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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]

This paper presents a case study pertaining to human factors/human-machine interaction (HMI) research undertaken over a four-year period, as part of a large Framework Seven project funded by the European Commission. Specifically, it reports on research concerning the operational validation of future cockpit concepts supporting all conditions operations. Primarily, it focuses on the innovation in the methodological approach adopted (and the theory underpinning this) and the key results. In so doing, this paper illustrates the requirement for HMI research to go beyond issues of task and user interface design, so as to properly address issues of operability. It is argued that the typical remit of operational assessment (i.e. the assessment of task workflows, workload and operator situation awareness) must be supplemented by a broader analysis of 'operational' issues related to the design of operational processes/procedures, teamwork, system information flow, process benefits and implementation barriers. This is enabled by the adoption of a stakeholder/participatory approach to evaluation and the application of both formal and informal HMI design/evaluation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of an industrial project, we evaluated the implementation of the software of a casino slot machine. This software has a significant amount of crosscutting concerns that depend on and interact with each other as well as with the modular concerns. We therefore wished to express our design using an appropriate aspect-oriented modeling approach. We therefore evaluated three candidate methodologies: Theme/UML, WEAVR, and RAM to establish their suitability. Remarkably, only the last of the three has shown to allow an adequate expression of the interactions, albeit not fully explicit. The first two fall short because half of the interaction types cannot be expressed at all while the other half need to be expressed using a work-around that hides the intention of the design. Neither does RAM allow a fully explicit expression of interactions, but it would be the most adequate approach for the slot machine case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CAPTCHA, standing for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, has been adopted as a security check. One way to assess robustness of a text-based CAPTCHA test is to use optical letter reader (OCR) software to read it. If the reading fails, the design is robust. Though many design features have been examined, no research has investigated the effects of text rotation, string length, or letter format on CAPTCHA robustness. Fourteen hundred sixty four text-based CAPTCHA tests were created based on the three variables. The main effects of all three variables and few of the interaction effects on robustness were significant. The findings have both theoretical and practical contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of Adrian Borza's activity comprises interesting preoccupations as well as figures, as the composer knows and uses over 50 utility software and operating systems and programming languages and environments, which have generated the authoring of 12 software programmes that he holds author's rights for. His 60 music works, composed mainly in the electro acoustic genre, are the outcome of such pursuits in the field of computer programming. His most recent works reflect composer Adrian Borza's pursuits regarding the possibilities of real-time interaction of computers and performers as well as the indeterminacy coefficient of the computer's actions in relation to the sonorities spontaneously created in the improvisational process. I thus initiated a discussion on the paradigm changes in music performance seen as a phenomenon that integrates the "computer" into electronic music, replacing or not the performer in the traditional creator - art work - performer - public equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designers of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) have long been interested in delivering personalized teaching to individual students, typically by ensuring that the student receives content appropriate to their skills and knowledge. Nonetheless, a more holistic view on what constitutes good teaching practice has challenged whether this approach to user modelling is sufficient. Teaching is not only defined by what is taught, but also by how it is taught. In this paper, we demonstrate that exploratory design research can support this view by generating a more inclusive set of user attributes for purposes of user modelling. Through a case study, we show that design research for user modelling can function as a boundary object serving three important roles that underpin more specifically the design of user modelling and more broadly ITS design. First, design research can establish common ground by encapsulating domain knowledge in an accessible form. This can support diverse project stakeholders to make decisions on what is to be modelled. Secondly, design research can reveal a wide range of teaching and learning perspectives that in turn introduce transparency to the decision-making process of user modelling and provoke a sense of criticality and accountability amongst project stakeholders. Thirdly, design research can build new bridges between the design of the technology and the user model that underpins it. To this end, user attributes deemed important, yet too complex or cumbersome to develop, can become design principles in the context of the overall ITS design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents data from the analyses of political party web pages during the 2009 European Parliament elections in Estonia. It examines the presence and absence of web 2.0 features on the sites and aims to find out whether interactivity-based applications are used by parties to increase participation and to foster deliberative politics. Estonia as a small ex-Soviet country has emerged after the Soviet Union collapse as one of the most advanced e-societies in the world. Therefore, Estonia is chosen as a case study to explore whether and how decision makers use web 2.0 elements for fostering Habermasian dialogue between the citizens and the power holders in the society where technical obstacles for deliberative politics do not exist any longer. The results show that the Estonian parties still focus on the one-sided or top-down model of communication, based on web 1.0 features, even though all conditions for deliberation from the technical and infrastructural side in Estonia are fulfilled. The paper concludes with a discussion on the possible reasons parties might not be interested in using web 2.0 elements in their web campaign and how it might be linked to the conditions where citizens’ participation and interest in politics is low. There is also emphasis on the need for further systematic comparative research in order to draw conclusions on the changes in the online campaigning and political communication process in the era of cyber-democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a system capable of rhythmic walking interaction by auditory and haptic display. Likewise, it summarizes the results of the research on the influence of the audio and haptic stimulation on rhythmic walking interaction. The system detects user’s footsteps and either provides interactive real-time feedback or suggests a pace using a synthetic walking sound or vibration. This pace is either a constant tempo or adapts to the walker. Auditory and haptic feedback signals are either ecological physically-based synthetic walking signals or simple sinusoidal beeps. In the experiment, the different auditory and haptic feedback and interaction modes are studied with respect to their effect on the walking tempo. The results show that participants synchronise equally well with the tempo with either audio or haptic cues, but indicate the audio–haptic conditions as the easiest to synchronise with. Moreover, results indicate that multimodal audio–haptic feedback provide the most natural feeling. These results have implications on the design of interactive entertainment or therapeutical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multimodal interactive system for non-visual (auditory-haptic) exploration of virtual maps. The system is able to display haptically the height profile of a map, through a tactile mouse. Moreover, spatial auditory information is provided in the form of virtual anchor sounds located in specific points of the map, and delivered through headphones using customized Head-Related Transfer Functions (HRTFs). The validity of the proposed approach is investigated through two experiments on non-visual exploration of virtual maps. The first experiment has a preliminary nature and is aimed at assessing the effectiveness and the complementarity of auditory and haptic information in a goal reaching task. The second experiment investigates the potential of the system in providing subjects with spatial knowledge: specifically in helping with the construction of a cognitive map depicting simple geometrical objects. Results from both experiments show that the proposed concept, design, and implementation allow to effectively exploit the complementary natures of the “proximal” haptic modality and the “distal” auditory modality. Implications for orientation & mobility (O&M) protocols for visually impaired subjects are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulus–response compatibility has been a staple of human factors since the early 1950s, when it was established by Paul Fitts, one of the founders of human factors. The importance of maintaining spatial compatibility is indicated in textbooks, but maintaining compatibility in design is not a simple task, because there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration. This article focuses on spatial compatibility and the more recently investigated affective compatibility, highlighting their implications for human–computer interaction. An overview of other cognitive compatibility principles and examples of their use in human–computer interaction is also provided. Advanced technology has increased the need for systematic consideration of compatibility phenomena in user interface design, and the article ends with a summary of key points for designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a young and emerging field in social human–robot interaction (HRI), semantic-free utterances (SFUs) research has been receiving attention over the last decade. SFUs are an auditory interaction means for machines that allow emotion and intent expression, which are composed of vocalizations and sounds without semantic content or language dependence. Currently, SFUs are most commonly utilized in animation movies (e.g., R2-D2,WALL-E, Despicable Me), cartoons (e.g., “Teletubbies,” “Morph,” “La Linea”), and computer games (e.g., The Sims) and hold significant potential for applications in HRI. SFUs are categorized under four general types: Gibberish Speech (GS), Non-Linguistic Utterances (NLUs), Musical Utterances (MU), and Paralinguistic Utterances (PU). By introducing the concept of SFUs and bringing multiple sets of studies in social HRI that have never been analyzed jointly before, this article addresses the need for a comprehensive study of the existing literature for SFUs. It outlines the current grand challenges, open questions, and provides guidelines for future researchers considering to utilize SFU in social HRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a series of papers (2011-2013) N. Ma and P. Ishwar considered a range of distributed source coding problems that arise in the context of interactive computation of functions, characterizing the region of achievable communication rates. We consider the problems of interactive computation of functions by two terminals and interactive computation in a collocated network, showing that the rate regions for both these problems can be achieved using several rounds of polar-coded transmissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the design and evaluation of an artificial agent for collaborative musical free improvisation. The agent provides a means to investigate the underpinnings of improvisational interaction. In connection with this general goal, the system is also used here to explore the implementation of a collaborative musical agent using a specific robotics architecture called Subsumption. The architecture of the system is explained, and its evaluation in an empirical study with expert improvisors is discussed. A follow-up study using a second iteration of the system is also presented. The system design and connected studies bring together Subsumption robotics, ecological psychology, and musical improvisation, and they contribute to an empirical grounding of an ecological theory of improvisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an interactive system for composing realistic images of an object under arbitrary pose and appearance specified by sketching. Our system draws inspiration from a traditional illustration workflow: The user first sketches rough 'masses' of the object, as ellipses, to define an initial abstract pose that can then be refined with more detailed contours as desired. The system is made robust to partial or inaccurate sketches using a reduced-dimensionality model of pose space learnt from a labelled collection of photos. Throughout the composition process, interactive visual feedback is provided to guide the user. Finally, the user's partial or complete sketch, complemented with appearance requirements, is used to constrain the automatic synthesis of a novel, high-quality, realistic image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A meta-analysis was conducted on the effects of technology-enhanced stories for young children’s literacy development when compared to listening to stories in more traditional settings like storybook reading. A small but significant additional benefit of technology was found for story comprehension (g+ = 0.17) and expressive vocabulary (g+ = 0.20), based on data from 2,147 children in 43 studies. When investigating the different characteristics of technology-enhanced stories, multimedia features like animated pictures, music, and sound effects were found beneficial. In contrast, interactive elements like hotspots, games, and dictionaries were found to be distracting. Especially for children disadvantaged because of less stimulating family environments, multimedia features were helpful and interactive features were detrimental. Findings are discussed from the perspective of cognitive processing theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous academic and industrial studies and developments concerning interactive tabletops are paving the way for new educational applications. We have developed an interactive tabletop application equipped with RFID technology. This tabletop, called TangiSense, is based on a multi-agent system that allows users to associate information with behaviors to manipulate tangible objects. The application involves the recognition of basic colors. With the application, children are required to manipulate tangible objects. Their task involves recognizing objects that have 'lost' their dominant color and placing these objects in appropriate colored areas. A tangible magician object automatically analyzes the filled zones and provides children and their teacher with virtual and vocal feedback. This application has been evaluated in a field study with children 3-5 years of age. The initial results are promising and show that such an application can support interaction and collaboration, and subsequently educational situations, among young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of this research paper is to analyze the value integrative-models that can be applied to the virtual interactive constructs, but also to delineate the correspondences established between identity, self and value representation. Concerning the social acquirements that can be distinguished at the level of virtual communities, it is necessary to follow the immersion/regression processes through which a value layout is settled. Concerning the User's ability to mediate this value progression in various networking sequences, an analysis of the content transfer modalities between the social agents and occurrences is required. Along with the axiological functions that a virtual interactive project can sustain, a new issue arises: does the social cyberspace actually support a moral layer?. Between projection and representation, virtual identities merge specific patterns of valuation and assessment that reflect different virtual scenarios. Therefore, the finalities of this study are oriented towards the interpretation that value criteria and ethical standards attain within a viable/feasible virtual community. Questioning the value transfer regularities, the moral imaginaries and the metaethical subject predicaments involves a clear delineation of the virtual cultural elements in a new, (post)modern perspective. [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]

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]

Using the physiological system to perform affect modeling has great potential but also introduces many challenging issues in pervasive and interactive computing. With the advances in low-power mobile sensors, it is now possible to create a good quality of affect models based on physiological responses, which are useful in understanding how people express affect in real-world environments. In this paper, we have investigated an affect modeling technique that analyzes physiological changes and models user affect with data gathered in the field. In particular, we have identified a number of sensor channels and features that are discriminable in recognizing stress with Support Vector Machines. We have empirically investigated the value of creating an affect model by using a subset of informative features for an individual on physiological data collected in real-world environments (i.e. outside the lab), and we provide a discussion of the remaining challenging issues in performing field-based physiological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study is the first iteration of a large-scale design-based research project to improve Pepper, an interactive discussion-based learning environment. In this phase, we designed and implemented two social features to scaffold positive learner interactivity behaviors: a 'Like' button and linking tool. A mixed-methods approach was used to examine communicative and cognitive characteristics of notes. Additionally, we develop and apply a new metric for cognitive complexity that acknowledges a range of cognitive behavior valuable to a learning community. The findings suggest that the Like and linking functions positively cultivated and sustained interactive behaviors among students, which also led to an increase in the cognitive complexity of student contributions to the online discussion. Suggestions for future iterations of this project are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional content offers a powerful medium enabling rich, interactive visualization in virtual and augmented reality systems, which are increasingly used in a variety of application domains, such as education, training, tourism and cultural heritage. The creation of interactive 3D presentations is typically a complex process covering diverse aspects of the content such as geometry, structure, space, appearance, animation and behavior. Recent trends in the development of the semantic web provide new opportunities for simplifying 3D content creation, which may be performed at different levels of abstraction and may encompass the inference of hidden knowledge, which may influence the created content. However, the available approaches to 3D content creation do not enable conceptual knowledge-based modeling of 3D content. The main contribution of this paper is an approach to semantic creation of 3D content. The proposed solution leverages the semantic web techniques to enable conceptual, knowledge-driven content creation. The proposed approach has been implemented and evaluated. It has been shown that the approach can significantly simplify modeling of advanced 3D content presentations in comparison with the available approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearable computing and sensors are becoming increasingly prevalent in our daily lives. This paper presents a wearable training system designed to facilitate the learning process of proper movement patterns in sports training. The system implements a gesture user interface and real-time biofeedback. The feedback loop consists of one or more body-attached motion sensors, a processing device and a biofeedback device that are interconnected through low-latency communication channels. Due to the diverse number of possible applications, a flexible system architecture, which includes several different system versions, is proposed. Operation of the system is driven by user gestures. To demonstrate the concept of the proposed real-time biofeedback training system, an application for golf swing training is developed. The application implements the system using smartphone motion sensors and audio biofeedback and aids golfers in correcting unwanted head movements during a golf swing. The application is driven by a gesture user interface. During the golf swing, the application provides users with real-time audio feedback that signals head movement errors. The field test results show that the developed application can be used as an efficient tool in golf swing training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to investigate generational differences in knowledge about interactive technology (i.e., cell phones, social networking, email, video chat) between parents and their young adult children. Parents (n = 555) and young adults (n = 604) residing in the United States provided information about their knowledge in the use of interactive technology. Young adult children also reported their perceptions of their parents' technological knowledge for the various technologies. Comparisons of young adult self-reported technological knowledge and their parents' own reports of technological knowledge revealed that young adults were perceived to be much more knowledgeable than their parents (by both the young adults and their parents) regardless of the technology medium. The largest differences between parents and their young adult children were associated with newer interactive technologies, with the largest gap between parent and young adult knowledge in the area of social networking. Perceived differences between parents and their young adult children were smaller among the technologies that have been in use longer (such as such as e-mail), and larger among the newer modes of interactive technology (e.g., video chat). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before using an interactive product, people form expectations about what the experience of use will be like. These expectations may affect both the use of the product and users’ attitudes toward it. This article briefly reviews existing theories of expectations to design and perform two crowdsourced experiments that investigate how expectations affect user experience measures. In the experiments, participants saw a primed or neutral review of a simple online game, played it, and rated it on various user experience measures. Results suggest that when expectations are confirmed, users tend to assimilate their ratings with their expectations; conversely, if the product quality is inconsistent with expectations, users tend to contrast their ratings with expectations and give ratings correlated with the level of disconfirmation. Results also suggest that expectation disconfirmation can be used more widely in analyses of user experience, even when the analyses are not specifically concerned with expectation disconfirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two project management approaches, Agile and Lean, have increasingly been adopted in recent years for software development. Meanwhile, in the field of human–computer interaction (HCI), user experience (UX) has become central in research and practice. The new hybrids between the two fields—Agile UX and Lean UX—were born a few years ago. As Agile, Lean, and UX have different principles and practices, one can query whether the couplings are well justified and whether Agile or Lean is more compatible with UX work. We have conducted a conceptual analysis and tended to conclude that Lean instantiated as Kanban fits UX work better than Agile instantiated as Scrum. To explore further our claim, we performed a secondary data analysis of 10 semistructured interviews with practitioners working with Scrum and Kanban in different sectors (Study 1). This study enabled us to gain insights into the applications of the two processes in real-life cases, their strengths and weaknesses, and factors influencing the practicality of implementing them. Both processes seem not favorable for UX work in practice. Among others, one intriguing observation is loose adherence to the related guidelines and principles. A query derived from the analyses of the interviews is that “customer,” as compared with “user,” has more frequently been referred to by our interviewees, irrespective of the process they adopted. We have then been motivated to investigate this issue, using a web-based survey with another batch of practitioners (N= 73) in the software industry (Study 2). Results of the survey indicate that the practitioners in general had a reasonable understanding of the concepts “user” and “customer,” although a minority tended to treat them as synonyms. Limitations of the current studies and implications for future work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a typical decision-making process, preference elicitation methods require a priori knowledge about the desired outcomes. It is expected that the decision maker (DM) has a rough idea of the alternatives or the production possibilities, and has a relatively clear idea of his/her preferences regarding the decision. For those DMs who do not have this general understanding, the determination of preferences (and/or targets for specific criteria) can be difficult, uncertain and may lead towards a suboptimal solution for the particular DM. In a typical planning process, a limited set of alternatives are generated by a professional. These are then evaluated using preference information. A more useful approach would be to use that preference information towards developing a more acceptable alternative. The method proposed in this article is an interactive system which first requires the DM to indicate their initial preference value for each criterion. Then a series of pre-determined goal programming functions generate a solution. The solutions are then compared simultaneously, so that the DM can understand how feasible the preferences are when used in the creation of alternative solutions. The DM is then asked to provide a minimum preference level guided by a comparison of the alternative solutions. By proceeding in an iterative fashion, the DM can adjust his/her preferences until the DM is satisfied with one of the generated solutions. A real forest planning situation is described as a case study of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The setup of interactive communication between arm strength training machine and the people will make exercise and rehabilitation therapy become more friendly. The employment of electromyographic not only can help physical therapy but also can achieve more effective rehabilitation. Both of the system hardware and software of the arm strength training machine with EMG system are well designed and described. The fundamental design of electromyographic measurement system based on a microcontroller is analyzed and discussed. The software programming is developed in MPLAB integrated development environment from the Microchip Technology Inc. and the friendly user interface is created as well. Finally, an arm strength training machine with electromyographic control system is realized and demonstrated. The experimental results show the feasibility and fidelity of the complete designed system. [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]

In this paper, authors systematically selected and reviewed articles related to stereoscopic displays and their advances, with a special focus on perception, interaction, and corresponding challenges. The aim was to understand interaction-related problems, provide possible explanations, and identify factors that limit their applications. Despite promising advancements, there are still issues that researchers in the field fail to explain precisely. The two major problems in stereoscopic viewing are, compared with the real world, objects are perceived to be smaller than they actually are and there are discomfort and visual syndromes. Furthermore, there is general agreement that humans underestimate their egocentric distance in a virtual environment (VE). Our analysis revealed that in the real world, distance estimation is about 94% accurate, but in VE, it is only about 80% accurate. This problem could reduce the efficacy of different sensory motor-based applications where interaction is important. Experts from human factors, computing, psychology, and others have studied contributing factors such as types of perception/response method, quality of graphics, associated stereoscopic conditions, experience in virtual reality (VR), and distance signals. This paper discusses the factors requiring further investigation if the VR interaction is to be seamlessly realized. In addition, engineering research directions aiming at improving current interaction performances are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As complex networks become ubiquitous, an increasing emphasis is being put on identifying topic clusters from the hidden networks. The result of identification can provide valuable support for topic-based entity search. However, current identification models focus on limited factors (either meta-description or entity feature of networks) and lack the derivation process for topic clusters, which often lead to dumb results. In this paper, we present a two-level identification model called MetaEntity to identify meta-level topic clusters and entity-level topic clusters. Unlike traditional approaches, both meta-description and entity feature are fully used to improve the accuracy of identification. Specially, MetaEntity can support identification from multiple points of view. In addition, an interactive derivation algorithm is proposed to incrementally maintain the identified topic clusters. As a result, quality of both meta-level topic clusters and entity-level topic clusters is mutually promoted, which means both of them are getting more accurate and complete. The experiments demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our algorithms compared with traditional approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual patient (VP) cases are interactive computer simulations of real life scenarios that have been used in medical education for over a decade. They are popular with students and staff alike and have been shown to improve knowledge retention, clinical reasoning and decision-making skills. Ethics virtual patient (EVP) cases are interactive computer simulations of real life scenarios which have a substantive ethical component. They can also contain significant legal and professionalism components. EVP cases have only recently been used in medical education, but there is growing evidence to suggest that medical students find them interesting, engaging and helpful. This paper will provide a brief overview of the way in which EVP cases have been used at St George's, University of London and explore the pedagogical rationale for using these cases to teach ethics, law and professionalism to medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents and reflects upon artistic artworks at the intersection of virtual and physical computer systems with wet (biological) systems, in reference to Roy Ascott's 'moist theory'. It is divided into two sections. The first section offers contextualization by pointing to Darcy Ribeiro's considerations of differentiations among Brazilians, thus leading to an expectation of miscegenation that assimilates and incorporates races and beliefs in a syncretic way. To this background is added a theoretical framework based on semiotics entwined with mathematics and physics from a set of authors. Both aspects are intertwined with visceral sensations and feelings which emerged from immersible field researches. Glimpses of the 1997 Xingu expedition are introduced as an example of such immersible field research to unveil aspects related with moist theory. The second section presents four case studies that illustrate all of the concepts previously mentioned. Here, syncretism is understood as a field for events that engender the artworks. These artworks are created as metaphorical journeys aimed at expressing potential shamantic experiences and configured as a set of symbiotic systems. Two of these artworks explore neural connections; their research involves computer devices that allow human interferences in the behaviours of autonomous agents in virtual reality simulations. The resultant systems are artificially alive organisms in flux with the rhythms of the autonomous programmed processes; these change each time they run within the computer, allowing the user to symbiotically interfere in the algorithmic nature of artificial 'seeds'. These poetic realms are metaphors of the flow of life itself. Summing up, they are technoetic artworks that could only arise from the Brazilian melting pot of cultural, racial and theoretical mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representing features by local histograms is a proven technique in several volume analysis and visualization applications including feature tracking and transfer function design. The efficiency of these applications, however, is hampered by the high computational complexity of local histogram computation and matching. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm to accelerate local histogram search by leveraging bitmap indexing. Our method avoids exhaustive searching of all voxels in the spatial domain by examining only the voxels whose values fall within the value range of user-defined local features and their neighborhood. Based on the idea that the value range of local features is in general much smaller than the dynamic range of the entire dataset, we propose a local voting scheme to construct the local histograms so that only a small number of voxels need to be examined. Experimental results show that our method can reduce much computational workload compared to the conventional approaches. To demonstrate the utility of our method, an interactive interface was developed to assist users in defining target features as local histograms and identify the locations of these features in the dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segmentation of volumetric data is an important part of many analysis pipelines, but frequently requires manual inspection and correction. While plenty of volume editing techniques exist, it remains cumbersome and errorprone for the user to find and select appropriate regions for editing. We propose an approach to improve volume editing by detecting potential segmentation defects while considering the underlying structure of the object of interest. Our method is based on a novel histogram dissimilarity measure between individual regions, derived from structural information extracted from the initial segmentation. Based on this information, our interactive system guides the user towards potential defects, provides integrated tools for their inspection, and automatically generates suggestions for their resolution. We demonstrate that our approach can reduce interaction effort and supports the user in a comprehensive investigation for high-quality segmentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) represents one of the main causes of death worldwide. It affects hundreds of millions of people and is likely to spread further in the coming years. Despite the chronic nature of the disease and the proven efficacy of current therapies, treatment nonadherence is unfortunately common and too often related to treatment failure, disease exacerbations, hospitalizations, and high healthcare costs. At present, studies aimed to assess and improve patients' adherence in chronic respiratory diseases—and especially in COPD—are limited, but a review of the few data available makes it clear that there is a need for an innovative approach that leverages health technology to encourage patients to adhere to prescribed chronic treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cloud computing is an emerging technique. Here comes many new development directions. Many researchers over the world show great interests in cloud architecture. Cloud-based video solutions are proposed to meet many technical challenges in the real world. However, the data security is a vital problem, especially about video data. This paper proposed an architecture to mine the huge amount 3D video data. Meanwhile, we designed a model, called Key Encryption Model, to protect the privacy video data. In the meantime, the video mining cloud can decrypt the video data to make sure that the video data is safe and the mining results won't be stolen by the third party. The result proves that transmitting the encrypted video is feasible. Besides, the outlook in this field is also pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive tables are more frequently being suggested to support collaborative and co-localized applications. They can be tactile, tangible or mixed. New sensory entries enable users to manipulate different types of tangible objects. The purpose of this article is to propose a global interaction model that associates multiagent system concepts with interactive table entities. The model incorporates simultaneously usable entities: virtual and tangible entities. The virtual entities can be seen through video projection or the use of a screen integrated into the interactive table. The tangible entities are physical objects that can be manipulated by one or more users around the table. These objects are detected through dedicated sensors. A case study illustrates the proposal. The study incorporates the management of a road traffic simulator using the TangiSense interactive table; this table is equipped with RFID technology. The illustrations mainly show communication between the different agents involved in the simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Validation is arising as a crucial component of new architectures aimed at improving Question Answering technologies. Hence, there is a strong need of appropriate measures for evaluating Validation and, even more, its impact on question answering results. However, common Validation measures do not allow a clear study of this impact, and they might even lead researchers to obtain wrong conclusions. We propose a new approach for evaluating Validation technologies, which offers clear and useful information about the impact on QA performance. We compare our proposal with classic evaluation measures, showing the benefits of our scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

David Marr's (1982) three-level analysis of computational cognition argues for three distinct levels of cognitive information processing-namely, the computational, representational, and implementational levels. But Marr's levels are-and were meant to be-descriptive, rather than interactive and dynamic. For this reason, we suggest that, had Marr been writing today, he might well have gone even farther in his analysis, including the emergence of structure-in particular, explicit structure at the conceptual level-from lower levels, and the effect of explicit emergent structures on the level (or levels) that gave rise to them. The message is that today's cognitive scientists need not only to understand how emergent structures-in particular, explicit emergent structures at the cognitive level-develop but also to understand how they feed back on the sub-structures from which they emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a unified framework for dealing with exact point-of-interest (POI) queries in dynamic continental road networks within interactive applications. We show that partition-based algorithms developed for point-to-point shortest path computations can be naturally extended to handle augmented queries such as finding the closest restaurant or the best post office to stop on the way home, always ranking POIs according to a user-defined cost function. Our solution allows different trade-offs between indexing effort (time and space) and query time. Our most flexible variant allows the road network to change frequently (to account for traffic information or personalized cost functions) and the set of POIs to be specified at query time. Even in this fully dynamic scenario, our solution is fast enough for interactive applications on continental road networks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An increasing number of personal mobile devices such as smartphone are playing an important role in our daily lives. Among constituing technologies for such pervasive computing environment, mobile augmented reality (mobile AR) is a technique that extends physical world with virtual objects or information in truly mobile settings. That is, away from the carefully conditioned environments of research laboratories and special purpose work areas, general people can engage in location aware or physical object related content using their portable devices. Deploying attractive mobile AR services, however, has been regarded quite difficult because computer-vision based relevant techniques are very complex. Because of that, discussions on the practical possibilities of AR have tended to stay in location-aware information delivery service or as a consumption platform of developer-supplied content. Against those popular research trends pursuing technical advances of AR, this paper attempts to explore the potential of AR as a general peoples' creative medium. It can provide a good storytelling environment because a specific location or real-world objects can easily become story subject matters and stimulate people's imagination. There exist, however, some barriers preventing users to actively participate in onsite creative activity constructing their own story. In mobile situation, it could be cumbersome to create a narrative at site, requiring to author some sequences of events. Therefore, the careful design regarding such situational characteristics of mobile AR is essential for realizing real-time mobile interactive AR narrative. This paper thus presented design factors for interactive mobile AR storytelling systems, and applied narrative theory to design and explore actual possibilities of interactivity levels achievable using mobile AR medium. Technical difficulties are ruled out as possible so that the design could be focused on real-time onsite story creation activity. Proposed design concepts are developed as three kinds of prototypes, each of them reflecting different level of narrative interactivity. They are also deployed in public exhibition and the suggested design factors are evaluated in terms of user experience and interviews. The result of evaluation shows that even simple AR interactive narrative setup can have strong power to allow users playful experience of in-situ narrative creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]