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• Optimal decentralized operation of a multi-carrier energy system is considered. • A multi-agent system is used for decentralized modeling. • Effective presence of renewable agent in an electrical transaction. • A priced based demand response program is used for both electrical and thermal loads. • Using the proposed MAS simplifies the optimal operation problem of the proposed multi-carrier energy system. • Operational results are compared in centralized and decentralized approaches. Using a multi-agent system (MAS), the present research offers a model for an interactive decentralized operation of a multi-carrier energy system which includes electrical, thermal, and cooling loads. The novelty of the proposed model is that the photovoltaic (PV) agent as a renewable energy producer can directly influence the clearing price of electrical interaction without any supervisory control and only through communicating with other agents. Using battery storage status and upper grid energy price, this agent calculates its own power generation for each hour which results in optimization of social welfare and personal profit. In the current work, using decentralized private ownership in a multi-energy system leads to a plug and play feature which makes system development and scaling easier. Then, to evaluate decentralized approach, the proposed model is simulated with Any Logic programming package and its numerical results are compared to those of the centralized model. The results show that the effective presence of PV agent in electrical interaction decreases the social welfare while increases personal profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current computing platforms, including HPC, Grid and Cloud computing, offer many computational resources. These platforms can provide the scientific world with on-demand and scalable computing power. However, their use requires advanced computer skills. In our work, we summarize the main problems found by research scientists when they attempt to execute complex software on one or several of these platforms. As a solution to these problems, we propose the Science for Everyone (ScifE) framework, and an intuitive and easy-to-use web interface, to perform scientific experiments on HPC or Cloud platforms. The Community Earth System Model (CESM) has been used to test our proof-of-concept framework as it is a complex scientific software used by many climate researchers. Using our framework, a user can execute CESM with custom parameters with only a few clicks on the web interface. As ScifE is generic, other software can be imported relatively easy to our framework. Additional collaborative tools are being developed for successive versions of ScifE, enhancing the practice of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Mortui vivos docent". Learning from donated bodies is widely considered a corner stone in pre-clinical education, advanced clinical training, and scientific progress in medicine. Making such use of dead human bodies must, of course, accord with high ethical standards and legal constraints. Piety and respect towards donors require using their remains (i) for valuable purposes, (ii) with what we call 'practical decency', (iii) in an efficient way, and (iv) with the utmost safety for all parties involved. With regard to these goals, practical aspects of preservation, safekeeping procedures (for up to several years), and complete documentation become of great importance, but have so far only been realized unsatisfactorily. Here, we describe the new Safe-Keeping System - Münster (SKS-Münster) that has been developed and implemented in the Anatomy Department of the University of Münster. Integrated components of the system include a paternoster transport system, a removal station with ventilation and an air barrier, RFID transponder technology, and an easy to use software package allowing the system together to provide all required functions in an unprecedented way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose INDIANA, a system conceived to support a novel paradigm of database exploration. INDIANA assists the users who are interested in gaining insights about a database though an interactive and incremental process, like a conversation that does not happen in natural language. During this process, the system iteratively provides the user with some features of the data that might be "interesting" from the statistical viewpoint, receiving some feedbacks that are later used by the system to refine the features provided to the user in the next step. A key ability of INDIANA is to assist "data enthusiastic" users (i.e., inexperienced or casual users) in the exploration of transactional databases in an interactive way. For this purpose, we develop a number of novel, statistically-grounded algorithms to support the interactive exploration of the database. We report an in-depth experimental evaluation to show that the proposed system guarantees a very good trade-off between accuracy and scalability, and a user study that supports the claim that the system is effective in real-world database-exploration tasks. • A model for database exploration. • A statistical notion of relevance to identify relevant features. • Different strategies for the interaction between the user and the system. • A working prototype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The HIFI data processing pipeline was developed to systematically process diagnostic, calibration and astronomical observations taken with the HIFI science instrument as part of the Herschel mission. The HIFI pipeline processed data from all HIFI observing modes within the Herschel automated processing environment, as well as, within an interactive environment. A common software framework was developed to best support the use cases required by the instrument teams and by the general astronomers. The HIFI pipeline was built on top of that and was designed with a high degree of modularity. This modular design provided the necessary flexibility and extensibility to deal with the complexity of batch-processing eighteen different observing modes, to support the astronomers in the interactive analysis and to cope with adjustments necessary to improve the pipeline and the quality of the end-products. This approach to the software development and data processing effort was arrived at by coalescing the lessons learned from similar research based projects with the understanding that a degree of foresight was required given the overall length of the project. In this article, both the successes and challenges of the HIFI software development process are presented. To support future similar projects and retain experience gained lessons learned are extracted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • An interactive mechanism is proposed for smart distribution networks with microgrids. • The interaction process is formulated as Stackelberg game under a market framework. • The uncertainty of microgrids is handled by two-stage robust method. • A collaborative strategy is established to promote the trading among microgrids. Abstract This paper proposes a two-level interactive mechanism to address the day-ahead scheduling optimization of smart distribution networks with multi-microgrids. Each microgrid realizes the economic dispatch in the lower level interactive model, where the uncertainties caused by renewable energy integration and loads as well as the coordination of controllable distributed generator, energy storage and demand response are handled through a two-stage robust model. In the upper level interactive model, the distribution network operator (DNO) guarantees the operational quality by considering the power flow constraints and decides the transaction price and quantity with each microgrid based on the solutions of the lower level problem, to minimize the operation cost. The interaction process is formulated as a Stackelberg game, in which the trading strategies of coupled microgrids, acted as followers, are influenced by price incentive mechanism of DNO and affect the decision of DNO in turn. A collaborative strategy promoting the internal power trading among microgrids is also presented to deal with the market power of DNO, such that the participating microgrids can benefit from the internal trading and further reduce the cost. Numerical cases on an improved IEEE 33-bus system show the effectiveness of the proposed model and solution strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of observations showed that the book about Tais produced by Secretariat de Estado da Arte e Cultura (SEAC) has not been able to meet the needs of users because the information is less interesting and interactive. This paper’s aim is to introduce the more interesting and interactive way to introduce Tais. Utilization of Augmented Reality (AR) technology in an application built with the Unity3D program is done to provide different way in presenting interesting and interactive information to its users. Based on the results in this paper, the developed application can handle the presentation in more interesting and interactive way. The ideal distance in the tracking process for target objects with size 7 x 6 cm is ranged from 6 cm to 30 cm, with the image ratio that can be detected at the farthest distance is 4% of the camera image. For the detection angle, the target object can be detected properly from approximately ±64 0 . From the data acquired, it can be said that AR can be used to introduce Tais in more interesting and interactive way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Object Constraint Language (OCL) is commonly used for specifying additional constraints on models, in addition, to the ones enforced by the semantics of the models. However, a lot of practitioners and even researchers are reluctant in using OCL to some extent due to the lack of sufficient familiarity with OCL. To facilitate practitioners and researchers in specifying OCL constraints, we designed and developed a web-based tool called interactive OCL (iOCL) for interactively specifying constraints on a given model. The core idea behind iOCL is to present and display only relevant details (e.g., operations) of OCL to users at a given step of constraint specification process, in addition to helping modelers with its syntax. We evaluated iOCL using a real-world case study from Cancer Registry of Norway and the results showed that iOCL can significantly reduce the time required to specify OCL constraints and decrease the possibility of making syntactic errors during the specification process. Thus, we conclude that iOCL can facilitate the process of OCL constraint specification. Interested users can try iOCL at: http://iocl.zen-tools.com/ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a current trend in course development to increase the number of “rich-media” items available to students; these include items like key-concept videos, interactive activities and quizzes, and even captures of the full lectures. It is therefore important to understand which of these resources students use and gain value from so that we can target the best resources for student learning. This paper looks at several courses taught in the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at The University of Manchester to several year groups; including lecture based courses, distance learning courses, and non-lecture based activities; that contain “rich-media” resources. The use of these items by students is examined; including number of uses, time of use, and local retention. The student opinion on the items and how they felt they have affected their learning is also analysed. This allows results to be presented on the most useful types of resource for students providing information for future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to predict, through data mining tools, the incidence of perineal tear. This kind of laceration developed during child delivery might imply surgery and entails a set of several consequences. Clinical Decision Support Systems, with the information collected from patients’ electronic health records combined with the data mining techniques, may decrease the incidence of perineal tears during labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive Pattern Recognition (IPR) is an emergent framework in which the user is involved actively in the recognition process by giving feedback to the system when an error is detected. Although this framework is expected to reduce the number of errors to correct, it may increase the time required to complete the task since the machine needs to recompute its proposal after each interaction. Therefore, a fast computation is required to make the interactive system profitable and user-friendly. This work presents an efficient approach to deal with IPR tasks when data has a sequential nature. Our approach includes some computation at the very beginning of the task but it then achieves a linear complexity after user corrections. We also show how these tasks can be effectively carried out if the solution space is defined with a Regular Language. This fact has indeed proven to be the most relevant factor to improve the efficiency of the approach. Several experiments are carried out in which our proposal is faced against a classical search. Results show a reduction in time in all experiments considered, solving efficiently some complex IPR tasks thanks to our proposals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) methodologies have been widely applied to find a well-distributed trade-off solutions approximating to the Pareto-optimal front in the past decades. However, integrating the user-preference into the optimization to find the region of interest (ROI) [1] or preferred Pareto-optimal solutions could be more efficient and effective for the decision maker (DM) straightforwardly. In this paper, we propose several methods by combining preference-based strategy (like the reference points) with the decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA/D) [2] , and demonstrate how preferred sets or ROIs near the different reference points specified by the DM can be found simultaneously and interactively. The study is based on the experiments conducted on a set of test problems with objectives ranging from two to fifteen objectives. Experiments have proved that the proposed approaches are more efficient and effective especially on many-objective problems to provide a set of solutions to the DM's preference, so that a better and a more reliable decision can be made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we show the potential of machine learning regarding the task of underwater source localization through a fluctuating ocean. Underwater source localization is classically addressed under the angle of inversion techniques. However, because an inversion scheme is necessarily based on the knowledge of the environmental parameters, it may be not well adapted to a random and fluctuating underwater channel. Conversely, machine learning only requires using a training database, the environmental characteristics underlying the regression models. This makes machine learning adapted to fluctuating channels. In this paper, we propose to use non linear regressions for source localization in fluctuating oceans. The kernel regression as well as the local linear regression are compared to typical inversion techniques, namely Matched Field Beamforming and the algorithm MUSIC. Our experiments use both real tank-based and simulated data, introduced in the works of Real et al. Based on Monte Carlo iterations, we show that the machine learning approaches may outperform the inversion techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching students in a pleasant and successful way more and more requires the inclusion of interactive elements in the mix of didactic elements. As guessing games and quizzes always enjoy great popularity in class, we dreamt up the idea of developing a board game, based on typical gamification mechanics. Content-wise the resulting prototype game refers to Knowledge Management (KM) models, but its design is flexible so that it can be easily used for other learning contents in various settings like universities, schools or enterprise trainings. The prototype was tested and evaluated in a KM class at university. The results were promising and motivate to vary and further extent the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that the geomagnetic K indices derived by experienced observers are of great value. The interactive method (IM) based on the traditional hand-scaling methodology is tested in this study. The tests are performed utilising the data from the Hurbanovo and Budkov magnetic observatories. These data include both digital records of the geomagnetic field and hand-scaled K indices that had been derived by experienced observers. The authentic K indices from Hurbanovo cover the year 1997 and the same kind of data from Budkov covers the years 1994–1999. In addition to these data, hand-scaled K indices are used which were derived by the experienced observer from printed digital magnetograms for both of the observatories for the years 2000–2003. The results of this study indicate that for high values of K indices (the values being at least 5) the tested method follows the traditional hand-scaling better than the widely used computer methods FMI and AS. On the other hand, for the K indices less than 5 the tested method turns out to be the worst when compared with the FMI and AS methods. For very low geomagnetic activity ( K -index values equal to 0) the performance of the tested method is comparable to the two computer methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Question answering systems (QASs) generate answers of questions asked in natural languages. Early QASs were developed for restricted domains and have limited capabilities. Current QASs focus on types of questions generally asked by users, characteristics of data sources consulted, and forms of correct answers generated. Research in the area of QASs began in 1960s and since then, a large number of QASs have been developed. To identify the future scope of research in this area, the need of a comprehensive survey on QASs arises naturally. This paper surveys QASs and classifies them based on different criteria. We identify the current status of the research in the each category of QASs, and suggest future scope of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incomplete linguistic preference relations (InLPRs) are generally inevitable in group decision making problems due to several reasons. Two vital issues of InLPRs are the consistency and the estimation of missing entries. The initial InLPR may be not consistent, which means that some of its entries do not reflect the real opinions of the experts accurately. Thus, there are deviations between some initial provided values and real opinions. Therefore, it is valuable to elicit the providers to realize and repair the deviations. In this paper, we discuss the consistency and the completing algorithms of InLPRs by interacting with the experts. Servicing as the minimum condition of consistency, the weak consistency of InLPRs is defined and a weak consistency reaching algorithm is designed to guarantee the logical correctness of InLPRs. Then two distinct completing algorithms are presented to estimate the missing entries. The former not only estimates all possible linguistic terms and represents them by the extended hesitant fuzzy linguistic terms sets but also keeps weak consistency during the computing procedures. The later can automatically revise the existing entries using the new opinions supplemented by the experts during interactions. All the proposed algorithms interact with the experts to elicit and mine their actual opinions more accurately. A real case study is also presented to clarify the advantages of our proposal. Moreover, these algorithms can serve as assistant tools for the experts to present their preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present an association based tracking approach to track multiple insect body parts in a set of low frame-rate videos. The association is formulated as a MAP problem and solved by the Hungarian algorithm. Different from a traditional track-and-then-rectification scheme, this framework refines the tracking hypotheses in an interactive fashion: it integrates a key frame selection approach to minimize the number of frames for user correction while optimizing the final hypotheses. Given user correction, it takes user inputs to rectify the incorrect hypotheses on the other frames. Thus, the framework improves the tracking accuracy by introducing active key frame selection and interactive components, enabling a flexible strategy to achieve a trade-off between human effort and tracking precision. Given the refined tracks at a bounding box (BB) level, the tip of each body part is estimated, and multiple body parts in a BB are further differentiated. The efficiency and the effectiveness of the framework are verified on challenging video datasets for insect behavioral experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grid-based Bayesian tracker employs a novel sample generation and weighting mechanism that achieves significantly improved visual tracking performance (in terms of accuracy, robustness, and computational burden) over existing active contour trackers and Monte Carlo trackers. This paper presents a method to enhance its capability in accommodating the tracking of targets in video with erratic motion, by introducing adaptation in the motion model and iterative position estimation. Tracking performance of the resulting algorithm is compared with the grid-based Bayesian tracker in the context of leukocyte tracking, UAV-based vehicle tracking, and Drosophila larva tracking to demonstrate its effectiveness in dealing with erratic target movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel organic forms of interactive displays are developed recently from flexible materials that can bend, fold or roll between the hands of its user giving him a wholly new sense of digital interactive media. In this paper, we hold a survey for different OUIs (Organic User Interfaces) and categorize them into four main categories: flat surfaces, non-flat surfaces, digital substrates and handheld devices. Each of which has its uses that suites certain contexts and does not fit others. We discuss each category thoroughly with its possible sub-categories, examples and applications. Each category is noticed to have a physical design that has a great deal of resemblance to the physical form or design of a pharaonic monumental style or type of artifacts from the history of ancient Egypt. The paper highlights the observed resemblance between organic digital displays and ancient monumental displays with respect to the similarities and differences in the sense that they are both used as information displays for targeted users in certain contexts. This unintended physical resemblance points out to where we might inspire novel designs for digital content on interactive displays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveying diaries to collect evidence about travel behavior is known to be susceptible to erroneous reporting. Many respondents do not exactly remember details about executed trips and activities. This paper describes a diary collection project aimed at tracking travel behavior in an electric vehicle pilot project. GPS traces corresponding to the collected diaries have been registered. Dedicated interactive software was used to align reported activity and trip timing with the GPS recordings. The difference between each original diary and the corresponding corrected version, has been quantified. The number of modifications as well as the distribution of their magnitudes have been analyzed. Time needed for correction has been recorded. Those results can serve to plan future data collection efforts and lead to specific recommendations to avoid error and data cleaning time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive classification aims at introducing user preferences in the learning process to produce individualized outcomes more adapted to each user’s behavior than the fully automatic approaches. The current interactive classification systems generally adopt a single-label classification paradigm that constrains items to span one label at a time and consequently limit the user’s expressiveness while he/she interacts with data that are inherently multi-label. Moreover, the experimental evaluations are mainly subjective and closely depend on the targeted use cases and the interface characteristics. This paper presents the first extensive study of the impact of the interactivity constraints on the performances of a large set of twelve well-established multi-label learning methods. We restrict ourselves to the evaluation of the classifier predictive and time-computation performances while the number of training examples regularly increases and we focus on the beginning of the classification task where few examples are available. The classifier performances are evaluated with an experimental protocol independent of any implementation environment on a set of twelve multi-label benchmarks of various sizes from different domains. Our comparison shows that four classifiers can be distinguished for the prediction quality: RF-PCT (Random Forest of Predictive Clustering Trees, (Kocev, 2011)), EBR (Ensemble of Binary Relevance, (Read et al., 2011)), CLR (Calibrated Label Ranking, (Fürnkranz et al., 2008)) and ML k NN (Multi-label k NN, (Zhang and Zhou, 2007)) with an advantage for the first two ensemble classifiers. Moreover, only RF-PCT competes with the fastest classifiers and is therefore considered as the most promising classifier for an interactive multi-label learning system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legacy applications that are already designed and maintained could be reused by adding new features like security, temporal constraints, etc. Aspect oriented approaches are an emerging technique that allow separation between functional and non-functional mechanisms. Separation of concerns, in aspect oriented design, en † hances productivity, reduces development costs and improves time to market delivery. In this paper, we introduce AOMRTSYS an approach for weaving crosscutting concerns on UML and UML MARTE model. Then we focus on the NOLE weaver used by AOMRTSYS. We detail its operations and present the techniques used to implement it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consensus clustering and interactive feature selection are very useful methods to extract and manage knowledge from texts. While consensus clustering allows the aggregation of different clustering solutions into a single robust clustering solution, the interactive feature selection facilitates the incorporation of the users’ experience in the clustering tasks by selecting a set of textual features, i.e. , including user’s supervision at the term-level. We propose an approach for incorporating interactive textual feature selection into consensus clustering. Experimental results on several text collections demonstrate that our approach significantly improves consensus clustering accuracy, even when only few textual features are selected by the users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A self-determined, autonomous and socially integrated life is nearly impossible for hearing-impaired persons of all ages. Hearing damage affects 16% of the European and 11.5% of the US population, but only every fifth is wearing a hearing aid as they are not able to restore the biological listening experience and allow no interactive influence on it. Thus, a natural user interface is presented as an artificial simulation for an interactive enhancement of the user-preferred sound source. Therefore, established blind source separation algorithms are ported on a smartphone with Android operating system and their performance is evaluated regarding efficiency and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of using eye-gaze tracking based interaction for Indian computer-novice users. Introduction of interactive technologies were not synchronous in developed and developing countries, resulting in India a middle-aged population, who did not ‘grow up’ with technology and find existing computer interfaces and interaction devices counter-intuitive. We investigated how these users interact with an eye-gaze tracker, which has potential to be more intuitive than a mouse or touchpad. During the study, we designed and validated a new target prediction model and used the model in implementing a design bed. The design bed was used to develop interfaces for common computing tasks like shopping, banking, travelling and so on. Our study found that novice users can undertake pointing and selection tasks significantly faster using the eye-gaze tracker than mouse at a cost of higher but statistically non-significant cognitive load. We also conducted a longitudinal study which found users can reach their optimum speed (about 2 secs per selection) within approximately 20 minutes with less than 5% error rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To describe the acceptability of an interactive computer kiosk that provides environmental health education to low-income Latina prenatal patients. Methods A mixed-methods approach was used to assess the acceptability of the Prenatal Environmental Health Kiosk pregnant Latina women in Salinas, CA ( n = 152). The kiosk is a low literacy, interactive touch-screen computer program with an audio component and includes graphics and an interactive game. Results The majority had never used a kiosk before. Over 90% of women reported that they learned something new while using the kiosk. Prior to using the kiosk, 22% of women reported their preference of receiving health education from a kiosk over a pamphlet or video compared with 57% after using the kiosk ( p < 0.01). Qualitative data revealed: (1) benefit of exposure to computer use; (2) reinforcing strategy of health education; and (3) popularity of the interactive game. Conclusion The Prenatal Environmental Health Kiosk is an innovative patient health education modality that was shown to be acceptable among a population of low-income Latino pregnant women in a prenatal care clinic. Practice implications This pilot study demonstrated that a health education kiosk was an acceptable strategy for providing Latina prenatal patients with information on pertinent environmental exposures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests using mobile touchscreen devices to assist students with vision loss in working with data. It presents an integrated approach that combines current sonification methods with interactive multi-touch gesture-based exploration of data, designed to aid students in mental visualization and comprehension of data and function plots. This approach aims to help students with vision loss study independently of support centres, collaborate with their peers, and participate in group studies. Initial user study evaluating this approach and demonstrating its feasibility is presented; further research pathways are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper provides a review on current developments in the Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA). The discussion includes graphical aspects of different applications of IGA. We have reviewed topics like visualization techniques, usage of different machine learning algorithms and mathematical methods in order to get the best solution from IGA. Examples of IGA in this review include the fashion design applications, tree modeling and 3D objects reconstruction. This paper concludes with the current problems and future directions of IGA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We develop ISAW model from a crisp individual single-level environment to a fuzzy group bi-level environment. [•] We utilize this bi-level ISAW model to reach medical decision makers to a consensus on a data mining-oriented EHR architecture. [•] We consider fuzzy logic and fuzzy sets to represent ambiguous, uncertain or imprecise information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a novel object–object affordance learning approach that enables intelligent robots to learn the interactive functionalities of objects from human demonstrations in everyday environments. Instead of considering a single object, we model the interactive motions between paired objects in a human–object–object way. The innate interaction-affordance knowledge of the paired objects are learned from a labeled training dataset that contains a set of relative motions of the paired objects, human actions, and object labels. The learned knowledge is represented with a Bayesian Network, and the network can be used to improve the recognition reliability of both objects and human actions and to generate proper manipulation motion for a robot if a pair of objects is recognized. This paper also presents an image-based visual servoing approach that uses the learned motion features of the affordance in interaction as the control goals to control a robot to perform manipulation tasks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In global scientific experiments with collaborative scenarios involving multinational teams there are big challenges related to data access, namely data movements are precluded to other regions or Clouds due to the constraints on latency costs, data privacy and data ownership. Furthermore, each site is processing local data sets using specialized algorithms and producing intermediate results that are helpful as inputs to applications running on remote sites. This paper shows how to model such collaborative scenarios as a scientific workflow implemented with AWARD (Autonomic Workflow Activities Reconfigurable and Dynamic), a decentralized framework offering a feasible solution to run the workflow activities on distributed data centers in different regions without the need of large data movements. The AWARD workflow activities are independently monitored and dynamically reconfigured and steering by different users, namely by hot-swapping the algorithms to enhance the computation results or by changing the workflow structure to support feedback dependencies where an activity receives feedback output from a successor activity. A real implementation of one practical scenario and its execution on multiple data centers of the Amazon Cloud is presented including experimental results with steering by multiple users. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Interactive Multi-Objective Optimisation is an increasing field of evolutionary and swarm intelligence-based algorithms. By involving a human decision, a set of relevant non-dominated points can often be acquired at significantly lower computational costs than with a posteriori algorithms. A rarely addressed issue in interactive optimisation is the design of efficient user interfaces and the application of interactive optimisation as a design tool in engineering applications. This paper presents advances in the design of user interaction and and user interfaces in combination with interactive multi-objective particle swarm optimisation algorithm. The case study used for this research is an actively investigated aeronautics engineering problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This research outlines a new approach, that takes complex medical, nutritional & activity data and presents it to the diabetic patient in the form of a mobile app/game that uses interactive 3D computer graphics & game play to make this complex information more accessible. The pilot randomized control study results indicate that the Diabetes Visualizer's use of interactive 3D game play increased the participants understanding of the condition, and its day-to-day management. More importantly the Diabetes Visualizer app stimulated participants interest in, and desire to engage in the task of diabetes management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The article presents a framework for interactive virtual environments’ development for simulation and modeling of complex systems. The framework uses system's structural model as a core concept forcomposition and control of simulation-based scientific experiments not in terms of technological processes or workflows but in terms of domain-specific objects and their interconnection within the investigated system. The proposed framework enables integration and management of resources available within a cloud computing environment in order to support automatic simulation management and to provide the user with an interactive visual domain-specific interface to the system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We describe a new process-based biodiversity assessment model. [•] The model utilized vegetation community and condition mapped surrogates inputs. [•] Model assesses biodiversity capacity and maps potential conservation benefits. [•] The model incorporates user friendly interactive reporting capabilities. [•] Results report on successful applications of model for a variety of functions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper we explore and validate the merits of using absolute and relative viewing distances from the screen as complementary input modalities for interactive systems. We motivate the use of viewing distance as a complementary modality by first mapping out its design space and then proposing several new applications that could benefit from it. We demonstrate that both absolute and relative viewing distance can be reliably estimated under controlled circumstances for both desktop and mobile devices using low-cost cameras and readily available computer vision algorithms. In our evaluations we find that viewing distance is a promising complementary input modality that can be reliably estimated using computer vision in environments with constant lighting. For environments with heterogeneous lighting conditions several challenges still exist when designing practical systems. To aid practitioners and researchers we conclude by highlighting several design implications for future systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the design of complex systems, models can be used to predict a future system's performance as well as approximate stakeholder preferences on performance. This paper examines the problem of model truthfulness and the challenge of trusting models, with a focus on value models and how they are used to predict stakeholder preferences. A framework is proposed for the analysis of these issues (truthfulness and trust), which is used to discuss the relationship between models and decision outcomes. Interactive visualization is proposed as an efficient and effective method for increasing model truthfulness and model trust, and hence making better decisions. An interactive visualization tool is also presented, and an application of the tool to a complex decision case is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: A user-interface using the human body to navigate in a virtual environment in the context of urban planning is developed.A developed user-interface is non-demanding and easy to use and better in relation to mouse/keyboard interaction.The user-interface supports on-demand switching between different proposals, affecting learning, understanding positively.Human body navigation during spatial reasoning enhances understanding of virtual space. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Crystallography and X-ray diffraction techniques are essential topics in geosciences and other solid-state sciences. Their fundamentals, which include point symmetry groups, are taught in the corresponding university courses. In-depth meaningful learning of symmetry concepts is difficult and requires capacity for abstraction and spatial vision. Traditionally, wooden crystallographic models are used as support material. In this paper, we describe a new interactive tool, freely available, inspired in such models. Thirty-two PDF files containing embedded 3D models have been created. Each file illustrates a point symmetry group and can be used to teach/learn essential symmetry concepts and the International Hermann–Mauguin notation of point symmetry groups. Most interactive computer-aided tools devoted to symmetry deal with molecular symmetry and disregard crystal symmetry so we have developed a tool that fills the existing gap. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Constrained isometric planar parameterizations are central to a broad spectrum of applications. In this work, we present a non linear solver developed on OpenCL that is efficiently parallelizable on modern massively parallel architectures. We establish how parameterization relates to mesh smoothing and show how to efficiently and robustly solve the planar mesh parameterization problem with constraints. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applicability of our approach to real-time cut-and-paste editing and interactive mesh deformation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) is a complex communication phenomenon involving human beings and computer systems that gained large attention from industry and academia with the advent of new types of interactive systems (mobile applications, smart cities, smart homes, ubiquitous systems and so on). Despite of its importance, there is still a lack of formal and explicit representations of what the HCI phenomenon is. In this paper, we intend to clarify the main notions involved in the HCI phenomenon, by establishing an explicit conceptualization of it. To do so, we need to understand what interactive computer systems are, which types of actions users perform when interacting with an interactive computer system, and finally what human–computer interaction itself is. The conceptualization is presented as a core reference ontology, called HCIO (HCI Ontology), which is grounded in the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO). HCIO was evaluated using ontology verification and validation techniques and has been used as core ontology of an HCI ontology network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recent results in geometry processing have shown that shape segmentation, comparison, and analysis can be successfully addressed through the spectral properties of the Laplace–Beltrami operator, which is involved in the harmonic equation, the Laplacian eigenproblem, the heat diffusion equation, and the definition of spectral distances, such as the bi-harmonic, commute time, and diffusion distances. In this paper, we study the discretization and the main properties of the solutions to these equations on 3D surfaces and their applications to shape analysis. Among the main factors that influence their computation, as well as the corresponding distances, we focus our attention on the choice of different Laplacian matrices, initial boundary conditions, and input shapes. These degrees of freedom motivate our choice to address this study through the executable paper, which allows the user to perform a large set of experiments and select his/her own parameters. Finally, we represent these distances in a unified way and provide a simple procedure to generate new distances on 3D shapes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There is evidence that people expect to be able to play games with autonomous robots, so that robogames could be one of the next killer applications for Robotics. Physically Interactive RoboGames (PIRG) is a new application field where autonomous robots are involved in games requiring physical interaction with people. Since research in this field is taking its first steps, definitions and design guidelines are still largely missing. In this paper, a definition for PIRG is proposed, together with guidelines for their design. Physically Interactive, Competitive RoboGames (PICoRG) are also introduced. They are a particular kind of PIRG where human players are involved in a challenging, highly interactive and competitive game activity with autonomous robots. The development process of a PICoRG, Jedi Trainer, is presented to show a practical application of the proposed guidelines. The game has been successfully played in different unstructured environments, by the general public; feedback is reported and analyzed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper proposes an interactive visualization system that supports tasks of monitoring multiple BBS threads regularly. A BBS is useful as means to know the latest information and wide range of opinions about the topics of interest. However, we must spend much time on reading large number of posts in a thread to recognize topics discussed in it. In addition, it is so difficult to read multiple threads simultaneously that we may miss valuable information. The proposed monitoring system resolves these problems by keyword-based visualization. Furthermore, this system realizes flexible monitoring reflecting user's interest by keyword tracking function for confirming the latest topics about specified keywords. This paper analyzes the behaviors of test participants using the prototype system based on eye-tracking data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a method to navigate getting a correct answer for Question Answering (QA) system using user interaction. QA is a technology which extracts appropriate answer strings for a given question sentence from huge documents such as Web, newspaper articles etc. If a given question is ambiguous, answers will be various ones according to its possible understandings and retrieved documents with query words of the question sentence will consists of various types of information. In order to focus on intended topic, it is necessary to provide more information to narrow down search area for a question. In our approach, a QA system selects a clue word to decide an appropriate topic from topics in retrieved documents and interacts with a user whether this clue word is appropriate one or not. Then, search space will be reduced using this clue word. However, such narrowing down reduces the number of answer candidates because the number of target documents will be decreased. We will re-retrieve documents using this clue words and expand search space to increase possibility of getting correct answer candidates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Newer interaction techniques enable users to explore interfaces in a more natural and intuitive way. However, we do not yet have a scientific understanding of their contribution to user experience and theoretical mechanisms underlying the impact. This study examines how a naturally mapped interface, page-flipping interface, can influence user learning and attitudes. An online experiment with two conditions (page flipping vs. clicking) tests the impact of this naturally mapped interaction technique on user learning and attitudes. The result shows that the page-flipping feature creates more positive evaluations of the website in terms of usability and engagement, as well as greater behavioral intention towards the website by evoking greater perception of natural mapping and greater feeling of presence. In terms of learning outcomes, however, participants who flip through the online magazine show less recall and recognition memory, unless they perceive page flipping as more natural and intuitive to interact with. Participants perceive the same content as more credible when they flip through the content, but only if they appreciate the coolness of the medium. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]