Unveiled at CES 2019 – Owlet® Fetal heart monitor

Copyright  © Françoise Herrmann

In 2019, Owlet® Baby Care Inc., also launched the Owlet® Band, a prenatal garment enabling to monitor the unborn child’s heart rate, using miniaturized electrocardiogram (ECG) technology, as well as mother health data, using additional miniaturized sensors. 

The Owlet® Band invention aims to supplement regular prenatal care with a mother and fetal health monitoring system, ultimately designed to gather vital sign data that may prevent stillbirths. For example, monitoring of the mother’s blood flow or pressure may serve to detect changes, and signs of preeclampsia, a potentially dangerous condition for both mother and fetus. 

The Owlet® Band invention, recited in the US patent application US20170281087A1 titled Fetal health monitoring, comprises a band garment designed to cover the belly of the pregnant mother. The band garment comprises 4 miniaturized sensor modules in direct contact with the skin on the mother’s belly.  Specifically, one or several sensor modules may be configured to comprise: accelerometer sensors able to detect mother and fetus movement, a pulse oximeter able to measure the blood oxygen level of the mother and/or blood flow or pressure, one or two ECG electrodes to measure the fetus’ heartbeat, alternatively a Doppler sensor able to measure the fetus’s heartbeat, or one or two ultrasound sensors to measure the duration of contractions and the fetus heartbeat, a microphone, a thermometer, or any other number of possible sensors. The sensor modules are removable to enable laundering of the garment.

The invention also comprises a transmitter module suited to receive the collected sensor data and to send it via WIFI or Bluetooth® to a computer or mobile computing device, such as a telephone. The transmitter module is even suited to transmit data directly to hospital-based health data monitoring systems, thus saving time, otherwise used to reconnect the mother to the hospital equipment. The transmitter also includes means of encrypting all the data transmitted.

The processing algorithms of the sensor modules are designed to separate the data captured. For example, the algorithms are able to separate the captured mother’s heartbeat data from the fetus heartbeat data. The processors are also designed to enable storage of data for subsequent analysis of patterns. For example, fetus movement data is processed across time to determine fetus position. 

The abstract of this invention is included below, together with the patent Figure 1. The drawing shows a front perspective view of an embodiment of the invention 100, on an exemplary belly 110 of a pregnant mother 130. The invention comprises the belly-covering garment 140, able to hold the removable sensor modules 140 (a-d), in direct contact with the skin on the mother’s belly. 

A system for monitoring fetal health data and mother health data comprises a belly - covering garment that is configured to at least partially cover a belly and to hold one or more sensor modules directly adjacent to the belly. One or more sensor modules disposed within the belly - covering garment. The one or more sensor modules comprise a pulse – oximeter sensor that gathers pulse oximetry data from the mother through contact with the belly. The one or more sensor modules also comprise an accelerometer sensor that gathers movement data from the mother. Additionally, the one or more sensor modules comprise a fetal sensor that gathers health data from a fetus within the belly. [Abstract US20170281087A1] 

References 
CES 2019
https://www.ces.tech/About-CES.aspx
Owlet®
https://owletcare.com/

At CES 2019! Owlet® infant smart sock

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Winner of three CES 2019 Innovation awards and Best start-up award at CES 2016, Owlet® Baby Care, Inc., is a pioneering company in the domain of wearable infant care monitoring systems. In particular, Owlet® has targeted Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) which claims the lives of approximately 2000 babies between the ages of 1 and 12 months, in the US, each year.

The invention comprises in a wireless smart sock, which includes a miniaturized pulse oximeter and processor. A pulse oximeter is a non-invasive method of measuring blood oxygen saturation (SpO­₂). When an abnormal trend in blood oxygen levels is recorded and processed, a transmitter sounds an alert and sends the information to a remote server via Internet gateway, enabling the alert to also be retrieved and read on a mobile device. This invention resolves issues with the prior art of infant monitoring devices since previous infant monitors are intercom-type monitors. Intercom-type monitors include video and sound recording, designed to inform parents if there is no motion sensed or sound heard in the infant’s room.  The pulse oximeter smart sock thus offers much more precise data, and an opportunity for much faster intervention, in case of an alert.

In 2018, the Owlet® sock had measured more than 1 trillion baby heartbeats! Although the device is not cleared as a medical device by the FDA, it has been tested for accuracy of readings in a clinical trial (Owlet®, Clinicaltrials.gov). The measurements of blood oxygen levels using SpO­₂ (Pulse oximeter saturation), compared to SaO­₂ (Arterial oxygen saturation, using a continuous arterial line), are in fact well correlated, and generally considered sufficiently accurate, especially for pediatric patients, considering the benefits of costs, convenience, and non-invasiveness. Pulse oximeters are also standard of care under many medical circumstances, such as anesthesia, since the 1980s. Finally, the prime motivation for the design of the Owlet® invention is highly personal. One of the founder wives was afflicted with congenital heart disease and was rescued from SIDS on intuition, resulting in emergency open heart surgery. Since such conditions are hereditary, the founder felt compelled to find a way of monitoring his own son’s health, when the couple started their own family.  

This invention is recited in the WIPO patent application WO2014035836A1 titled Wireless infant health monitor and the design of the sock is patented in the US design patent USD781568S1, titled Infant sock. The abstract of the WIPO patent is included below together with the patent Figure 1, illustrating all the components of an embodiment of the invention: the sock comprising the sensing module (100), the receiving station (110) in communication with an Internet gateway (120) (e.g.; a cable modem, router, DSL modem or Ethernet port), and the mobile device (130), which can show in real time heart rate and oxygen level data captured by the sensing device (100). The sock (200) also depicted in the drawing is designed to receive the sensor, which can be used with increasingly larger socks, and removed for laundering the sock. An image of the marketed smart sock in three different colors is also included above. 

 A system for wirelessly monitoring the health of an infant comprising a sensing module removably disposed within a wearable article. At least a portion of the sensing module can be in contact with an infant's foot. The sensing module can include a processing unit configured to receive and process health readings received by the sensing module. A wireless transmitter can also be in communication with the processing unit. The wireless transmitter can be configured to transmit the processed health readings to a receiving station. The receiving station can indicate an alarm if the processed health readings indicate a health trend that falls outside of a particular threshold. [Abstract WO2014035836A1]

References

CES 2019
https://www.ces.tech/  
Owlet®

https://owletcare.com

ClinicalTRials.gov - SpO­₂ Accuracy Comparison of Smart Sock V. 2 SpO­₂ to Arterial Blood CO-Oximetry

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03630016?term=Owlet&rank=1

FDA – Baby products with SIDS prevention claims

https://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/productsandmedicalprocedures/sidspreventionclaims/default.htm

HSU, A (2011) Rethinking SIDS: Many deaths no longer a mystery

https://www.npr.org/2011/07/15/137859024/rethinking-sids-many-deaths-no-longer-a-mystery

NIHCD - Safe sleep for your baby: Reduce the causes of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related causes of infant death

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/Documents/NICHD_Safe_to_Sleep_brochure.pdf

Raven, R. (2018) SIDS - Sudden Infant and Early Childhood Death Syndrome: Past, Present and Future

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513390/

 Singh, Anupam Kumar et al. Comparative Evaluation of Accuracy of Pulse Oximeters and Factors Affecting Their Performance in a Tertiary Intensive Care Unit  DOI:  10.7860/JCDR/2017/24640.9961

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5535407/

Interlude - The News - No wall

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Piers Faccini - Bring down the wall

References

Werner, E., DeBonis, M and J. Wagner (Jan 25, 2019) Trump signs bill to open the government, ending the longest shutdown in history -  The Washington Post

Piers Faccini

https://www.piersfaccini.com/news/page/3/?cbg_tz=420

CES 2019 Innovation Award – L’Oréal My Skin Track pH sensor

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The L’Oréal - La Roche-Posay My Skin Track pH sensor patch (with companion app) won a CES Innovation Awarded in the Wearable Technologies category. 

The sensor is designed to measure the skin’s pH level, using capacitance detection technology (e.g.; Touchchip®), in particular, though unlimited, to better customizing or evaluating skin product regimens. The sensor measures skin pH on a scale of 1 to 14. A high score, above 7 indicates an alkaline pH and a low score, below 7, indicates an acidic pH. Normal skin is slightly acidic with a pH ranging between 4.5 and 5.5. Skin with a pH below the normal acidic range is dry, and sometimes associated with conditions such as eczema and contact dermatitis. Skin with a pH higher than the normal acidic range is more oily, and is sometimes associated with conditions such as acne.

The L’Oréal - La Roche-Posay My Skin Track pH sensor invention is recited in the US patent application US20040171962A1, titled Apparatus and method to evaluate hydration of the skin or the mucous membranes. 

The invention invokes a sensor that measures pH in about 15 minutes, using an array of capacitative detection cells and a processor to convert the information obtained into an image, and/or into messages as congenial as “skin sufficiently (or insufficiently) hydrated” that are intelligible to an individual. The My Skin Track flexible pH sensor is a vast improvement on traditional methods of measuring skin pH, which are usually obtained via a skin care professional. It is also an improvement on rigid sensors of the prior art. 

The sensor has two dots which change color during the test, indicating when it is complete. The sensor delivers an image of the skin region analyzed, where the grayscale level of each pixel corresponds to the capacitance measurement taken by the capacitance detection cell. A grayscale of 0 on the image corresponds to black. A maximum grayscale of 225 corresponds to white. Everything in between corresponds to the varying shades of gray. 

In turn, the variation in grayscale of the image pixels is processed to indicate the level of hydration. The level of hydration possibly includes such information as the degree of hydration uniformity, which might conceivably vary according to the presence of microdroplets of sweat on the surface of the skin, and/or age spots. In this case, the degree of non-uniformity is processed as a standard deviation of non-intersecting mean gray scales. 

The L’Oréal - La Roche-Posay My Skin Track pH sensor will be rolled out this year, first to L’Oréal’s La Roche-Posay partner dermatologists, and then to the public. The My Skin Track pH sensor follows in the footsteps of the L’Oréal - La Roche-Posay My Skin Track UV sensor, unveiled at CES 2018, and available since Nov. 2018 at select Apple Store locations, and at Apple.com.

The abstract of the US patent reciting the pH sensor apparatus and method is included below together with Figure 1 extracted from the patent. Figure 1 shows a diagram of all the components of the pH sensing system, including the sensor (10) for measuring pH on a region of the skin, processing means on a microcomputer (20) or other interface device (30), enabling to transfer sensor data to the microcomputer (20). The microcomputer is connected via network (41), such as the Internet, to a remote server (40). Sensor data, including an image of the region analyzed, is displayed on the microcomputer screen (60) or other interface processing means, such as a mobile phone or tablet.

An image of the pH skin sensor patch, as marketed and worn is also included above.  

An apparatus enabling a person to evaluate the hydration of a region of the skin or the mucous membranes. The apparatus includes a sensor including an array of non-optical detection cells and processor apparatus arranged to deliver at least one piece of information relating to the hydration of the region on the basis of signals coming from the sensor. A method for evaluation of hydration is also provided. The apparatus and method can also be used for evaluating, e.g., aging or the effectiveness of a treatment regimen. 

[Abstract US20040171962A1]


References

L'Oréal

www.lorealparisusa.com 

L’Oréal Media Room – Sensor unveiled
https://mediaroom.loreal.com/en/loreal-unveils-prototype-of-first-ever-wearable-microfluidic-sensor-to-measure-skin-ph-levels/

My Skin Track UV @ Apple.com https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HML02ZM/A/la-roche-posay-my-skin-track-uv-sensor

At CES 2019 – Helite airbag vests

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Considering that motorcycle riders are 20 times more likely to die than automobile drivers, in case of a crash, an airbag garment offers much-needed protection from serious harm on impact.

Helite, a French company that manufactures airbag garments for motorcycle riders, and other recreational sports and professional situations where there is a danger of falling(1), showcased the latest Helite Turtle Airbag vest for cyclists, at CES 2019. 

The vest may be worn on top on any other sort of sports or professional outerwear. It is velcro-adjustable for fit. The new Turtle aspect of the vest comes from an extra rigid back piece, covering the main protection air channels, designed to diffuse the forces of impact, like a turtle shell in the back of the vest. This extra shell makes it possible to deploy the vest 6 times before having to send it back to Helite for inspection, unless it is punctured, upon impact in an accident.

 Helite Airbag garments are equipped with the fastest mechanical CO2 deployment device on the market. A Helite Airbag garment deploys in one-tenth of a second.  A deployed garment stiffens the torso channels with air, which protect vital organs (lungs, liver, stomach and pancreas) within the abdomen and chest cavity. The air channels also provide firm and rigid support for head and neck. The shape of the garments dips down in the back to protect 100% of the spine. Channels also inflate on the sides, protecting hips and kidneys.

Replaceable CO₂ cartridges fit inside a zippered pocket on the outside front of the garment. Sixty gram and one hundred gram CO₂ cartridges are available, depending on garment sizes, which range from small to extra large. The garments are tethered to bike handlebars with a clip-on mechanism. It takes a very strong jerk to release the air into the air channels if you just want to test the mechanism.

Various aspects and iterations of the Helite airbag garment invention are patented such as: 

• the inflating device in WO2011148351A1, titled Device for inflating airbag, also recited in the same family Italian patent  IT1400490B1 and European patent EP2576295A
• whole body protection in US20050279559A1, titled Airbag type safety device
• protection from whiplash in WO2011148350A1, titled Protective garment with an airbag, and WO2013107951A1, titled Protecting device for the head and the neck of an individual
• improved manufacturing process for airbag garments in WO2014125368A2, titled Personal protective equipment for protecting a user, also recited in the same family patents GB2510859A and EP2956026 with the same title
• garment versatility without sacrificing safety  in WO2011148353A1, titled Protective garment with an airbag, also granted in the same family Italian patent IT1400486B1 and the European patent EP2575517A with the same title 
• garment comfort for daily use in WO2011148354A1, titled  Protection garment with an airbag, also granted in the same family Italian patent IT1400264B1 and the European patent  EP2572218A1 with the same title. 
• a more versatile deployment device in FR3051631(A1), titled Système déployable et equipment comprenant un tel système déployable,  also granted as European patent EP3248491(A1), titled in English Deployable system and device including such a deployable system. 

Below an image of the Helite Turtle vest, together with a technical drawing of the Turtle vest deployed, showing the blue inflated air channels and the Turtle shell back piece in yellow. 

1

Incidentally, the Helite airbag vest invention, showcased at CES 2019, is unrelated to France's grassroots protest movement called the "Gilets Jaunes" (Yellow Vests, in English) which has grabbed headlines, in France and elsewhere, since the end 2018 (The Guardian, Dec. 2018, Nov. 2018). 

_______________

(1) The garments offer protection from falls in a variety of situations beyond bike and motorbike riding, for example, for laborers working on a scaffold, or for people on horseback.

References

CES 2019

https://www.ces.tech/

Helite

https://helitemoto.com/

The Guardian (Dec 3, 2018) Who are the Gilets Jaunes and what do they want? 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/03/who-are-the-gilets-jaunes-and-what-do-they-want  

The Guardian (Nov. 16, 2018)  Gilets Jaune protesters are threatening to bring France to a standstill. 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/16/gilet-jaunes-yellow-jackets-protesters-france-standstill 

Now, at CES 2019 - Pigzbe™ kidtech

Copyright @ Françoise Herrmann

Forget piggy banks, this is the age of electronic piggy-wallets™,  and of Wollo™, the family-friendly, digital cryptocurrency. Pink piggy-wallets™ that are part of the Pigzbe™ financial assistant system for kids, unveiled today at CES 2019(1).

The Pigzbe™ app enables parents to transfer funds to their kids' Pigzbe™ accounts with notification alerts. Using the app, parents can send gifts, set allowance amounts with scheduled deposit days, set up reward deposits for certain chores and specific tasks, invite family and friends into the circle of funding, and send funds from anywhere in the world.

Kids, 6 years and up, learn about money through play. They are alerted via a beeping LED indicator ("W" for Wollo™) when funds are deposited to their accounts. The Pigzbe™ app then coaches them via animations about fund management: their earnings, savings and the amounts they spend. The app also supports personal messages from those who fund the account. Kids can easily convert WOLO™  currency into any world currency, watch their savings accumulate and then use their funds for purchasing items (with mom and dad approval).  

The piggy-wallet™ device, with its beeping LED notifications indicator, is designed to please parents, because it does not offer additional screen time. The app is the only screen component, accessible on a separate mobile device when consulted.

This invention is recited in the US patent application US20170055655, titled System and method for managing funds with a toy. The patent discloses a fund management system with a notification system, embodied in a toy. The invention aims to remedy a perceived problematic situation in which children use toy piggy banks, and prefer the toy piggy bank, compared to a real bank, where their accounts are largely hidden and abstract entities, beyond their immediate control. 

 The disclosed components of the fund management system include the physical (piggy-wallet™) toy device equipped with a beeping LED notification system that alerts the user when deposits are made to the account.  The piggy-wallet ™ toy is further equipped with Bluetooth™wireless communication means so that the piggy toy can communicate with a mobile device, where a server-stored application is downloaded, enabling to fund the piggy-wallet™ account.  The piggy-wallet™ account might, in fact, include any sort of linked account (e.g.; bank, Paypal®, Itunes®, Bitcoin, Google Play® or other).

The app enables the performance of various separate fund management functions. On the one hand, the app enables parents to send money, schedule deposits, or to reward various tasks. On the other hand, the app enables children to visualize the activity of their account, with or without their parents, beyond being just alerted of the transactions taking place, using the piggy toy device. The app might also be shared with a circle of friends and family, enabling them to participate in funding a child’s piggy-wallet™ account. 

At the end of the day, the Pigzbe™ system aims to develop financial literacy for children, with the assumption that financially literate children will make financially capable adults.

The abstract of this invention is included below, together with one of the patent drawings showing an embodiment of the Pigzbe™ system, including the financial assistant device appearing in the shape of a piggy (100), the mobile device (200), the server (300) and another potential device, such as a computer (400), for accessing, funding and/or viewing the piggy-wallet™ account. An image of the marketed, less figurative, piggy-wallet™ is included above, together with an image of the Pigzbe™ app running on an Ipad. 

A system for managing a fund account includes providing a device such as a device resembling a traditional piggy bank which receives data signals when transactions are made within the fund account. The device preferably includes a visual indicator such as light-emitting diodes to indicate that such a transaction has been made. The device may also include an audible indicator to indicate that transactions have been made. The device preferably also displays savings goals and the status of the fund account in reaching that goal. A communication device such as a cellular phone may communicate with the device and send it such data signals, as well as communicate with a server to receive data signals when there is activity within the fund account. [Abstract US20170055655]

  

_____________

(1) As a reminder, CES is one of the largest Consumer Electronics Shows in the world, where for the past 50 years such breakthrough technologies as VCRs, HDTVs, BlueRays, Smart connected appliances and VR (virtual reality) applications have been unveiled for the first time, and introduced to the market. This year, in Las Vegas, Nevada, CES 2019 is showcasing 4500 companies, hailing from 150 countries. Approximately 180,000 people are expected to attend the two-day conference (Jan 8-10), which brings together business leaders and forward thinkers worldwide, for participation in more than 250 sessions. The show features 24 product categories, on more than 2.5 million square feet of exhibit space. 

References

CES 2019

https://www.ces.tech/

Pigzbe™

https://pigzbe.com/

Pigzbe™ Whitepaper - April 12,2018

https://icosbull.com/whitepapers/3036/Pigzbe_whitepaper.pdf

Terminology - The ADS 2018 WOTTIES (4)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The “linguists, lexicographers, grammarians, etymologists, researchers, writers, editors, students and independent scholars” of the American Dialect Society (ADS) have voted! As a reminder, the ADS was founded in 1889, for the purposes of studying the English language of North America, its variation and intersections with other languages and dialects.

This year, the ADS-selected Word of the Year (WOTY) 2018 resonates with the organization's longstanding activity, at the frontiers of language contact. The term selected is tender-age camp/shelter/facility, referring to “a government detention center for asylum seekers’ children”, a euphemistic term, arising within the context of the 2018 US border situation with Mexico.

Tender-age camp/shelter/facility is winner-of-them-all, in the category of WOTY 2018, after competing with the following, no less politically-sourced shortlist of terms:

• yeet: indication of surprise or excitement
• (the) wall: proposed barrier along the US/Mexico border to prevent illegal crossings (Lu, 2018 - NYTimes)
• X strong: expression of solidarity after a tragedy in a particular place, as in “Pittsburgh Strong”
• Individual 1: pseudonym for Trump in documents from the Mueller investigation
• white-caller crime: the phenomenon of white people calling police on black people for doing mundane things (Harriot, 2018 - The Root)

The ADS nominates and selects additional WOTTIES in the following selected categories, including EMOJI of the year. The asterisks indicate the winning WOTY, within the category shortlist of competing terms. The WOTTIES vote is organized by the ADS Committee on New Words(1), chaired by Ben Zimmer, columnist at The Wall Street Journal. The vote has taken place each year, since 1990, on the occasion of the Society's Annual Meeting, currently underway this year, in New York City, on Jan 3-6, 2019.  

POLITICAL WORD OF THE YEAR

•  * (the) wall: proposed barrier along the US/Mexico border to prevent illegal crossings (Lu, 2018 - NYTimes)
• nationalist: displaying a staunch belief in one’s own nation (used by Trump and supporters), also shortlisted for a Merriam Webster 2018 WOTY
• blue wave: major Democratic electoral gain (Balz, 2018 - The Washington Post)
• caravan: a procession of Central American asylum-seekers to US/Mexico border (BBC.com, 2018)
• lodestar: guiding principle (used in op/ed by anonymous White House staffer), also shortlisted for a Merriam-Webster 2018 WOTY  

DIGITAL WORD OF THE YEA

•  * techlash: the backlash against tech innovators (Foroohar, 2018 - Financial times)
• demonetize: remove ads from a YouTube channel to deprive the creator of revenue
• blackfishing: pretending to be black on social media by using makeup and hair products (Virk & McGregor, 2018, BBC)
• deepfake: realistic digitally composed video used to misrepresent someone
• finsta: fake Instagram account 

MOST USEFUL

•  * Voldemorting: avoiding mention of unpleasant person or topic by using a replacement term. The term is eponymic, borrowed from Lord Voldermort, the main antagonist character in the Harry Potter books. Lord Voldemort is You-know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. (McCulloch, G. 2018, Wired)
• himpathy: the flow of sympathy away from female victims toward their male victimizers (Germano, 2018 - Chronicle of Higher Education)
• orbiting: ending communication with someone while still monitoring them on social media
• preferred pronoun: a pronoun that a person opts to use for himself/ herself/ themself.etc.
• situationship: undefined or unlabeled personal relationship
• self-care: care for oneself

 MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED

• * single-use: made to be used only once and destroyed, also the Collins Dictionary WOTY 2018.
• climate grief: negative feelings caused by climate-change-related weather events
• cli-fi: science fiction relating to climate change
• hothouse Earth: a scenario of runaway global warming   

MOST CREATIVE

•  * white-caller crime: the phenomenon of white people calling police on black people for doing mundane things (Harriot, 2018 - The Root)
• girther: person skeptical of the president’s reported weight and height
• procrasti-: related to procrastination
• today years old: an indication that someone has just recently learned something
• treasonweasel: an epithet for a traitorous person   

EUPHEMISM OF THE YEAR

•  * racially charged: circumlocution for “racist”
• executive time: presidential downtime
• Individual 1: pseudonym for Trump in documents from the Mueller investigation
• tender-age shelter/ camp/ facility: government detention center for asylum-seekers’ children

HASHTAG OF THE YEAR

•  * #nottheonion: reporting something true that seems like satire from The Onion
•  #neveragain: call for gun-control measures after the Parkland shooting
•  #thankunext: expressing gratitude and readiness to move on (from Ariana Grande)
• #timesup: movement protesting sexual assault 

EMOJI OF THE YEAR

 *thinking face (indicating bemused pondering)

 lobster (adopted by trans community)

 nail polish (indicating air of nonchalance)

 facepalm (indicating exasperation, disbelief)

Note  (1): Zimmer points out that although some of the winning and contending WOTTIES are not new to the English language of North America, it is the new and notable uses or combinations of terms that make them WOTY candidates and winners. The selection captures prominence of these terms in the 2018 "public discourse and preoccupations" (ADS 2018 WOTY Press Release). 

 References

ADS – WOTY 2018 Press Release (Jan 4, 2019)

https://www.americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2018-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf

ADS – All the Words of the Year, 1990 to the present

https://www.americandialect.org/woty/all-of-the-words-of-the-year-1990-to-present
Balz, D. (Sept. 3, 2018) Eight questions for the midterm elections: A blue wave or not?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/8-questions-for-the-midterm-elections-a-blue-wave-or-not/2018/09/03/79d2ca88-ad64-11e8-b1da-ff7faa680710_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.aff3ada08dae
BBC.com (Nov. 26, 2018) Migrant Caravan: What is it and why does it matter?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45951782

Ben Zimmer: Columnist, The Wall Street Journal

https://www.wsj.com/news/author/8050 
Collins Dictionary 2018 WOTY
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty
Foroohar, R. (Dec. 16, 2018)  Year in a word: Techlash
https://www.ft.com/content/76578fba-fca1-11e8-ac00-57a2a826423e
Germano, W. (Sept. 30. 2018) Himpathy is a societal illness, but at least we have a word for it. 
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2018/09/30/himpathy-is-a-societal-illness-but-at-least-we-have-a-word-for-it/ 
Harriot, M. (May 5, 2018) White-caller crimme: The worse wypipo policce calls of all times. 
https://www.theroot.com/white-caller-crime-the-worst-wypipo-police-calls-of-1826023382
Lu, D. (Jan. 5, 2019) The Border Wall: What has Trump built so far?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/01/05/us/border-wall.html 
McCulloch, G, (10-09-2018).  Welcome to Voldermorting, the ultimate SEO DIS, in Wired Magazine. 
https://www.wired.com/story/voldemorting-ultimate-seo-diss-resident-linguist/

Merriam-Websters Words of the year 2018

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year-2018-justice

Virk, K and N. McGregor (Dec. 2018) Blackfishing: The women accused of pretending to be black. 
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-46427180