Empirical evaluation of computational fear contagion models in crowd dispersions

In social psychology, emotional contagion describes the widely observed phenomenon of one person’s emotions being influenced by surrounding people’s emotions. While the overall effect is agreed upon, the underlying mechanism of the spread of emotions has seen little quantification and application to computational agents despite extensive evidence of its impacts in everyday life. In this paper, we examine computational models of emotional contagion by implementing two models (Bosse et al., European council on modeling and simulation, pp. 212–218, 2009) and Durupinar, From audiences to mobs: Crowd simulation with psychological factors, PhD dissertation, Bilkent University, 2010) that draw from two separate lines of contagion research: thermodynamics-based and epidemiological-based. We first perform sensitivity tests on each model in an evacuation simulation, ESCAPES, showing both models to be reasonably robust to parameter variations with certain exceptions. We then compare their ability to reproduce a real crowd panic scene in simulation, showing that the thermodynamics-style model (Bosse et al., European council on modeling and simulation, pp. 212–218, 2009) produces superior results due to the ill-suited contagion mechanism at the core of epidemiological models. We also identify that a graduated effect of fear and proximity-based contagion effects are key to producing the superior results. We then reproduce the methodology on a second video, showing that the same results hold, implying generality of the conclusions reached in the first scene.     

Discipline-based instruction to promote interdisciplinary design of wearable and pervasive computing products

This paper reports on a design experience for undergraduates in computer engineering, industrial design, and marketing that focuses on pervasive computing devices. Across a broad range of targeted application areas and user groups, many of the student designs have been wearable computers. Consequently, our course will be of interest to the wearable computing community, particularly in terms of our aim of bridging the gap between design and engineering. For the two most recent offerings of the course, we have utilized external observers and surveyed the students in order to validate the impact of aspects of our process and changes to it. This paper is based upon 5 years of experience and 2 years of analysis of our course, and it presents an overview of our process with both qualitative and quantitative results from these two most recent offerings.     

Linear actuation in coextruded dielectric elastomer tubes

Cylindrical fibre actuators have been constructed by a coextrusion method using a thermoplastic polyurethane wall and a conductive grease filler. These actuators may be operated as single fibres or bundled together as actuating ropes. Key results include the validation of Carpi’s wall pressure model [F. Carpi, D.D. Rossi, Dielectric elastomer cylindrical actuators: electromechanical modelling and experimental evaluation, Mater. Sci. Eng. C-Biomimetic Supramol. Syst. 24 (2004) 555–562] and the proof-of-concept demonstration of a technique that can be used for producing inexpensive dielectric elastomer actuators on an industrial scale.     

Highly Efficient Quasi 2D Blue Perovskite Electroluminescence Leveraging a Dual Ligand Composition

Perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) are advancing because of their superior external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) and color purity. Still, additional work is needed for blue PeLEDs to achieve the same benchmarks as the other visible colors. This study demonstrates an extremely efficient blue PeLED with a 488 nm peak emission, a maximum luminance of 8600 cd m⁻², and a maximum EQE of 12.2% by incorporating the double-sided ethane-1,2-diammonium bromide (EDBr₂) ligand salt along with the long-chain ligand methylphenylammonium chloride (MeCl). The EDBr₂ successfully improves the interaction between 2D perovskite layers by reducing the weak van der Waals interaction and creating a Dion–Jacobson (DJ) structure. Whereas the pristine sample (without EDBr₂) is inhibited by small stacking number (n) 2D phases with nonradiative recombination regions that diminish the PeLED performance, adding EDBr₂ successfully enables better energy transfer from small n phases to larger n phases. As evidenced by photoluminescence (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization, EDBr₂ improves the morphology by reduction of pinholes and passivation of defects, subsequently improving the efficiencies and operational lifetimes of quasi-2D blue PeLEDs.     

Oral medication delivery in impaired swallowing: thickening liquid medications for safe swallowing alters dissolution characteristics

Acetaminophen (paracetamol) is available in a wide range of oral formulations designed to meet the needs of the population across the age-spectrum, but for people with impaired swallowing, i.e. dysphagia, both solid and liquid medications can be difficult to swallow without modification. The effect of a commercial polysaccharide thickener, designed to be added to fluids to promote safe swallowing by dysphagic patients, on rheology and acetaminophen dissolution was tested using crushed immediate-release tablets in water, effervescent tablets in water, elixir and suspension. The inclusion of the thickener, comprised of xanthan gum and maltodextrin, had a considerable impact on dissolution; acetaminophen release from modified medications reached 12–50% in 30?min, which did not reflect the pharmacopeia specification for immediate release preparations. Flow curves reflect the high zero-shear viscosity and the apparent yield stress of the thickened products. The weak gel nature, in combination with high G' values compared to G'' (viscoelasticity) and high apparent yield stress, impact drug release. The restriction on drug release from these formulations is not influenced by the theoretical state of the drug (dissolved or dispersed), and the approach typically used in clinical practice (mixing crushed tablets into pre-prepared thickened fluid) cannot be improved by altering the order of incorporation or mixing method.     

The privileged sensing framework: A principled approach to improved human-autonomy integration

ABSTRACT

A primary goal for human-autonomy integration (HAI) is to balance the strengths of human and autonomy in order to achieve performance objectives more efficiently and robustly than either the human or autonomous agents would independently. This paper proposes the Privileged Sensing Framework (PSF) as a novel approach to HAI. This approach is based on the concept of dynamically ‘privileging’ information during the process of integration by dynamically bestowing special rights based on the characteristics of each individual agent, the task context, and the performance goals. The proposed framework is tested through a series of simulation experiments that provide a clear demonstration of increased accuracy and throughput of human-autonomy performance. These proof-of-concept simulations provide initial evidence of the utility of the PSF. Continued development of this approach has the potential to revolutionise capabilities of multi-agent cooperative teams across a broad range of applications.     

Design of synthetic materials for intracellular delivery of RNAs: From siRNA-mediated gene silencing to CRISPR/Cas gene editing

Ribonucleic acids (RNAs) possess great therapeutic potential and can be used to treat a variety of diseases. The unique biophysical properties of RNAs, such as high molecular weight, negative charge, hydrophilicity, low stability, and potential immunogenicity, require chemical modification and development of carriers to enable intracellular delivery of RNAs for clinical use. A variety of nanomaterials have been developed for the effective in vivo delivery of short/ small RNAs, messenger RNAs, and RNAs required for gene editing technologies including clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas. This review outlines the challenges of delivering RNA therapeutics, explores the chemical synthesis of RNA modifications and carriers, and describes the efforts to design nanomaterials that can be used for a variety of clinical indications.