Abstract

In covering elections, journalists often use conflict frames which depict events and issues as adversarial, often highlighting confronta- tions between opposing parties. Although conflict frames result in more citizen engagement, they may distract from substantive policy discussion. In this work, we analyze the use of conflict frames in online English-language news articles by seven major news outlets in the 2014 and 2019 Indian general elections. We find that the use of conflict frames is not linked to the news outlets’ ideological biases but is associated with TV-based (rather than print-based) media. Further, the majority of news outlets do not exhibit ideolog- ical biases in portraying parties as aggressors or targets in articles with conflict frames. Finally, comparing news articles reporting on political speeches to their original speech transcripts, we find that, on average, news outlets tend to consistently report on attacks on the opposition party in the speeches but under-report on more substantive electoral issues covered in the speeches such as farmers’ issues and infrastructure.

Abstract

Engaging in political discussions is crucial in democratic societies, yet many individuals remain politically disinclined due to various factors such as perceived knowledge gaps, conflict avoidance, or a sense of disconnection from the political system. In this paper, we explore the potential of personal narratives—short, first-person ac- counts emphasizing personal experiences—as a means to empower these individuals to participate in online political discussions. Using a text classifier that identifies personal narratives, we conducted a large-scale computational analysis to evaluate the relationship between the use of personal narratives and participation in po- litical discussions on Reddit. We find that politically disinclined individuals (PDIs) are more likely to use personal narratives than more politically active users. Personal narratives are more likely to attract and retain politically disinclined individuals in political discussions than other comments. Importantly, personal narratives posted by politically disinclined individuals are received more posi- tively than their other comments in political communities. These results emphasize the value of personal narratives in promoting inclusive political discourse.

Abstract

This study investigates the landscape of environmental litigation in India, analyzing how environmental disputes unfold within the judiciary. It aims to identify significant patterns in case subject matter, types of appellants, and regional distribution of such cases. By examining the broader socio-legal context, the research explores how various stakeholders interact with the legal system to address environmental issues. The methodology involves assembling a dataset of legal cases and applying computational techniques to extract metadata and detect trends across multiple dimensions. Statistical analysis was used to assess correlations between case topics and appellant categories, while spatial data provided insights into regional variations in environmental disputes. Additionally, a qualitative review of relevant legislation and policies cited in key rulings helped contextualize the legal reasoning behind environmental judgments. Through a computational lens, this study uncovers the institutional dynamics that shape environmental justice in India, emphasizing the value of data-driven approaches in understanding the interplay between law, governance, and civic engagement in environmental policymaking.

Abstract

We present TabGuard, a privacy-preserving framework for an end-to-end secure Table Structure Recognition. Tab-Guard masks all the contents of the table locally and utilizes the masked table image for structure recognition. Our method is simple yet effective for detecting table cells while preserving the inherent table alignment characteristics to reconstruct tables. Our approach benefits from inductive bias, expressed through an approximated table grid which helps alleviate challenges in the detection of cells that are small or have extreme aspect ratios. Experimental results demonstrate that our solution not only establishes a new state-of-the-art on several benchmark datasets but also effectively addresses long-standing challenges associated with dense tables having complex layouts.

Abstract

The demand for contactless heartbeat monitoring systems is rapidly increasing, particularly in healthcare settings where minimizing physical contact is crucial. Conventional methods often require subjects to remain stationary to ensure accurate measurements, which restricts their use in dynamic or realworld scenarios. In this paper, we present a novel system that utilizes Texas Instruments’ 77 GHz AWR1843BOOST FMCW radar technology to circumvent this constraint. By mitigating the effects of motion artifacts, the system enables accurate heartbeat detection even when the subject is in motion. Implemented on the PYNQ-Z2 system-on-chip (SOC) platform, the system achieves an accuracy of 82.78%, providing a more robust and portable embedded solution for real-time, non-invasive heart monitoring in a dynamic environments.

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an FPGA based system for non-contact monitoring of respiration rates (RR) using a mmWave frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar. The novel FPGA based hardware architecture presented in this paper classifies normal and abnormal RR with a Support Vector Machine (SVM) model using mmWave radar-based sensing. SVM with various kernels are evaluated in order to identify the most effective approach for respiratory rate (RR) classification. SVM with a quadratic polynomial kernel shows a high classification accuracy of 95%. While the accuracy was comparable to other kernels, the quadratic polynomial kernel achieved a substantial reduction in the number of support vectors and other parameters. This optimisation results in lower resource utilisation and power consumption, making it highly efficient for FPGA implementa- tion.

Abstract

This letter presents the development of a real-time object detection system using frequency modulated continuous wave millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar signals and the python productivity for zynq ultrascale + mpsocs (PYNQ-ZU) field-programmable gate array (FPGA) board, which is widely used in advanced driving assistance system and robotic applications. A hardware FPGA platform serves as a valid embedded architecture for the purpose of validating object detection and recognition applications. We used our experiment’s point cloud images to apply different machine learning models to detect these objects. Using a top-view (TV) filter to convert 3-D point cloud images into 2-D representations made object detection more accurate. Following the use of filtration techniques, we extracted features from the filtered 2-D image using the visual geometry group (VGG) 16 model. We then assessed four machine learning models for object detection and found that the support vector machine (SVM) model and logistic regression (LR) had better results, obtaining an accuracy of 97%. Our proposed work uses mmWave radar, TV filter, VGG 16 Model, and LR to highly increase object detection accuracy over existing methods.

Abstract

Wearable heating pads are widely used as therapeutic warmers for tending to multiple health conditions. Precise temperature control is the key to ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the device due to its near-skin application. The paper presents a comparative analysis of temperature control using Proportional-Integral (PI) and Proportional-Integral-Derivative(PID) controllers based on time domain response parameters. The system utilizes an Arduino microcontroller to perform the error calculation between the set point and real-time temperature and accordingly generate PWM pulses to control the actuator driving the heating pad. The device features three different modes of operation based on the analog output voltage from an external driving circuit. Alongside, characterization data, system design and implementation of controllers, a comparative time domain response parameter analysis based on experimental data is also presented.

Abstract

The paper describes a platform for quick characterization of photodiodes exploring low reverse bias performance for various sensing applications. We demonstrated the method on a widely used photodiode, BPW34. An Arduino-based automated system is utilized to sweep biasing voltages and record photocurrent responses using a sense resistor. The BPW34 photodiode shows a higher response for red LASER light, with a photocurrent of around 260 μA. Various light sources are also tested and the results are reported. These results are analyzed and interpreted with context to the existing literature.

Abstract

In this paper, we present an approach for integrated task and motion planning based on an AND/OR graph network, which is used to represent task-level states and actions, and we leverage it to implement different classes of task and motion planning problems (TAMP). Several problems that fall under task and motion planning do not have a predetermined number of sub-tasks to achieve a goal. For example, while retrieving a target object from a cluttered workspace, in principle the number of object re-arrangements required to finally grasp it cannot be known ahead of time. To address this challenge, and in contrast to traditional planners, also those based on AND/OR graphs, we grow the AND/OR graph at run-time by progressively adding sub-graphs until grasping the target object becomes feasible, which yields a network of AND/OR graphs. The approach is extended to enable multi-robot task and motion planning, and (i) it allows us to perform task allocation while coordinating the activity of a given number of robots, and (ii) can handle multi-robot tasks involving an a priori unknown number of sub-tasks. The approach is evaluated and validated both in simulation and with a real dual-arm robot manipulator, that is, Baxter from Rethink Robotics. In particular, for the single-robot task and motion planning, we validated our approach in three different TAMP domains. Furthermore, we also use three different robots for simulation, namely, Baxter, Franka Emika Panda manipulators, and a PR2 robot. Experiments show that our approach can be readily scaled to scenarios with many objects and robots, and is capable of handling different classes of TAMP problems.