five-year window covering 1985–89. The analyses identify important themes in the research and significant sources who are influencing the way the research is developing at this time. The main features of this work are the substantial growth in dictionary and corpus research, and the emergence of Paul Nation as the Most Significant Source in 1989.

Wilderness

<p>What we perceive to be wilderness is in fact just a product: a physical manifestation of the force of wildness. Attempting to manufacture wilderness while bypassing this primary element (the force of wilderness) is why ‘emulated wilds’ often feel uncanny, fake. This thesis contrasts these forces, necessitating a new negotiation between people and the environment. The Kapiti Coast has seen substantial growth in the last 50 years, resulting in sprawling suburban and commercial development across the region. While areas of landscape close to the historic ecologies of the region remain, much of it has been lost around the town centre, where development has focused in recent decades. This thesis will explore historic representations of wilderness in picturesque and romanticist painting, drawing on both previous views of the wild, more modern interpretations as well as my own personal perceptions. The aim of this design-led research is to understand how to bring a sense of wilderness back into developed areas of the Kapiti Coast. In order to do this, I will explore how designing using digital painting can create a stronger sensory understanding of wilderness. I will use this medium of digital painting to explore what the picturesque means within the discipline of modern landscape architecture. Within the specific Kapiti Coast context, I will identify the elements of suburbia that are underperforming in the context of the larger landscape setting and finally establish a scenario-based methodology to explore site-specific definitions of wilderness within Kapiti.</p>

Wilderness

<p>What we perceive to be wilderness is in fact just a product: a physical manifestation of the force of wildness. Attempting to manufacture wilderness while bypassing this primary element (the force of wilderness) is why ‘emulated wilds’ often feel uncanny, fake. This thesis contrasts these forces, necessitating a new negotiation between people and the environment. The Kapiti Coast has seen substantial growth in the last 50 years, resulting in sprawling suburban and commercial development across the region. While areas of landscape close to the historic ecologies of the region remain, much of it has been lost around the town centre, where development has focused in recent decades. This thesis will explore historic representations of wilderness in picturesque and romanticist painting, drawing on both previous views of the wild, more modern interpretations as well as my own personal perceptions. The aim of this design-led research is to understand how to bring a sense of wilderness back into developed areas of the Kapiti Coast. In order to do this, I will explore how designing using digital painting can create a stronger sensory understanding of wilderness. I will use this medium of digital painting to explore what the picturesque means within the discipline of modern landscape architecture. Within the specific Kapiti Coast context, I will identify the elements of suburbia that are underperforming in the context of the larger landscape setting and finally establish a scenario-based methodology to explore site-specific definitions of wilderness within Kapiti.</p>

Parametrical synthesis of radio devices with the set quantity of unequal cascades for variants of inclusion of jet two-port networks between a nonlinear part and loading

The algorithm of parametrical synthesis of various radio devices with any quantity of cascades of type a nonlinear part the jet two-port network by criterion of maintenance of the set frequency characteristics is developed. Nonlinear parts are presented in the form of a nonlinear element and parallel either consecutive on a current or pressure of a feedback. According to this criterion systems of the algebraic equations are generated and solved. Models of optimum two-port networks of one of cascades in the form of mathematical expressions for definition of interrelations between elements of their classical matrix of transfer and for search of dependences of resistance of two-poles from frequency are as a result received. It is spent mathematical and circuit simulation of the two-cascade amplifier. It is shown, that the increase in quantity of cascades with the optimised parametres leads to substantial growth of a working strip of frequencies. The comparative analysis of the theoretical results received by mathematical modelling in system MathCad, and the experimental results received by circuit simulation in systems OrCad and MicroCap, shows their satisfactory coincidence.

Multi-Agent Autonomous Cleaning

In today’s world, robots are taking over the world by doing the tasks which used to be done by humans a while ago. Robots are continuously evolving into better and more efficient autonomous agents, makes substantial growth in fields like adaptive artificial intelligence. Our main objective of this people is to create an efficient multi agent autonomous environment for robots for cleaning purposes. Keywords: Gradient Descent, Centralized controller, autonomous agents, LiDAR

How many online workers are there in the world? A data-driven assessment

An unknown number of people around the world are earning income by working through online labour platforms such as Upwork and Amazon Mechanical Turk. We combine data collected from various sources to build a data-driven assessment of the number of such online workers (also known as online freelancers) globally. Our headline estimate is that there are 163 million freelancer profiles registered on online labour platforms globally. Approximately 19 million of them have obtained work through the platform at least once, and 5 million have completed at least 10 projects or earned at least $1000. These numbers suggest a substantial growth from 2015 in registered worker accounts, but much less growth in amount of work completed by workers. Our results indicate that online freelancing represents a non-trivial segment of labour today, but one that is spread thinly across countries and sectors.

Technology as Integral to a New Paradigm of Adult Education

Technology and adult education are often discussed as two separate subjects yet just as it is impossible to live one day without the impact of technology, it is impossible to discuss adult education without considering technology. In the decades since the emergence of adult education as its own field of study and research, these two subjects have experienced substantial growth. However, in recent months, societal issues have forced the pace of this growth into unprecedented and sometimes uncomfortable expansion. The theorists and practitioners who have always been instrumental in moving the fields along were challenged to develop an entirely new paradigm. The issues and reactions will be considered in this article as the foundation for a paradigm shift in adult education. Since effective adult education involves not only information dissemination but communication and collaboration among its participants, online learning activities and entire online courses influence how we view the field itself.

Lexibank: A public repository of standardized wordlists with computed phonological and lexical features

The past decades have seen substantial growth in digital data on the world's languages. At the same time, the demand for cross-linguistic datasets has been increasing, as witnessed by numerous studies devoted to diverse questions on human prehistory, cultural evolution, and human cognition. Unfortunately, the majority of published datasets lack standardization which makes their comparison difficult. Here, we present the first step to increase the comparability of cross-linguistic lexical data. We have designed workflows for the computer-assisted lifting of datasets to Cross-Linguistic Data Formats, a collection of standards that increase the FAIRness of linguistic data. We test the Lexibank workflow on a collection of 100 lexical datasets from which we derive an aggregated database of wordlists in unified phonetic transcriptions covering more than 2000 language varieties. We illustrate the benefits of our approach by showing how phonological and lexical features can be automatically inferred, complementing and expanding existing cross-linguistic datasets.

How many online workers are there in the world? A data-driven assessment

An unknown number of people around the world are earning income by working through online labour platforms such as Upwork and Amazon Mechanical Turk. We combine data collected from various sources to build a data-driven assessment of the number of such online workers (also known as online freelancers) globally. Our headline estimate is that there are 163 million freelancer profiles registered on online labour platforms globally. Approximately 19 million of them have obtained work through the platform at least once, and 5 million have completed at least 10 projects or earned at least $1000. These numbers suggest a substantial growth from 2015 in registered worker accounts, but much less growth in amount of work completed by workers. Our results indicate that online freelancing represents a non-trivial segment of labour today, but one that is spread thinly across countries and sectors.