The Effects of Natural Sounds and Proxemic Distances on the Perception of a Noisy Domestic Flying Robot

in ACM Transactions on Human - Robot Interaction (in press)

When flying robots are used in close-range interaction with humans, the noise they generate, also called consequential sound, is a critical parameter for user acceptance. We conjecture that there is a ... [more ▼]

When flying robots are used in close-range interaction with humans, the noise they generate, also called consequential sound, is a critical parameter for user acceptance. We conjecture that there is a benefit in adding natural sounds to noisy domestic drones. To test our hypothesis experimentally, we carried out a mixed-methods research study (N=56) on reported user perception of a sonified domestic flying robot with three sound conditions at three distances. The natural sounds studied were respectively added to the robot’s inherent noises during flying; namely a birdsong and a rain sound, plus a control condition of no added sound. The distances studied were set according to proxemics; namely near, middle, and far. Our results show that adding birdsong or rain sound affects the participants’ perceptions, and the proxemic distances play a nonnegligible role. For instance, we found that participants liked the bird condition the most when the drone was at far, while they disliked the same sound the most when at near. We also found that participants’ perceptions strongly depended on their associations and interpretations deriving from previous experience. We derived six concrete design recommendations. [less ▲]

Short-Packet Communications in Multi-Hop Networks with WET: Performance Analysis and Deep Learning-Aided Optimization

in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (in press)

Local scaling limits of Lévy driven fractional random fields

in Bernoulli (in press)

Data-driven Mutation Analysis for Cyber-Physical Systems

in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering (in press)

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) typically consist of a wide set of integrated, heterogeneous components; consequently, most of their critical failures relate to the interoperability of such components ... [more ▼]

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) typically consist of a wide set of integrated, heterogeneous components; consequently, most of their critical failures relate to the interoperability of such components. Unfortunately, most CPS test automation techniques are preliminary and industry still heavily relies on manual testing. With potentially incomplete, manually-generated test suites, it is of paramount importance to assess their quality. Though mutation analysis has demonstrated to be an effective means to assess test suite quality in some specific contexts, we lack approaches for CPSs. Indeed, existing approaches do not target interoperability problems and cannot be executed in the presence of black-box or simulated components, a typical situation with CPSs. In this paper, we introduce data-driven mutation analysis, an approach that consists in assessing test suite quality by verifying if it detects interoperability faults simulated by mutating the data exchanged by software components. To this end, we describe a data-driven mutation analysis technique (DaMAT) that automatically alters the data exchanged through data buffers. Our technique is driven by fault models in tabular form where engineers specify how to mutate data items by selecting and configuring a set of mutation operators. We have evaluated DaMAT with CPSs in the space domain; specifically, the test suites for the software systems of a microsatellite and nanosatellites launched on orbit last year. Our results show that the approach effectively detects test suite shortcomings, is not affected by equivalent and redundant mutants, and entails acceptable costs. [less ▲]

Congruence Theorems in the past, present, and future

in For the Learning of Mathematics (in press)

Calabi-Yau structures for multiplicative preprojective algebras

in Journal of Noncommutative Geometry (in press)

Global Mega-Science: Universities Scientize the World

Book published by Stanford University Press (in press)

Global Mega-Science explains the unprecedented worldwide expansion of higher education and of research collaborations that have transformed the production of science. Growing global science capacity ... [more ▼]

Global Mega-Science explains the unprecedented worldwide expansion of higher education and of research collaborations that have transformed the production of science. Growing global science capacity relies on the rise of the research university and unprecedented investments in research, which reflects the influential global ”university-science model”. Most nations have established research universities to educate academics and professionals—all contribute to scientific discovery. Science increasingly relies on global collaborative efforts, esp. the STEM+ disciplines and “mega-science” projects, such as the Covid-19 vaccines, but all fields rely more than ever on collaboration in diverse networks. Unique in its historical scope (1900-2020) and in theorizing the rise of “mega-science” via the worldwide diffusion of the “university-science model”, the book covers numerous cases of leading science countries, not only the US but also Germany, China and other Asian countries, and small states with the newest research universities (Luxembourg, Qatar)—embedded in worldwide trends and patterns. 2023 marks 60 years since the publication of the founder of bibliometrics, Derek de Solla Price, published his seminal contribution "Little Science, Big Science and Beyond" (1963). We explicitly disprove his hypothesis that science growth would slow down; instead, we find pure exponential growth in publications and collaborations. [less ▲]

A test of the Modigliani-Miller theorem, dividend policy and algorithmic arbitrage in experimental asset markets

in Journal of Banking and Finance (in press)

Modigliani and Miller showed the market value of the company is independent of its capital structure, and suggested that dividend policy makes no difference to this law of one price. We experimentally ... [more ▼]

Modigliani and Miller showed the market value of the company is independent of its capital structure, and suggested that dividend policy makes no difference to this law of one price. We experimentally test the Modigliani-Miller theorem in a complete market with two simultaneously traded assets, employing two experimental treatment variations. The first variation involves the dividend stream. According to this variation the dividend payment order is either identical or independent. The second variation involves the market participation, or not, of an algorithmic arbitrageur. We find that Modigliani-Miller’s law of one price can be supported on average with or without an arbitrageur when dividends are identical. The law of one price breaks down when dividend payment order is independent unless there is arbitrageur participation. [less ▲]

Entangled Media Ecologies: The Nexus of Education and Mass Communication from the Perspective of UNESCO (1945-1989)

in Flury, Carmen; Geiss, Michael (Eds.) How Computers Entered the Classroom (1960-2000): Historical Perspectives (in press)

Numerous studies and handbooks in the history of education are devoted to the history of educational media and the evolution of educational technologies. This chapter puts an explicit focus on the ... [more ▼]

Numerous studies and handbooks in the history of education are devoted to the history of educational media and the evolution of educational technologies. This chapter puts an explicit focus on the implications and conceptual background of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization´s (UNESCO) technology-driven idea of education, which already took shape before the 1957 Sputnik shock. Eager to establish strong bonds between mass communication and education, UNESCO by the late 1940s had already begun to set up a powerful internal apparatus for media policy which soon closely collaborated with its Education Division. From the late 1970s, UNESCO set out to establish a New World Information and Communication Order to further stabilize its global role in education and media policies. This chapter posits that textbooks, radio, TV, film, and computers were serving as interconnected elements of UNESCO’s educational mission. By looking at these specific technological ecologies of education, I connect research into the history of education with research into UNESCO´s media policies. This conceptual history approach demonstrates that education is not only based on ethical norms, teaching, and learning but is also connected to technological properties that offer access to knowledge and its acquisition. In addition, and when studying UNESCO, it becomes evident that the organization´s education-technology-nexus is also very much connected with the media and publishing industries. [less ▲]

Topological Andreev Rectification

in Physical Review. B (in press)

We develop the theory of an Andreev junction, which provides a method to probe the intrinsic topology of the Fermi sea of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). An Andreev junction is a Josephson π ... [more ▼]

We develop the theory of an Andreev junction, which provides a method to probe the intrinsic topology of the Fermi sea of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). An Andreev junction is a Josephson π junction proximitizing a ballistic 2DEG, and exhibits low-energy Andreev bound states that propagate along the junction. It has been shown that measuring the nonlocal Landauer conductance due to these Andreev modes in a narrow linear junction leads to a topological Andreev rectification (TAR) effect characterized by a quantized conductance that is sensitive to the Euler characteristic χF of the 2DEG Fermi sea. Here we expand on that analysis and consider more realistic device geometries that go beyond the narrow linear junction and fully adiabatic limits considered earlier. Wider junctions exhibit additional Andreev modes that contribute to the transport and degrade the quantization of the conductance. Nonetheless, we show that an appropriately defined rectified conductance remains robustly quantized provided large momentum scattering is suppressed. We verify and demonstrate these predictions by performing extensive numerical simulations of realistic device geometries. We introduce a simple model system that demonstrates the robustness of the rectified conductance for wide linear junctions as well as point contacts, even when the nonlocal conductance is not quantized. Motivated by recent experimental advances, we model devices in specific materials, including InAs quantum wells, as well as monolayer and bilayer graphene. These studies indicate that for sufficiently ballistic samples observation of the TAR effect should be within experimental reach. [less ▲]