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Touch as a modality in social communication has been getting more attention with recent developments in wearable technology and an increase in awareness of how limited physical contact can lead to touch starvation and feelings of depression. Although several mediated touch methods have been developed for conveying emotional support, the transfer of emotion through mediated touch has not been widely studied. This work addresses this need by exploring emotional communication through a novel wearable haptic system. The system records physical touch patterns through an array of force sensors, processes the recordings using novel gesture-based algorithms to create actuator control signals, and generates mediated social touch through an array of voice coil actuators. We conducted a human subject study ( N = 20) to understand the perception and emotional components of this mediated social touch for common social touch gestures, including poking, patting, massaging, squeezing, and stroking. Our results show that the speed of the virtual gesture significantly alters the participants' ratings of valence, arousal, realism, and comfort of these gestures with increased speed producing negative emotions and decreased realism. The findings from the study will allow us to better recognize generic patterns from human mediated touch perception and determine how mediated social touch can be used to convey emotion. Our system design, signal processing methods, and results can provide guidance in future mediated social touch design. 

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, social distancing has been a necessary and effective means of reducing disease through decreased close human contact. However, there has been a corresponding increase in touch starvation due to limited physical contact. Our research seeks to create a solution for allowing individuals to safely communicate through touch over a distance. Our system consists of wearable sensors to measure the social touch gesture, which is then processed and sent to an array of voice coils in an actuator device. 

A Lewis acid‐catalyzed formal [3+3] cascade annulation strategy for the formation of diverse tricyclic compounds possessing functionalized pyrano[3,2‐c]chromen‐5(2H)‐one fragments has been developed using propargylic alcohols and 4‐hydroxy‐2H‐chromen‐2‐ones as the substrates. The protocol provides a one‐step, environmentally benign method of accessing a broad range of pyrano[3,2‐c]chromen‐5(2H)‐one derivatives in excellent yields under mild conditions and with good functional‐group tolerance. The method is effective on the gram scale, which highlights the inherent practicality of this synthetic transformation.

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A novel copper(II) trifluoromethanesulfonate‐catalyzed intermolecular cascade annulation strategy for the construction of a great variety of pentacyclic compounds possessing valuable carbazole fragments was developed employing propargylic alcohols and (Z)‐2‐styryl‐1H‐indoles as the initial substrates. This protocol, which entails a sequential Meyer‐Schuster rearrangement/isomerization/‐cyclization cascade, enables facile and atom‐economical access to various pentacyclic compounds with broad functional‐group tolerance in good yields under mild conditions. The conversion could be efficiently scaled up to gram quantities, accentuating a potential application of this work.

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A Brønsted acid‐mediated formal [3+3] cascade annulation of propargylic alcohols with 1,3‐diketones proceeds through a sequential Meyer−Schuster rearrangement/1,2‐addition. This protocol, which has a wide scope and is conducted under an ambient atmosphere, enables access to a broad array of valuable chromenone derivatives related to many natural products in satisfactory yields under mild conditions. This method could be scaled up to the gram scale, which highlights the latent applicability of this transformation.

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