Graphical user interfaces are widely regarded as being inappropriate for use on wearable computers. This paper outlines Sulawesi, a user interface framework for wearable computing. Some shortcomings in Sulawesi are analyzed. Two specific areas of improvement, a high-level user interface toolkit and contextual measurement and adaption, are reported upon. Together these contribute towards the development of a proactive personal assistant application, the authors' ultimate aim.

If the left is to tackle emerging race issues effectively, it needs to be bolder in acknowledging and addressing legitimate public concerns, argues Naomi Newman.

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Sharks play critical roles in the marine ecosystem, and they face serious threats due to overfishing. Conservation efforts have focused on the consumption of shark fins, especially the “finning” practice that removes the fins of a shark and discards the carcass at sea. This article reviews the shark fin legislation in the United States, including the “finning ban” which outlaws finning practices and the “fin ban” that prohibits the use of shark fins entirely. Our case study specifically focuses on the animal welfare, cultural, and policy debates surrounding these bans. We discuss how and why shark finning is regarded as a cruel practice and whether shark fin bans discriminate against Chinese Americans. At the policy level, there is an ongoing policy debate whether a ban on shark fins in the United States would lead to increased protection of sharks or it would have little effect on the global trade. Due to the lack of detailed information on shark fisheries, the policy discussion is likely to persist. Although this case study focuses only on regulations on shark fins, we would like to emphasize that shark fin industry is not the only threat to sharks. Conservationists also need to consider other issues such as bycatch, habitat destruction, and a wider array of policy tools to protect sharks.

Tactile cues arising from interactions with objects have a sense of directionality which affects grasp. Low latency responses to varied grip perturbations indicate that grasp safety margins are exaggerated in certain directions and conditions. In a grip with the ulnar-radial axis vertical, evidence suggests that distal and downward directions are more sensitive to task parameters and have larger safety margins. This suggests that, for the purpose of applying forces with the fingers, reference frames with respect to the hand and gravity are both in operation. In this experiment, we examined human sensitivities to the direction of tactile movement in the context of precision grip in orientations either orthogonal to or parallel to gravity. Subjects performed a two-alternative-forced-choice task involving a textured cube which moved orthogonal to their grip axis. Subjects’ arms were placed in a brace that allowed for finger movement but minimized arm movement. Movement of thumb and index joints were monitored via PhaseSpace motion capture. The subject was presented with a textured cube and instructed to lightly grasp the cube, as if it were slipping. In each trial the object was first translated 1 cm in 0° (proximal), 90° (radial), 180° (distal), or 270° (ulnar) and returned to its origin. This primary stimulus was immediately followed by a 10 mm secondary stimulus at a random 5° interval between −30° and 30° of the primary stimulus. Response from the subject after each pair of stimuli indicated whether the test direction felt the same as or different from the primary stimulus. Traditional bias and sensitivity analyses did not provide conclusive results but suggested that performance is best in the ulnar-radial axis regardless of gravity. Modeling of the response curve generated a detection threshold for each primary stimulus. Lower thresholds, indicating improved detection, persisted in the ulnar-radial axis. Anisotropic thresholds of increased detection appear to coincide with digit displacement and appear to be independent of the grasp orientation.