What I Learnt For The Week 7: Text-To-Sound, Trichotillomania, Technophobia, Onychophagia, Foldable TV

Hello Buddies!! Welcome again to another episode in the series of "What I learnt for the week". And for the continued privileges; my sincere appreciation goes to @mobbs.

Over the period of last week (27th February - 2nd March), I made some amazing discoveries, which I would select five of them, in no particular order, to represent the discoveries I made for each day of the week.

Ok buddies; here are the lessons learnt for the week.

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Monday: Text-to-sound smart glass

As you may have noticed, I normally begin each episode with a lesson from one of my favourite areas; "Robotics and Machines", and this episode would not be an exception.

Have you ever imagined having a device that can convert texts written in a book to sound which can just be listened to instead of read? Now this is sounding like a tale by moonlight right? Well, I'm glad to remind us again that we are living in an era where "impossibilities" do not exist. I know this particular technology may not be really appreciated by people with functional eyes; but for people with visual impairment, this would be truly priceless.

It was in the light of the above that a Japanese research company; Oton Glass inc., moved with the idea to develop a smart glass that would be worn by visually impaired people, which would translate written texts to audio. And that is how "the oton glass" came to be.

[Image Source: Screenshot from this YouTube Video]

Mechanics of the oton glass

The oton glass is incorporated with two depth-resolution cameras which are attached to the frames; together with an earpiece. The first camera is to track the eyeball of the wearer (and even detect blinking and rotation), then the second is the objective camera which picks up texts.

Here's how it works: Once the glass is worn, it would be triggered by blinking repeatedly, then the objective camera would be able to pick up written texts positioned in the line-of-sight of the camera.

The glass is linked wirelessly to a portable computer (Raspberry Pi2), which receives the captured texts, processes it, and converts it to audio file. The audio file is then relayed back to the glass, and the wearer can listen to it via the attached earpiece. The most fascinating aspect of this is that; this process occurs in real-time, no time lag.

I'm sure you want to see a video of the workings of the smart glass, I've got a video for you from the YouTube account of “The Japan Times”, enjoy

Now, rays of light have finally shimmered on the path of people with visual impairment, as they can "hear" their books.

Have I piqued your interest? You can check for more info here.

Tuesday: Trichotillomania (Hair-pulling disorder)

Have you ever had a strong and irrational feeling to pull off your hair? If you have not, there are some people that have, and this is actually a medical condition known as Trichotillomania.

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons Author: Nemokat05]

This condition has been viewed by many as a psychological problem. And weird enough is the fact that; the sufferers tend to pull off hairs from their head, even eyebrows, and eyelashes. And on the extreme case, it can cause self-induced baldness. Now this is really bizarre.

Does this have a cause? The actual cause of this condition has remained unknown, but experts believe it could be caused by some anomalies in some developmental functions of the part of the brain that controls emotions and impulses. Experts have also said that this condition can actually be inherited.

Symptoms

Yeah, the major symptom is the pulling of hairs, but there are other complimentary symptoms I would like to list.

• Tension and anxiety caused by the resistance of the urge to pull the hair.

• Weird behavioural patterns, which includes; on the extreme case; eating of hairs.

Treatment

As this has been considered a psychological disorder, one of the potent solutions to this is a psychotherapy which is known as "habit reversal training" (this is the process which a bad habit is gradually being substituted with other things less harmful).

Also, it has been proven that a form of antidepressant; SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) can actually be of help.

wanna know more about Trichotillomania? Click here.

Wednesday: Technophobia (fear of technology)

In this era of technological advancements, there are actually some people who have not only been seen to be in serious opposition to the trend, but also have irrational fear of it. This condition of irrational fear of complex technologies is called "Technophobia".

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons from: Flicker. Author: maido155]

The term "Technophobia" is gotten from "Techne" (the Greek term for "art/craft") and of course "Phobia" which means "fear of". This should not be confused with Cyberphobia; which only focuses on the fear of computers. Technophobia encapsulates various aspects of technologies (including my dear robotics).

This condition has been seen to affect people around the world, but it is majorly seen in people living in a technologically advanced place. With the increase in sophisticated technologies, this particular phobia has been seen to be on the increase.

Causes of the fear of technology

More often than not, this condition is culturally-induced and the greater percentage of this is actually from movies. for example; after watching a movie like "terminator (rise of the machines)" and seeing how machines rose to wage war against humankind, or watching another series; "the judgement
day" that depicted how humankind was annihilated by machines, this fear could be triggered in the heart of the concerned.

Also, fear of mathematical problems can actually trigger this. Some people so much dread mathematics that they could relate their fears to other computational devices.

Observably, technophobia is predominant in the older generations who were not born in this era of technology. They would naturally have reservations for emerging technologies, which could degenerate into technophobia. For example; you wouldn't expect my grandmother to welcome me alongside my robot; assuming I have a robot :D) . I can tell you for free that she doesn't even operate an ATM machine, talk more of getting along with a robot :).

Some other technophobes claim that; just the thought of technology would trigger anxiety in them, which, on the extreme case, could lead to panic attack. They have; no doubt; focused on the perceived dark side of technology, and have grown the mentality that technology would destroy them. This is so sad :(

Does this have a cure, or can it be overcome? Click here to find out.

Thursday: Onychophagia (finger nail-biting)

As simple as nail-biting looks, it is actually a medical condition which is otherwise described as an "oral compulsive habit".

[Image Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: Avexdevil]

This is actually an oral parafunctional habit (which in a layman's term is the use of the mouth for some other purpose, apart from eating food, drinking water, and talking). Though this particular disorder is prevalent in children, but it can also be seen as a psychological disorder in older people, which is actually linked to a disorder in the impulse control.

In extreme cases, the sufferers tend to chaw on the skin surrounding the finger nails, which would lead to bleeding. And also in some very rare cases, it could lead to deformity in the fingers. Note: The sufferers often tend to bite all finger nails equally, without favouring any particular finger.

Causes of onychophagia

Though the cause of this is relatively unknown, researchers have believed that it could be triggered by stress, nervousness, or even the feeling of being bored; not also overruling the fact that this could also linked to emotions. Some also believe it is just a way to relieve stress.

Most times, the sufferers experience a conditional reflex to bite their nails (this occurs when nail-biting is done without premeditation).

Symptoms

There are various symptoms of this, but I'll just run down a few of them:

• Nail bleeding resulting in excessive nail-biting

• Calluses around the nail region

• Pain in the fingers

• Impulsive nail-biting

Does this have a cure? I know you want to know more about Onychophagia, click here.

Friday: Foldable, Portable Television

Have you ever imagined having a television that can be rolled over when not in use, and can be carried about? Well, think no further, this technology has arrived in our midst.

This era has been characterized by insane technological advancements, one of them is in the area of electronics. Very recently, LG was seen to push further in this advancement with the designing of a "roll up" TV. This is just a starting point of the future that would see the designing of other on-the-go foldable devices.

Dynamics of foldable TV

The designing of the TV is such that uses a special and extremely thin OLED (organic light emitting diode) display system, which can create light on their own. Also, the host material for the OLED is the DNTT (Dinaphtho Trieno Thiaphene), which is a very flexible organic material. And of course, you guessed right, the battery is also flexible.

Enough of talking, let's see a little video of how this TV looks like (from the YouTube account of Futurism).

So you see, technology can only get better.

To know more, click here.

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Ok buddies, this is the summary of some of the amazing discoveries I made. And until I come your way again; keep learning.. @samminator says so.

Thanks for reading

References for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3, Ref4, Ref5, Ref6, Ref7, Ref8, Ref9, Ref10

gif by @foundation