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1. Physical Visitor Access Control and Authentication Using Blockchain, Smart Contracts and Internet of Things

   https://doi.org/10.3390/cryptography6040065  

   Stock, Frederick; Kurt Peker, Yesem; Perez, Alfredo J.; Hearst, Jarel (December 2022, Cryptography)

   In this work we explore the use of blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) devices to provide visitor authentication and access control in a physical environment. We propose the use of a “bracelet” based on a low-cost NodeMCU IoT platform that broadcasts visitor location information and cannot be removed without alerting a management system. We present the design, implementation, and testing of our system. Our results show the feasibility of implementing a physical access control system based on blockchain technology, and performance improvements over a similar system proposed in the literature. 

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2. Private Blockchain for Visitor Authentication and Access Control

   Chan, Ka Ying; Lovett, Mason; Kurt-Peker, Yesem (December 2021, 2021 National Symposium for NSF REU Research in Data Science, Systems, and Security (REU 2021 Symposium) - Together with 2021 IEEE BigData Conference)

   This study applies the high data integrity that comes with blockchain technology towards authentication and access control for visitors of a physical facility. The use of smart contracts on an Ethereum based implementation of the blockchain allows for smart contract code to handle both access control and visitor authentication at scale. Javascript code executed off the blockchain enables the system to interact with and parse through the blockchain data. The proposed system is scalable, applies to multiple use cases, and mitigates issues a centralized approach faces. 

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3. Examining the COVID-19 case growth rate due to visitor vs. local mobility in the United States using machine learning

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16561-0  

   Katragadda, Satya; Bhupatiraju, Ravi Teja; Raghavan, Vijay; Ashkar, Ziad; Gottumukkala, Raju (July 2022, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract Travel patterns and mobility affect the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19. However, we do not know to what extent local vs. visitor mobility affects the growth in the number of cases. This study evaluates the impact of state-level local vs. visitor mobility in understanding the growth with respect to the number of cases for COVID spread in the United States between March 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Two metrics, namely local and visitor transmission risk, were extracted from mobility data to capture the transmission potential of COVID-19 through mobility. A combination of the three factors: the current number of cases, local transmission risk, and the visitor transmission risk, are used to model the future number of cases using various machine learning models. The factors that contribute to better forecast performance are the ones that impact the number of cases. The statistical significance of the forecasts is also evaluated using the Diebold–Mariano test. Finally, the performance of models is compared for three waves across all 50 states. The results show that visitor mobility significantly impacts the case growth by improving the prediction accuracy by 33.78%. We also observe that the impact of visitor mobility is more pronounced during the first peak, i.e., March–June 2020. 

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4. Sound travels: Exploring the effects and meanings of sound across variable free-choice learning environments

   https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0035045  

   Hristov, Nickolay; Hayde, Donnelley; Meyer, Justin Reeves; Kawczinski, Kim; Weiss, Laura; Levin-Güracar, Elise; Heimlich, Joe; Shanahan, Daniel; Merson, Martha (October 2024, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America)

   Sound Travels is a US-based, federally-funded collaboration between sound researchers, learning researchers, and educational practitioners working to understand the role of soundscapes on free-choice, out-of-school learning experiences. In this paper, members of our research team describe how we have combined approaches from acoustic ecology and visitor studies to navigate the affordances and challenges of studying sound across several complex leisure settings (a science museum, a botanic garden, a park, and a zoo). As an exploratory and transdisciplinary project, our initial work has involved significant deliberation about how to meaningfully and effectively gather data in highly variable acoustic environments, as well as what types and characteristics of sound data are most salient to understanding visitors’ experiences of sound. In addition to grappling with these technical questions, we have also worked to ensure that our research does not detract from positive visitor experiences in these spaces and that it directly engages perspectives from practitioners and visitors about cognition, affect, and culture. We will describe the logic of the methods we have used to date (stationary ambient recordings, a post-experience visitor questionnaire, and a “sound search” in which visitors record video clips), as well as our plans for further study. 

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5. Plant richness and blooming cover affect abundance of flower visitors and network structure in Colombian orchards

   https://doi.org/10.1111/afe.12460  

   Vaca‐Uribe, Jessica_L; Figueroa, Laura_L; Santamaría, Maikol; Poveda, Katja (July 2021, Agricultural and Forest Entomology)

   Abstract Pollination is essential to fruit production. How plant diversity and blooming events in and around orchards affect the pollinator community and the plant‐flower‐visitor network in neotropical systems remains largely unknown.We surveyed the flower visitors in deciduous fruit trees and alternative blooming resources (other crops, hedgerows and weeds) in Colombia across 6 orchards over 12 months. We evaluated whether plant species richness and blooming cover influenced abundance and richness of flower visitors, as well as network‐level connectance and specialization. We also assessed the role of alternative blooming resources for the flower visitors of deciduous fruit trees.Overall, we found 66 taxa of flower visitors, 35 of which visited deciduous fruit trees. There was a greater abundance of flower visitors when there was higher richness of weedy species and greater blooming cover of deciduous fruit trees. Networks were less connected when there was lower crop and weedy species richness. Finally, flower visitor abundance and specialization increased when there were multiple hedgerow species in bloom with a high blooming cover.We highlight the importance of maintaining alternative blooming resources in and around the orchards to support deciduous fruit tree pollinators and diversity in the plant flower‐visitor network. 

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