The accuracy of Infrared sensor detection in a smart toilet

Background: Infrared (IR) sensors are useful tools for detecting distance and proximity. However, these sensors are not good at detecting edges of an area, therefore when used in a smart toilet it has difficulty in detecting the orientation and position of the user’s body. The aim of this study was to design an IR sensor for a smart toilet with a more accurate and consistent detection. Methods: A total of 12(six men and six women) participants with different body types were involved in this study. IR sensor detection was tested in the sitting and squatting toilets. For the best accuracy, the IR sensor's angle was measured. Red, blue, and red-blue plastic covers were used, as these colors improve precision. The microcontroller was set up to calculate the participant’s distance and presence in the cubicle. Results: Toilet positioning varied greatly depending on whether one is sitting or squatting. For sitting toilet, the red cover was close to the accurate distance at a 172˚ angle. IR detected a man but not a woman's body. The blue cover provided the same best angle of 172˚ with a higher sensor distance. When the red and blue cover combination was applied, the reading of 141cm detected both men and women, at 172˚ angle. The actual distance for squatting toilets was 158cm. The optimal angle for both red and blue covers was 176˚, however the sensor distance was greater for the blue cover. Finally, the red and blue cover combination gave a more accurate distance of up to 163cm from the actual reading, when detecting both genders at a normal angle of 76˚. Conclusion: The combination of red and blue cover gave the most accurate detection for the squatting and sitting toilets. The best angle for sitting was 172˚, and for squatting was 176˚.

The Professor and the Mob in Wharton’s The Valley of Decision

Chapter 3 reads Edith Wharton's Valley of Decision, 'The Vice of Reading' and 'The Descent of Man'. Considering these texts alongside Charles Eliot Norton's writing about reading and education, the chapter argues that Wharton articulates her political thought in conversation with the elderly professor. In these early texts, as in her later commentary on modernism, Wharton expresses a realist conservatism that opposes a liberal idealism committed to democracy. In its reliance on abstraction and theory, Wharton contends, such idealism fails to see clearly the people whom expansions of democracy would enfranchise. Norton imagines a democracy enhanced by broader access to culture and a richly literate electorate; Wharton derides the capacities of the actual reading public, locates the the diffusion of culture in the marketplace rather than the school, and points to the degradation of literature amongst vapid consumers. Her texts satirize and exterminate professorial types, portraying a public that misunderstands or murders the scholars who would teach them. The scholar who gives voice to Norton's liberal idealism in Valley of Decision is a woman who herself embodies an ideal; Wharton's portrayal of her sad fate uses incisive feminist analysis to bolster a conservative case against idealisms of all sorts.

Actual

As opposed to other things one does or can do with text, its “actual reading” is defined here as the actualization of scriptive (hence phonetic) signals in the construction of its aesthetic as well as semantic force. The silent sounding of literary letters is the base-line of textual generation, thrown into relief by contrast with a parodic story by American novelist Bennett Sims about a film scholar’s willful and absurd lip reading of silent background players in Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo. This satirized overreading of phonic shapes is then entered into the famous terms of debate between Paul de Man and Michael Riffaterre on what “really reading” means, to which, after their fraught example from Victor Hugo, further literary examples from Charles Dickens through Virginia Woolf to Adrienne Rich are recruited to help arbitrate.

Learners’ Use of Efferent, Aesthetic and Critical Stances When Reading a Novel

Recent studies have suggested that literature components benefit students in language acquisition and reading in general, yet reading for enjoyment is arguable since most of the students admit reading is done for examination purposes. Regardless of the reading purpose, adoption of efferent, aesthetic and critical stances is vital and believed to influence the reading process. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived and actual reading stances among learners when they read a novel. A total of 484 students from twelve non-residential secondary schools situated in Kuantan participated in this study. Employing a mixed method design, both quantitative and qualitative research approaches were utilised. The instruments used to collect the data were a set of questionnaire and student’s written responses. Although the findings from the questionnaire and written responses suggested that the learners employed all the three stances namely efferent, aesthetic and critical stances, there was the tendency for the students to adopt more of the efferent stance than the aesthetic and critical stances. Overall, the adoption of the efferent stance indicates that the students tend to closely and narrowly process the novel in terms of the story line narrated by the writer rather than adopting aesthetic and critical stances through interacting with the plot and characters and relating these elements with their experience and viewpoints.

Intention to Read to Newborns Following a Brief Reading Promotion Intervention among Low-Income Pregnant Women

Introduction. Reading to children can increase word knowledge andsuccess in school. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommendsbeginning reading at birth. However, children from low-incomefamilies are exposed to less words, including reading exposure, thanchildren from high-income families.Methods.xPregnant women attending a community prenatal educationprogram targeted at high-risk and low-income populationswere recruited into this study. Participants completed a pre-survey,engaged with a brief educational intervention, then completed amatched post-survey. Surveys assessed perceived benefits, intendedbehaviors, and self-efficacy regarding reading to their child.Results. Of 61 eligible participants, 54 (89%) completed the study.Participants reported being Black (33%), White (30%), Hispanic(28%), and other race (9%). Average gestational age at enrollmentwas 27 weeks (range 13 to 38 weeks). The average age of respondentswas 26 years (SD = 7.2); 46% reported being pregnant for the firsttime. Following the intervention, no change in knowledge regardingbenefits of reading was observed, however, baseline knowledge washigh (58% - 94%). At post-test, significantly more women reported itwas important to start reading to their child at birth (83% vs 56%; p< 0.001) and that they planned to start reading to their child at birth(70% vs 50%; p = 0.001).Conclusions. A brief educational intervention showed promise inincreasing pregnant women’s intentions to read to their children andshould be considered in conjunction with other reading promotionprograms. Follow-up to assess actual reading behavior is needed.Kans J Med 2019;12(2):50-52.

Audiobooks for Assisting EFL Students in Reading Independently

<p>Scholars and practitioners have done much research in developing EFL students' reading skill so that they can recall the main points of a text, answer literal and/or inferential questions, and even complete the actual reading of the text. Yet, those mainly have to involve the presence of a teacher or tutor for monitoring whereas students should be trained to be independent in reading. By reviewing related literature, this article is suggesting to use ‘Audiobook' to assist EFL students in reading independently. This article describes how the teaching of reading for EFL students, and how audiobooks can contribute to it. This all finally come with a conclusion that audiobook definitely can assist EFL in students in reading independently that later will supportively develop their reading skill and language competence besides their listening skill itself.</p>

The reading public in the United Arab Emirates

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the socioeconomic factors that influence the public’s reading interest in specific genres of literature, as well as what the public actually reads or listens to in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Design/methodology/approach A survey of 1,377 households, consisting of 650 and 727 from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively, was conducted in 2012 as part of the country’s first, and to date only, comprehensive Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. A multivariate probit model is applied to analyze factors that influence interest in reading fiction, religion and spirituality and health and fitness. In addition, factors that influence public’s likelihood to read novels, short stories and poems are also assessed. Findings The results indicate that ethnicity, gender and education level significantly influence both the interest in reading, and actual reading habits. For example, while Asian and Western expatriate groups show more interest in fiction and health and fitness literature, Emirati are more likely to read poems. A gender difference is identified with females more likely to read. Research limitations/implications The survey focused on regular dwelling units and within a household, family and resident relatives. Hence, it excludes a segment of residents, such as domestic workers and unauthorized migrants. Originality/value This is the first study to empirically assess the factors influencing the public’s interest and reading habits across a range of genres of literature in the UAE.

Mediatheorie van het e-book

Departing from Marshal McLuhan’s analysis of the impact of print books on the mental and social environment of readers, Arjen Mulder reflects on the possible mental and social effects of the e-book as a new medium. The e-book, as carrier of an immaterial text, allows the reader to change its lay-out, font and other design elements. Additionally, e-books contain not just one single novel but an entire library and even contain an online bookstore. Another prominent effect of e-books is that they cause discrepancies between the actual reading experience and the user experience of the medium. Mulder also analyses some of the disadvantages of this new medium due to its technical properties. These concern for instance the integrity of the text, the unreliability of the technology, or the fact that providers can without any permission reinitialise your e-reader and therewith delete your entire e-book library. Mulder concludes with a discussion of the different reading modes available to readers to read print and electronic texts.

Dual-channel photoacoustic hygrometer for airborne measurements: background, calibration, laboratory and in-flight intercomparison tests

This paper describes a tunable diode laser-based dual-channel photoacoustic (PA) humidity measuring system primarily designed for aircraft-based environment research. It is calibrated for total pressure and water vapor (WV) volume mixing ratios (VMRs) possible during airborne applications. WV VMR is calculated by using pressure-dependent calibration curves and a cubic spline interpolation method. Coverage of the entire atmospheric humidity concentration range that might be encountered during airborne measurements is facilitated by applying an automated sensitivity mode switching algorithm. The calibrated PA system was validated through laboratory and airborne intercomparisons, which proved that the repeatability, the estimated accuracy and the response time of the system are 0.5 ppmV or 0.5% of the actual reading (whichever value is the greater), 5% of the actual reading within the VMR range of 1–12 000 ppmV and 2 s, respectively. The upper detection limit of the system is theoretically about 85 000 ppmV, limited only by condensation of water vapor on the walls of the 318 K heated PA cells and inlet lines, and was experimentally verified up to 20 000 ppmV. The unique advantage of the presented system is its applicability for simultaneous water vapor and total water volume mixing ratio measurements.