2,182 research outputs found
Wake Word Accuracy in Amazon Alexa Devices
No full textVirtual digital assistant software is becoming more and more popular in every new piece of technology, from smart home devices to appliances. One of the most notable creations, and frontrunners in the industry, is Amazon Alexa. Millions of Alexa devices have been sold and their success continues to grow, with expected sales of Alexa devices to exceed $10 billion by 2020. However, there are growing privacy concerns among users about their virtual digital assistant security and what these devices are actually recording. Virtual digital assistants begin recording a user’s voice commands when the “wake” word is spoken. Alexa devices can be set to awaken to different words: Amazon, Alexa, or Computer. Inadvertent recordings are made when the device hears the wake word in normal conversation rather than a command, or it can interpret TV or background noise as a command and begin recording. These recordings can cause a backlog in the history file and decrease the accuracy in wake word identification. This study will analyze two Amazon Alexa voice recording datasets collected over a period of 45 days in an attempt to answer the research question: “which wake word yields the fewest inadvertent recordings.” The experimental network will consist of two Amazon Echo Dot’s, two Echo Show’s, and one Echo Tall, with all devices equipped with the Alexa voice software. Based on my findings, I will provide recommendations for wake word safe selection operation and possible amendments to future software updates as well as descriptive analysis of other voice recording characteristics such as of dialect recognition, tone of voice, and frequency of recordings
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
The Magazine Women Believed in: "Marriage Advice" 1950-1955
No full textIn the United States society, the 1950s is seen as a time of great conservatism where both men and women were placed into specific gender roles that dictated much of how they lived their lives. One institution that verified these gender roles and stereotypes to be true was women's magazines. These magazines contained sections such as fashion segments, helpful cooking guidelines, advertisements, and advice columns that seemed to target middle class, white, suburban married housewives. One advice column that seemed to particularly focus on the idea of a happy housewife and married life was the column Making Marriage Work, which appeared in the magazine Ladies Home Journal during this 1950s time period. The author of this column, Clifford R. Adams, idealized the 1950s perfect housewife existence and through his advice he encouraged women to strive for this lifestyle, while there were other sources demonstrating that this perceived notion of the perfect housewife did not exist during the 1950s time period
Alexa Discussion Board Skill
No full textabstract: A common challenge faced by students is that they often have questions about course material that they cannot ask during lecture time. There are many ways for students to have these questions answered, such as office hours and online discussion boards. However, office hours may be at inconvenient times or locations, and online discussion boards are difficult to navigate and may be inactive. The purpose of this project was to create an Alexa skill that allows users to ask their Alexa-equipped device a question concerning their course material and to receive an answer retrieved from discussion board data. User questions are mapped to discussion board posts by use of the cosine similarity algorithm. In this algorithm, posts from the discussion board and the user’s question are converted into mathematical vectors, with each term in the vector corresponding to a word. The values of these terms are computed based on the word’s frequency within the vector’s corresponding document, the frequency of that word within all the documents, and the length of the document. After the question and candidate posts are converted into vectors, the algorithm determines the post most similar to the user’s question by computing the angle between the vectors. With the most similar discussion board post determined, the user receives the replies to the post, if any, as their answer. Users are able to indicate to their Alexa device whether they were satisfied by the answer, and if they were unsatisfied then they are given the opportunity to either rephrase their question or to have the question sent to a database of unanswered questions. The professor can view and answer the questions in this database on a website hosted by use of Amazon’s Simple Storage Service. The Alexa skill does well at answering questions that have already been asked in the discussion board. However, the skill depends heavily on the user’s word choice. Two questions that are semantically identical but different in phrasing are often given different answers. This is because the cosine algorithm measures similarity on the basis of word overlap, not semantic meaning, and thus the application never truly “understands” what type of answer the user desires. Improving the performance of this Alexa skill will require a more advanced question answering algorithm, but the limitations of Amazon Web Services as a development platform make implementing such an algorithm difficult. Nevertheless, this project has created the basis of a question answering Alexa skill by demonstrating a feasible way that the resources offered by Amazon can be utilized in order to build such an application
Enhancing Academic Achievement and Transition Outcomes Using Technology (NCSET Information Brief)
No full textA brief describing a standards-driven, computer-based curriculum for students with disabilities in grades 8 through 10, and the principles behind it. This curriculum was developed by the Nisonger Center at Ohio State University (OSU) in response to the need to provide innovative curricula that combine standards-based academics with transition planning to facilitate access to general education, including multiple-outcome measures and learning supports.This report was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, (Cooperative Agreement No. H326J000005). Although the U.S. Department of Education has reviewed this document, the contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education, nor does mention of other organizations imply endorsement by those organizations or the U.S. Government.Izzo, Margo Vreeburg; Murray, Alexa; O’Hanlon, Nancy. (2005). Enhancing Academic Achievement and Transition Outcomes Using Technology (NCSET Information Brief). Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/172835
Author Correction: Hippocampal oxytocin receptors are necessary for discrimination of social stimuli
No full textThe original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Alexa H. Veenema, which was incorrectly given as Alexa Veenema. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.</jats:p
How Embodiment Shapes Trust and Engagement: A Comparative Analysis of Alexa and Pepper in Competitive Gameplay
No full textThis study explores the impact of embodiment on trust and user experience by comparing an embodied AI (Pepper) and a disembodied AI (Alexa) in a competitive rock-paper-scissors game. Using a mixed-methods ap-proach, 71 participants interacted with both systems, revealing that Pepper scored significantly higher in trust (M = 4.18, SD = 0.67) and engagement (M = 4.30, SD = 0.72) compared to Alexa (trust: M = 3.87, SD = 0.79; engagement: M = 3.65, SD = 0.81). Participants noted Pepper’s physical gestures and expressions enhanced social presence, fairness, and emotional connection, while Alexa’s pre-dictability and efficiency were valued for task-oriented interactions but perceived as less engaging and occasionally manipulative in competitive settings. Privacy concerns were more prominent with Alexa due to its disembodied, cloud-based nature. The findings extend the Capability-Benevolence-Integrity model of trust, demonstrating how embodiment enhances integrity and emotional engagement. Practical implications suggest embodied systems like Pepper are better for social and emotional contexts (e.g., education, therapy), while disembodied systems like Alexa excel in efficiency-driven tasks. This study addresses gaps in trust dynamics in competitive human-AI interactions and highlights trade-offs be-tween embodiment and efficiency. Limitations, such as the controlled setting and modest sample size, call for future longitudinal and cross-cultural research to fur-ther explore these dynamics
Nutraceuticals as potential therapeutics for vesicant‐induced pulmonary fibrosis
No full textExposure to vesicants, including sulfur mustard and nitrogen mustard, causes damage to the epithelia of the respiratory tract and the lung. With time, this progresses to chronic disease, most notably, pulmonary fibrosis. The pathogenic process involves persistent inflammation and the release of cytotoxic oxidants, cytokines, chemokines, and profibrotic growth factors, which leads to the collapse of lung architecture, with fibrotic involution of the lung parenchyma. At present, there are no effective treatments available to combat this pathological process. Recently, much interest has focused on nutraceuticals, substances derived from plants, herbs, and fruits, that exert pleiotropic effects on inflammatory cells and parenchymal cells that may be useful in reducing fibrogenesis. Some promising results have been obtained with nutraceuticals in experimental animal models of inflammation-driven fibrosis. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the putative preventive/therapeutic efficacy of nutraceuticals in progressive pulmonary fibrosis, with a focus on their activity against inflammatory reactions and profibrotic cell differentiation
Interchromophoric Interactions Between TMR, Alexa, and BODIPY Fluorophores
No full textabstract: The fundamental photophysics of fluorescent probes must be understood when the probes are used in biological applications. The photophysics of BODIPY dyes inside polymeric micelles and rhodamine dyes covalently linked to proteins were studied. Hydrophobic boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes were noncovalently encapsulated inside polymeric micelles. Absorbance and fluorescence measurements were employed to study the photophysics of these BODIPY dyes in the micellar environments. Amphiphilic polymers with a hydrophobic character and low Critical Micelle Concentration (CMC) protected BODIPYS from the aqueous environment. Moderate dye loading conditions did not result in ground-state dimerization, and only fluorescence lifetimes and brightnesses were affected. However, amphiphilic polymers with a hydrophilic character and high CMC did not protect the BODIPYS from the aqueous environment with concomitant ground-state dimerization and quenching of the fluorescence intensity, lifetime, and brightnesses even at low dye loading conditions. At the doubly-labeled interfaces of Escherichia coli (E. coli) DNA processivity β clamps, the interchromophric interactions of four rhodamine dyes were studied: tetramethylrhodamine (TMR), TMR C6, Alexa Fluor 488, and Alexa Fluor 546. Absorbance and fluorescence measurements were performed on doubly-labeled β clamps with singly-labeled β clamps and free dyes as controls. The absorbance measurements revealed that both TMR and TMR C6 readily formed H-dimers (static quenching) at the doubly-labeled interfaces of the β clamps. However, the TMR with a longer linker (TMR C6) also displayed a degree of dynamic quenching. For Alexa Fluor 546 and Alexa Fluor 488, there were no clear signs of dimerization in the absorbance scans. However, the fluorescence properties (fluorescence intensity, lifetime, and anisotropy) of the Alexa Fluor dyes significantly changed when three methodologies were employed to disrupt the doubly-labeled interfaces: 1) the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) detergent to denature the proteins, 2) the addition of clamp loader (γ complex) to open one of the two interfaces, and 3) the use of subunit exchange to decrease the number of dyes per interface. These fluorescence measurements indicated that for the Alexa Fluor dyes, other interchromophoric interactions were present such as dynamic quenching and homo-Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (homo-FRET).Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Chemistry 201
University of Chicago East Asia by the Book! Author Talk: Shakespeare and East Asia, Tuesday May 25, 2021 at 5 pm CDT / 6 pm EDT
No full textRegister at https://uchicagogroup.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jyEzkIZYQZ6bKzjjr3faZg :::: The University of Chicago East Asia by the Book! Author Talks is proud to present a book launch of Alexa Alice Joubin's Shakespeare and East Asia (Oxford University Press). Chair: Haun Saussy (University of Chicago). Discussant: Michael Saenger (Southwestern University). The event is co-sponsored by the Seminary Co-Op Bookstore. ::::: How did Kurosawa influence George Lucas' Star Wars? Why do critics repeatedly use the adjective Shakespearean to describe Gong Joon-ho's film Parasite (2019)? How do East Asian cinema and theater portray vocal disability and transgender figures
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