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Designing efficient and labor-saving prosthetic hands requires powerful hand gesture recognition algorithms that can achieve high accuracy with limited complexity and latency. In this context, the paper proposes a Compact Transformer-based Hand Gesture Recognition framework referred to as CT-HGR , which employs a vision transformer network to conduct hand gesture recognition using high-density surface EMG (HD-sEMG) signals. Taking advantage of the attention mechanism, which is incorporated into the transformer architectures, our proposed CT-HGR framework overcomes major constraints associated with most of the existing deep learning models such as model complexity; requiring feature engineering; inability to consider both temporal and spatial information of HD-sEMG signals, and requiring a large number of training samples. The attention mechanism in the proposed model identifies similarities among different data segments with a greater capacity for parallel computations and addresses the memory limitation problems while dealing with inputs of large sequence lengths. CT-HGR can be trained from scratch without any need for transfer learning and can simultaneously extract both temporal and spatial features of HD-sEMG data. Additionally, the CT-HGR framework can perform instantaneous recognition using sEMG image spatially composed from HD-sEMG signals. A variant of the CT-HGR is also designed to incorporate microscopic neural drive information in the form of Motor Unit Spike Trains (MUSTs) extracted from HD-sEMG signals using Blind Source Separation (BSS). This variant is combined with its baseline version via a hybrid architecture to evaluate potentials of fusing macroscopic and microscopic neural drive information. The utilized HD-sEMG dataset involves 128 electrodes that collect the signals related to 65 isometric hand gestures of 20 subjects. The proposed CT-HGR framework is applied to 31.25, 62.5, 125, 250 ms window sizes of the above-mentioned dataset utilizing 32, 64, 128 electrode channels. Our results are obtained via 5-fold cross-validation by first applying the proposed framework on the dataset of each subject separately and then, averaging the accuracies among all the subjects. The average accuracy over all the participants using 32 electrodes and a window size of 31.25 ms is 86.23%, which gradually increases till reaching 91.98% for 128 electrodes and a window size of 250 ms. The CT-HGR achieves accuracy of 89.13% for instantaneous recognition based on a single frame of HD-sEMG image. The proposed model is statistically compared with a 3D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and two different variants of Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) models. The accuracy results for each of the above-mentioned models are paired with their precision, recall, F1 score, required memory, and train/test times. The results corroborate effectiveness of the proposed CT-HGR framework compared to its counterparts.

This paper contributes to the development of a Next Generation First Responder (NGFR) communication platform with the key goal of embedding it into a smart city technology infrastructure. The framework of this approach is a concept known as SmartHub, developed by the US Department of Homeland Security. The proposed embedding methodology complies with the standard categories and indicators of smart city performance. This paper offers two practice-centered extensions of the NGFR hub, which are also the main results: first, a cognitive workload monitoring of first responders as a basis for their performance assessment, monitoring, and improvement; and second, a highly sensitive problem of human society, the emergency assistance tools for individuals with disabilities. Both extensions explore various technological-societal dimensions of smart cities, including interoperability, standardization, and accessibility to assistive technologies for people with disabilities. Regarding cognitive workload monitoring, the core result is a novel AI formalism, an ensemble of machine learning processes aggregated using machine reasoning. This ensemble enables predictive situation assessment and self-aware computing, which is the basis of the digital twin concept. We experimentally demonstrate a specific component of a digital twin of an NGFR, a near-real-time monitoring of the NGFR cognitive workload. Regarding our second result, a problem of emergency assistance for individuals with disabilities that originated as accessibility to assistive technologies to promote disability inclusion, we provide the NGFR specification focusing on interactions based on AI formalism and using a unified hub platform. This paper also discusses a technology roadmap using the notion of the Emergency Management Cycle (EMC), a commonly accepted doctrine for managing disasters through the steps of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. It positions the NGFR hub as a benchmark of the smart city emergency service.

This paper presents a software‐controlled offset‐cancelation technique for analog multipliers that relies on the Bayesian‐optimization algorithm. The capability of the technique was investigated on a test multiplier, which was developed for future use in machine learning (ML) accelerators whose convergence is sensitive to process‐variation‐induced DC offsets. By adjusting the multiplier biasing voltages, the proposed Bayesian‐optimization‐based method was able to reduce the offset within ±1.8 mV from an uncorrected maximum offset of 10.6 mV. In addition to reducing offsets, the measurements of the 65‐nm CMOS multiplier also showed an average linearity‐error improvement of nearly 10%, from 12.2% prior to offset correction to 2.2% after correction. We demonstrate that the proposed offset correction improved the learning outcome accuracy for MNIST dataset digit classification from approximately 10% to 90%.

This paper focuses on gait abnormality type identification—specifically, recognizing antalgic gait. Through experimentation, we demonstrate that detecting an individual’s gait type is a viable biometric that can be used along with other common biometrics for applications such as forensics. To classify gait, the gait data is represented by coordinates that reflect the body joint coordinates obtained using a Microsoft Kinect v2 system. Features such as cadence, stride length, and other various joint angles are extracted from the input data. Using approaches such as the dynamic Bayesian network, the obtained features are used to model as well as perform gait type classification. The proposed approach is compared with other classification techniques and experimental results reveal that it is capable of obtaining a 88.68% recognition rate. The results illustrate the potential of using a dynamic Bayesian network for gait abnormality classification.

This paper utilizes a methodological two-step process incorporating statistical and causal probabilistic modeling techniques to investigate factors affecting the accessibility experiences of persons with disabilities in Canada. We deploy a network-based approach using empirical data to perform a holistic assessment of the relations between various demographic features (e.g., age, gender and type of disability) and accessibility barriers. A statistical measurement method is applied that utilizes structural equation modeling supported by exploratory factor analysis. For causal probabilistic modeling, Bayesian networks are employed as a straightforward and compact way to interpret knowledge representation. This causal reasoning approach analyzes the nature and frequency of encountering barriers based on data to understand the risk factors contributing to pressing accessibility issues. Furthermore, to evaluate network performance and overcome any data limitations, synthetic data generation techniques are applied to create and validate artificial data built on real-world knowledge. The proposed framework strives to provide reasoning to understand the prevalence of physical, social, communication or technological barriers encountered by persons with disabilities in their daily lives. This study contributes to the identification of areas for prioritization in facilitating accessibility regulation and practices to realize an inclusive society.

Facial expressions are a valuable source of information that accompanies facial biometrics. Early detection of physiological and psycho-emotional data from facial expressions is linked to the situational awareness module of any advanced biometric system for personal state re/identification. In this article, a new method that utilizes both texture and geometric information of facial fiducial points is presented. We investigate Gauss–Laguerre wavelets, which have rich frequency extraction capabilities, to extract texture information of various facial expressions. Rotation invariance and the multiscale approach of these wavelets make the feature extraction robust. Moreover, geometric positions of fiducial points provide valuable information for upper/lower face action units. The combination of these two types of features is used for facial expression classification. The performance of this system has been validated on three public databases: the JAFFE, the Cohn-Kanade, and the MMI image.

The field of biometrics utilizes computer models of the physical and behavioral characteristics of human beings with a view to reliable personal identification. The human characteristics of interest include visual images, speech, and indeed anything which might help to uniquely identify the individual. The other side of the biometrics coin is biometric synthesis — rendering biometric phenomena from their corresponding computer models. For example, we could generate a synthetic face from its corresponding computer model. Such a model could include muscular dynamics to model the full gamut of human emotions conveyed by facial expressions.

Human monkeypox (mpox) virus is a viral zoonosis that belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family, which presents with similar symptoms as those seen in human smallpox patients. Mpox is an increasing concern globally, with over 80,000 cases in non-endemic countries as of December 2022. In this review, we provide a brief history and ecology of mpox, its basic virology, and the key differences in mpox viral fitness traits before and after 2022. We summarize and critique current knowledge from epidemiological mathematical models, within-host models, and between-host transmission models using the One Health approach, where we distinguish between models that focus on immunity from vaccination, geography, climatic variables, as well as animal models. We report various epidemiological parameters, such as the reproduction number, R 0, in a condensed format to facilitate comparison between studies. We focus on how mathematical modelling studies have led to novel mechanistic insight into mpox transmission and pathogenesis. As mpox is predicted to lead to further infection peaks in many historically non-endemic countries, mathematical modelling studies of mpox can provide rapid actionable insights into viral dynamics to guide public health measures and mitigation strategies.

This study contributes to developing the concept of decision-making support in biometric-based situational awareness systems. Such systems assist users in gathering and analysing biometric data, and support the decision-making on the human behavioural pattern and/or authentication. As an example, the authors consider a facial biometric assistant that functions based on multi-spectral biometrics in visible and infrared bands; it involves facial expression recognition, face recognition in both spectra, as well as estimation of physiological parameters. The authors also investigate usage of facial biometrics for the semantic representation for advanced decision-making.