A User Interaction Bug Analyzer Based on Image

Context: Mobile applications support a set of user-interaction features that are independent of the application logic. Rotating the device, scrolling, or zooming are examples of such features. Some bugs in mobile applications can be attributed to user-interaction features. Objective: This paper proposes and evaluates a bug analyzer based on user-interaction features that uses digital image processing to find bugs. Method: Our bug analyzer detects bugs by comparing the similarity between images taken before and after a user-interaction. SURF, an interest point detector and descriptor, is used to compare the images. To evaluate the bug analyzer, we conducted a case study with 15 randomly selected mobile applications. First, we identified user-interaction bugs by manually testing the applications. Images were captured before and after applying each user-interaction feature. Then, image pairs were processed with SURF to obtain interest points, from which a similarity percentage was computed, to finally decide whether there was a bug. Results: We performed a total of 49 user-interaction feature tests. When manually testing the applications, 17 bugs were found, whereas when using image processing, 15 bugs were detected. Conclusions: 8 out of 15 mobile applications tested had bugs associated to user-interaction features. Our bug analyzer based on image processing was able to detect 88% (15 out of 17) of the user-interaction bugs found with manual testing.

Utilising presence in places to support mobile interaction

Physical places are given contextual meaning by the objects and people that make up the space. Presence in physical places can be utilised to support mobile interaction by making access to media and notifications on a smartphone easier and more visible to other people. Smartphone interfaces can be extended into the physical world in a meaningful way by anchoring digital content to artefacts, and interactions situated around physical artefacts can provide contextual meaning to private manipulations with a mobile device. Additionally, places themselves are designed to support a set of tasks, and the logical structure of places can be used to organise content on the smartphone. Menus that adapt the functionality of a smartphone can support the user by presenting the tools most likely to be needed just-in-time, so that information needs can be satisfied quickly and with little cognitive effort. Furthermore, places are often shared with people whom the user knows, and the smartphone can facilitate social situations by providing access to content that stimulates conversation. However, the smartphone can disrupt a collaborative environment, by alerting the user with unimportant notifications, or sucking the user in to the digital world with attractive content that is only shown on a private screen. Sharing smartphone content on a situated display creates an inclusive and unobtrusive user experience, and can increase focus on a primary task by allowing content to be read at a glance. Mobile interaction situated around artefacts of personal places is investigated as a way to support users to access content from their smartphone while managing their physical presence. A menu that adapts to personal places is evaluated to reduce the time and effort of app navigation, and coordinating smartphone content on a situated display is found to support social engagement and the negotiation of notifications. Improving the sensing of smartphone users in places is a challenge that is out-with the scope of this thesis. Instead, interaction designers and developers should be provided with low-cost positioning tools that utilise presence in places, and enable quantitative and qualitative data to be collected in user evaluations. Two lightweight positioning tools are developed with the low-cost sensors that are currently available: The Microsoft Kinect depth sensor allows movements of a smartphone user to be tracked in a limited area of a place, and Bluetooth beacons enable the larger context of a place to be detected. Positioning experiments with each sensor are performed to highlight the capabilities and limitations of current sensing techniques for designing interactions with a smartphone. Both tools enable prototypes to be built with a rapid prototyping approach, and mobile interactions can be tested with more advanced sensing techniques as they become available. Sensing technologies are becoming pervasive, and it will soon be possible to perform reliable place detection in-the-wild. Novel interactions that utilise presence in places can support smartphone users by making access to useful functionality easy and more visible to the people who matter most in everyday life.

Physiological and molecular analysis of the interaction between aluminium toxicity and drought stress in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)

Aluminium (Al) toxicity and drought are two major factors limiting common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) production in the tropics. Short-term effects of Al toxicity and drought stress on root growth in acid, Al-toxic soil were studied, with special emphasis on Al-drought interaction in the root apex. Root elongation was inhibited by both Al and drought. Combined stresses resulted in a more severe inhibition of root elongation than either stress alone. This result was different from the alleviation of Al toxicity by osmotic stress (-0.60 MPa polyethylene glycol) in hydroponics. However, drought reduced the impact of Al on the root tip, as indicated by the reduction of Al-induced callose formation and MATE expression. Combined Al and drought stress enhanced up-regulation of ACCO expression and synthesis of zeatin riboside, reduced drought-enhanced abscisic acid (ABA) concentration, and expression of NCED involved in ABA biosynthesis and the transcription factors bZIP and MYB, thus affecting the regulation of ABA-dependent genes (SUS, PvLEA18, KS-DHN, and LTP) in root tips. The results provide circumstantial evidence that in soil, drought alleviates Al injury, but Al renders the root apex more drought-sensitive, particularly by impacting the gene regulatory network involved in ABA signal transduction and cross-talk with other phytohormones necessary for maintaining root growth under drought.

Tecnología Nanopore para la secuenciación de DNA

Nanopore-based sequencer will open the path to the fourth-generation DNA sequencing technology. The main differences between this technique and the previous ones are: DNA molecule that will be sequenced does not need a previous amplification step, is not necessary any type of specific label both molecular adaptors, and it has been abolished enzymatic process in the nucleotide sequence identification event. These differences have as result a more economic method since don’t spend the necessary reagents for the previous techniques, furthermore it lets to sequence samples with a low DNA concentration. This technique is based in the use of a membrane with a biologic nanopore inserted in it whereby the molecule to analyze (analyte) it made to pass, this membrane is placed between two reservoirs containing ions, when an external volatage is applied in both sides this lead to an ion current through the nanopore. When an analyte cross the nanopore the ion current is modified, that modification in the amplitude and duration of ion current determine the physical and chemical properties of that analyte. By means of subsequent statistical analyzes it can be determined to what sequence own this ion current blockade patterns. More used nanopores are the biologic ones, although they are working to develop synthetic nanopores. The main biologic nanopores are: α-Hemolysin from Staphylococcus aureus (α-HL), Mycobacterium smegmatis porin A (MspA) and bacteriophage phi29 pore (phi29). Α-HL and MspA have in their narrowest point a diameter similar to nucleotide size, they are functional at high temperature both wide range of pH (2-12) but MspA is able to read four nucleotide at the same time while α- HL just can read one by one. Finally, phi29 present a bigger diameter what let to get information about DNA spatial conformation and their interaction with proteins (Feng et al., 2015). Nowaday Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) is the only company which has developed Nanopore technology; they have two devices available to sequencing (PromethION and MinION). The MinION is a single-use DNA sequencing device with the size of a USB memory with a total of 3000 nanopores that can sequence until 200kb. The PrometheION is big size sequencer that own 48 different cells, what let to sequence different samples at the same time, with a total of 144.000 nanopores and reading of several megabases (https://www.nanoporetech.com/). The high processivity and low cost become this technique in a great option to massive- sequencing.

Blade-wake interactions in cross-flow turbines

This paper presents analytical bounds for blade–wake interaction phenomenona occurring in rotating cross-flow turbines for wind and tidal energy generation (e.g. H rotors, Darrieus or vertical axis). Limiting cases are derived for one bladed turbines and extended to the more common three bladed configuration. Additionally, we present a classification of the blade–wake type of interactions in terms of limiting tip speed ratios. These bounds are validated using a high order h=p Discontinuous Galerkin solver with sliding meshes. This computational method enables highly accurate flow solutions and shows that the analytical bounds correspond to limiting blade-wake interactions in fully resolved flow simulations

Radio Frequency Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Meta-atoms and Metamaterials: Experiment, Theory, and Analysis

Metamamterials are 1D, 2D or 3D arrays of articial atoms. The articial atoms, called "meta-atoms", can be any component with tailorable electromagnetic properties, such as resonators, LC circuits, nano particles, and so on. By designing the properties of individual meta-atoms and the interaction created by putting them in a lattice, one can create a metamaterial with intriguing properties not found in nature. My Ph. D. work examines the meta-atoms based on radio frequency superconducting quantum interference devices (rf-SQUIDs); their tunability with dc magnetic field, rf magnetic field, and temperature are studied. The rf-SQUIDs are superconducting split ring resonators in which the usual capacitance is supplemented with a Josephson junction, which introduces strong nonlinearity in the rf properties. At relatively low rf magnetic field, a magnetic field tunability of the resonant frequency of up to 80 THz/Gauss by dc magnetic field is observed, and a total frequency tunability of 100% is achieved. The macroscopic quantum superconducting metamaterial also shows manipulative self-induced broadband transparency due to a qualitatively novel nonlinear mechanism that is different from conventional electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) or its classical analogs. A near complete disappearance of resonant absorption under a range of applied rf flux is observed experimentally and explained theoretically. The transparency comes from the intrinsic bi-stability and can be tuned on/ off easily by altering rf and dc magnetic fields, temperature and history. Hysteretic in situ 100% tunability of transparency paves the way for auto-cloaking metamaterials, intensity dependent filters, and fast-tunable power limiters. An rf-SQUID metamaterial is shown to have qualitatively the same behavior as a single rf-SQUID with regards to dc flux, rf flux and temperature tuning. The two-tone response of self-resonant rf-SQUID meta-atoms and metamaterials is then studied here via intermodulation (IM) measurement over a broad range of tone frequencies and tone powers. A sharp onset followed by a surprising strongly suppressed IM region near the resonance is observed. This behavior can be understood employing methods in nonlinear dynamics; the sharp onset, and the gap of IM, are due to sudden state jumps during a beat of the two-tone sum input signal. The theory predicts that the IM can be manipulated with tone power, center frequency, frequency difference between the two tones, and temperature. This quantitative understanding potentially allows for the design of rf-SQUID metamaterials with either very low or very high IM response.

Factors influencing dental appearance satisfaction in adolescents: a cross-sectional study conducted in Southern Brazil

The perception of dental aesthetic appearance may affect social interaction and psychological status, influencing dental needs and the search for treatments. Aim: To investigate the satisfaction with dental appearance and influencing factors among adolescents. Methods: The study was carried out among adolescents aged 14 to 19 years attending a private high school in Brazil. Data on demographic information, the perception of dental appearance, previous aesthetic treatments and wish to perform dental treatments were collected in the school. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s chi-square test or Linear Trend. Multivariate analysis was performed using the Poisson regression. Results: A total of 531 adolescents (Response rate = 98.3%) answered the questionnaire. The prevalence of dissatisfaction with dental appearance was 17.4%. Almost 65% had history of previous orthodontic treatment and 16% performed dental bleaching. Approximately 45% of children wished to undergo orthodontics and 54.8% to bleach their teeth. Dissatisfaction with dental appearance was associated with individuals unsatisfied with dental color (95% IC[1.73;4.32]), those perceiving poor dental alignment (PR3.16 95% IC[2.11;4.72]) and those wishing orthodontic treatment (PR2.9; 95% IC[1.79; 4.70]). Conclusions: The prevalence of dissatisfaction was considerable and was associated with aesthetic concerns such as tooth color, dental alignment and with the wish for orthodontics. In this young population, a large part of adolescents had already performed orthodontic and bleaching treatments and wished to perform those treatments again. Satisfaction with dental appearance could affect the adolescents’ behavior regarding search for dental treatment, thus causing possible overtreatment.

Human-Computer interaction methodologies applied in the evaluation of haptic digital musical instruments

Recent developments in interactive technologies have seen major changes in the manner in which artists, performers, and creative individuals interact with digital music technology; this is due to the increasing variety of interactive technologies that are readily available today. Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) present musicians with performance challenges that are unique to this form of computer music. One of the most significant deviations from conventional acoustic musical instruments is the level of physical feedback conveyed by the instrument to the user. Currently, new interfaces for musical expression are not designed to be as physically communicative as acoustic instruments. Specifically, DMIs are often void of haptic feedback and therefore lack the ability to impart important performance information to the user. Moreover, there currently is no standardised way to measure the effect of this lack of physical feedback. Best practice would expect that there should be a set of methods to effectively, repeatedly, and quantifiably evaluate the functionality, usability, and user experience of DMIs. Earlier theoretical and technological applications of haptics have tried to address device performance issues associated with the lack of feedback in DMI designs and it has been argued that the level of haptic feedback presented to a user can significantly affect the user’s overall emotive feeling towards a musical device. The outcome of the investigations contained within this thesis are intended to inform new haptic interface.

User interaction monitoring and analysis framework

An overview is given of a user interaction monitoring and analysis framework called BaranC. Monitoring and analysing human-digital interaction is an essential part of developing a user model as the basis for investigating user experience. The primary human-digital interaction, such as on a laptop or smartphone, is best understood and modelled in the wider context of the user and their environment. The BaranC framework provides monitoring and analysis capabilities that not only records all user interaction with a digital device (e.g. smartphone), but also collects all available context data (such as from sensors in the digital device itself, a fitness band or a smart appliances). The data collected by BaranC is recorded as a User Digital Imprint (UDI) which is, in effect, the user model and provides the basis for data analysis. BaranC provides functionality that is useful for user experience studies, user interface design evaluation, and providing user assistance services. An important concern for personal data is privacy, and the framework gives the user full control over the monitoring, storing and sharing of their data.

A service-oriented user interaction analysis framework supporting adaptive applications

A comprehensive user model, built by monitoring a user's current use of applications, can be an excellent starting point for building adaptive user-centred applications. The BaranC framework monitors all user interaction with a digital device (e.g. smartphone), and also collects all available context data (such as from sensors in the digital device itself, in a smart watch, or in smart appliances) in order to build a full model of user application behaviour. The model built from the collected data, called the UDI (User Digital Imprint), is further augmented by analysis services, for example, a service to produce activity profiles from smartphone sensor data. The enhanced UDI model can then be the basis for building an appropriate adaptive application that is user-centred as it is based on an individual user model. As BaranC supports continuous user monitoring, an application can be dynamically adaptive in real-time to the current context (e.g. time, location or activity). Furthermore, since BaranC is continuously augmenting the user model with more monitored data, over time the user model changes, and the adaptive application can adapt gradually over time to changing user behaviour patterns. BaranC has been implemented as a service-oriented framework where the collection of data for the UDI and all sharing of the UDI data are kept strictly under the user's control. In addition, being service-oriented allows (with the user's permission) its monitoring and analysis services to be easily used by 3rd parties in order to provide 3rd party adaptive assistant services. An example 3rd party service demonstrator, built on top of BaranC, proactively assists a user by dynamic predication, based on the current context, what apps and contacts the user is likely to need. BaranC introduces an innovative user-controlled unified service model of monitoring and use of personal digital activity data in order to provide adaptive user-centred applications. This aims to improve on the current situation where the diversity of adaptive applications results in a proliferation of applications monitoring and using personal data, resulting in a lack of clarity, a dispersal of data, and a diminution of user control.

Mobility and satisfaction with lower-limb prostheses and orthoses among users in Sierra Leone: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: To investigate patients' mobility and satisfaction with their lower-limb prosthetic or orthotic device and related service delivery in Sierra Leone; to compare groups of patients regarding type and level of assistive device, gender, area of residence, income; and to identify factors associated with satisfaction with the assistive device and service. Methods: A total of 139 patients answered questionnaires, including the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology questionnaire (QUEST 2.0). Results: Eighty-six percent of assistive devices were in use, but half needed repair. Thirty-three percent of patients reported pain when using their assistive device. Patients had difficulties or could not walk at all on: uneven ground (65%); hills (75%); and stairs (66%). Patients were quite satisfied with their assistive device and the service (mean 3.7 out of 5 in QUEST), but reported 886 problems. Approximately half of the patients could not access services. In relation to mobility and service delivery, women, orthotic patients and patients using above-knee assistive devices had the poorest results. The general condition of the assistive device and patients' ability to walk on uneven ground were associated with satisfaction with the assistive devices and service. Conclusion: Patients reported high levels of mobility while using their device although they experienced pain and difficulties walking on challenging surfaces. Limitations in the effectiveness of assistive devices and limited access to follow-up services and repairs were issues desired to be addressed.

Turning conflict into coexistence: cross-cutting ties and institutions in the agro-pastoral borderlands of Lake Naivasha basin, Kenya

The Maasai/Kikuyu agro-pastoral borderlands of Maiella and Enoosupukia, located in the hinterlands of Lake Naivasha’s agro-industrial hub, are particularly notorious in the history of ethnicised violence in the Kenya’s Rift Valley. In October 1993, an organised assault perpetrated by hundreds of Maasai vigilantes, with the assistance of game wardens and administration police, killed more than 20 farmers of Kikuyu descent. Consequently, thousands of migrant farmers were violently evicted from Enoosupukia at the instigation of leading local politicians. Nowadays, however, intercommunity relations are surprisingly peaceful and the cooperative use of natural resources is the rule rather than the exception. There seems to be a form of reorganization. Violence seems to be contained and the local economy has since recovered. This does not mean that there is no conflict, but people seem to have the facility to solve them peacefully. How did formerly violent conflicts develop into peaceful relations? How did competition turn into cooperation, facilitating changing land use? This dissertation explores the value of cross-cutting ties and local institutions in peaceful relationships and the non-violent resolution of conflicts across previously violently contested community boundaries. It mainly relies on ethnographic data collected between 2014 and 2015. The discussion therefore builds on several theoretical approaches in anthropology and the social sciences – that is, violent conflicts, cross-cutting ties and conflicting loyalties, joking relationships, peace and nonviolence, and institutions, in order to understand shared spaces that are experiencing fairly rapid social and economic changes, and characterised by conflict and coexistence. In the researched communities, cross-cutting ties and the split allegiances associated with them result from intermarriages, land transactions, trade, and friendship. By institutions, I refer to local peace committees, an attempt to standardise an aspect of customary law, and Nyumba Kumi, a strategy of anchoring community policing at the household level. In 2010, the state “implanted” these grassroots-level institutions and conferred on them the rights to handle specific conflicts and to prevent crime. I argue that the studied groups utilise diverse networks of relationships as adaptive responses to landlessness, poverty, and socio-political dynamics at the local level. Material and non-material exchanges and transfers accompany these social and economic ties and networks. In addition to being instrumental in nurturing a cohesive social fabric, I argue that such alliances could be thought of as strategies of appropriation of resources in the frontiers – areas that are considered to have immense agricultural potential and to be conducive to economic enterprise. Consequently, these areas are continuously changed and shaped through immigration, population growth, and agricultural intensification. However, cross-cutting ties and intergroup alliances may not necessarily prevent the occurrence or escalation of conflicts. Nevertheless, disputes and conflicts, which form part of the social order in the studied area, create the opportunities for locally contextualised systems of peace and non-violence that inculcate the values of cooperation, coexistence, and restraint from violence. Although the neo-traditional institutions (local peace committees and Nyumba Kumi) face massive complexities and lack the capacity to handle serious conflicts, their application of informal constraints in dispute resolution provides room for some optimism. Notably, the formation of ties and alliances between the studied groups, and the use of local norms and values to resolve disputes, are not new phenomena – they are reminiscent of historical patterns. Their persistence, particularly in the context of Kenya, indicates a form of historical continuity, which remains rather “undisturbed” despite the prevalence of ethnicised political economies. Indeed, the formation of alliances, which are driven by mutual pursuit of commodities (livestock, rental land, and agricultural produce), markets, and diversification, tends to override other identities. While the major thrust of social science literature in East Africa has focused on the search for root causes of violence, very little has been said about the conditions and practices of cooperation and non-violent conflict resolution. In addition, situations where prior violence turned into peaceful interaction have attracted little attention, though the analysis of such transitional phases holds the promise of contributing to applicable knowledge on conflict resolution. This study is part of a larger multidisciplinary project, “Resilience in East African Landscapes” (REAL), which is a Marie Curie Actions Innovative Training Networks (ITN) project. The principal focus of this multidisciplinary project is to study past, present, and future thresholds and sustainable trajectories in human-landscape interactions in East Africa over the last millennia. While other individual projects focus on long-term ecosystem dynamics and societal interactions, my project examines human-landscape interactions in the present and the very recent past (i.e. the period in which events and processes were witnessed or can still be recalled by today’s population). The transition from conflict to coexistence and from competition to cooperative use of previously violently contested land resources is understood here as enhancing adaptation in the face of social-political, economic, environmental, and climatic changes. This dissertation is therefore a contribution to new modes of resilience in human-landscape interactions after a collapse situation.

Cross-correlations between weather variables in Australia

The information on climate variations is essential for the research of many subjects, such as the performance of buildings and agricultural production. However, recorded meteorological data are often incomplete. There may be a limited number of locations recorded, while the number of recorded climatic variables and the time intervals can also be inadequate. Therefore, the hourly data of key weather parameters as required by many building simulation programmes are typically not readily available. To overcome this gap in measured information, several empirical methods and weather data generators have been developed. They generally employ statistical analysis techniques to model the variations of individual climatic variables, while the possible interactions between different weather parameters are largely ignored. Based on a statistical analysis of 10 years historical hourly climatic data over all capital cities in Australia, this paper reports on the finding of strong correlations between several specific weather variables. It is found that there are strong linear correlations between the hourly variations of global solar irradiation (GSI) and dry bulb temperature (DBT), and between the hourly variations of DBT and relative humidity (RH). With an increase in GSI, DBT would generally increase, while the RH tends to decrease. However, no such a clear correlation can be found between the DBT and atmospheric pressure (P), and between the DBT and wind speed. These findings will be useful for the research and practice in building performance simulation.

The mechanical strength of phosphates under friction-induced cross-linking

Purpose: In the present study, we consider mechanical properties of phosphate glasses under high temperatureinduced and under friction-induced cross-linking, which enhance the modulus of elasticity. Design/methodology/approach: Two nanomechanical properties are evaluated, the first parameter is the modulus of elasticity (E) (or Young's modulus) and the second parameter is the hardness (H). Zinc meta-, pyro - and orthophosphates were recognized as amorphous-colloidal nanoparticles were synthesized under laboratory conditions and showed antiwear properties in engine oil. Findings: Young's modulus of the phosphate glasses formed under high temperature was in the 60-89 GPa range. For phosphate tribofilm formed under friction hardness and the Young's modulus were in the range of 2-10 GPa and 40-215 GPa, respectively. The degree of cross-linking during friction is provided by internal pressure of about 600 MPa and temperature close to 1000°C enhancing mechanical properties by factor of 3 (see Fig 1). Research limitations/implications: The addition of iron or aluminum ions to phosphate glasses under high temperature - and friction-induced amorphization of zinc metaphosphate and pyrophosphate tends to provide more cross-linking and mechanically stronger structures. Iron and aluminum (FeO4 or AlO4 units), incorporated into phosphate structure as network formers, contribute to the anion network bonding by converting the P=O bonds into bridging oxygen. Future work should consider on development of new of materials prepared by solgel processes, eg., zinc (II)-silicic acid. Originality/value: This paper analyses the friction pressure-induced and temperature–induced the two factors lead phosphate tribofilm glasses to chemically advanced glass structures, which may enhance the wear inhibition. Adding the coordinating ions alters the pressure at which cross-linking occurs and increases the antiwear properties of the surface material significantly.

Clinical Accuracy of the MedGem Indirect Calorimeter for Measuring Resting Energy Expenditure in Cancer Patients

OBJECTIVE: To compare, in patients with cancer and in healthy subjects, measured resting energy expenditure (REE) from traditional indirect calorimetry to a new portable device (MedGem) and predicted REE. DESIGN: Cross-sectional clinical validation study. SETTING: Private radiation oncology centre, Brisbane, Australia. SUBJECTS: Cancer patients (n = 18) and healthy subjects (n = 17) aged 37-86 y, with body mass indices ranging from 18 to 42 kg/m(2). INTERVENTIONS: Oxygen consumption (VO(2)) and REE were measured by VMax229 (VM) and MedGem (MG) indirect calorimeters in random order after a 12-h fast and 30-min rest. REE was also calculated from the MG without adjustment for nitrogen excretion (MGN) and estimated from Harris-Benedict prediction equations. Data were analysed using the Bland and Altman approach, based on a clinically acceptable difference between methods of 5%. RESULTS: The mean bias (MGN-VM) was 10% and limits of agreement were -42 to 21% for cancer patients; mean bias -5% with limits of -45 to 35% for healthy subjects. Less than half of the cancer patients (n = 7, 46.7%) and only a third (n = 5, 33.3%) of healthy subjects had measured REE by MGN within clinically acceptable limits of VM. Predicted REE showed a mean bias (HB-VM) of -5% for cancer patients and 4% for healthy subjects, with limits of agreement of -30 to 20% and -27 to 34%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Limits of agreement for the MG and Harris Benedict equations compared to traditional indirect calorimetry were similar but wide, indicating poor clinical accuracy for determining the REE of individual cancer patients and healthy subjects.