Reusable Visualizations and Animations for Surgery Planning

For surgical planning, the exploration of 3D visualizations and 2D slice views is essential. However, the generation of visualizations which support the specific treatment decisions is very tedious. Therefore, the reuse of once designed visualizations for similar cases can strongly accelerate the process of surgical planning. We present a new technique that enables the easy reuse of both medical visualization types: 3D scenes and 2D slice views. We introduce the keystates as a concept to describe the state of a visualization in a general manner. They can be easily applied to new datasets to create similar visualizations. Keystates can be shared between surgeons of one specialization to reproduce and document the planning process for collaborative work. Furthermore, animations can support the surgeon on individual exploration and are also useful in collaborative environments, where complex issues must be presented in a short time. Therefore, we provide a framework, where animations can be visually designed by surgeons during their exploration process without any programming or authoring skills. We discuss several transitions between different visualizations and present an application from clinical routine.     

SoundRiver: Semantically‐Rich Sound Illustration

Sound is an integral part of most movies and videos. In many situations, viewers of a video are unable to hear the sound track, for example, when watching it in a fast forward mode, viewing it by hearing‐impaired viewers or when the plot is given as a storyboard. In this paper, we present an automated visualization solution to such problems. The system first detects the common components (such as music, speech, rain, explosions, and so on) from a sound track, then maps them to a collection of programmable visual metaphors, and generates a composite visualization. This form of sound visualization, which is referred to as SoundRiver, can be also used to augment various forms of video abstraction and annotated key frames and to enhance graphical user interfaces for video handling software. The SoundRiver conveys more semantic information to the viewer than traditional graphical representations of sound illustration, such as phonoautographs, spectrograms or artistic audiovisual animations.     

Inducing attitude change toward online gaming among adolescent players based on dissonance theory: The role of threats and justification of effort

The negative impact of online gaming on adolescents has received much attention. The question of how to reduce their pathological use of online gaming is a critical issue. Based on the concept of external justification in dissonance theory, this experimental study aimed to examine whether severity of threat and justification of effort would impact adolescent players’ attitude change toward online gaming and their subjective estimations of online gaming addiction. The results echoed predictions from classic studies in dissonance theory. When participants engaged in attitude–discrepant behavior, i.e., persuading other adolescents that an apparently interesting online game is not fun at all, their attitudes toward online gaming shifted more dramatically to the negative side in the context of a low level of threat rather than a high level of threat. Additionally, the magnitude of attitude change was more prominent when participants exerted more rather than less effort to engage in attitude–discrepant behavior. Moreover, a similar pattern of participants’ evaluations of the likelihood of online gaming addiction was also observed. The findings show that dissonance theory has the potential to be useful for inducing adolescent players to disengage in online gaming.     

Learning science in a virtual reality application: The impacts of animated-virtual actors’ visual complexity

As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications become increasingly rich and complex. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests that complex visual materials could hinder novice learners from attending to the lesson properly. On the other hand, previous studies have shown that visual complexity correlates with presence and may increase the perceived affective quality of the virtual world, towards an optimal experience or flow. Increasing these in VR applications may promote enjoyment and higher cognitive engagement for better learning outcomes. While visually complex materials could be motivating and pleasing to attend to, would they affect learning adversely? We developed a series of VR presentations to teach second-year psychology students about the navigational behaviour of Cataglyphis ants with flat, cartoon, or lifelike AVAs. To assess learning outcomes, we used Program Ratings, which measured perception of learning and perceived difficulty, and retention and transfer tests. The results from 200 students did not reveal any significant differences in presence, perceived affective quality, or learning outcomes as a function of the AVA’s visual complexity. While the results showed positive correlations between presence, perceived affective quality and perception of learning, none of these correlates with perceived difficulty, retention, or transfer scores. Nevertheless, our simulation produced significant improvements on retention and transfer scores in all conditions. We discuss possible explanations and future research directions.     

Effects of attitudes and behaviours on learning mathematics with computer tools

This mixed-methods study investigates the effects of student attitudes and behaviours on the outcomes of learning mathematics with computer tools. A computer tool was used to help students develop the mathematical concept of function. In the whole sample (N = 521), student attitudes could account for a 3.4 point difference in test scores between individuals on a 10-point scale. General attitude towards mathematics positively predicted test scores. However, more able students who were well-disposed towards mathematical computer tools achieved lower scores. Self-reported behaviours were unrelated to test scores. Detailed observation of a small number of students (N = 8) revealed that positive attitudes towards mathematics and mathematical computer tools augmented exhibited learning behaviours, and that both a positive attitude to mathematical computer tools and exhibited learning behaviours benefited tool mastery. Although tool mastery and test scores are intimately related, reflective processes appear to mediate this relationship. Promoting learning with mathematical computer tools needs to take several factors into account, including improving student attitudes, raising levels of learning behaviours, and giving sufficient opportunity for constructing new mathematical knowledge within meaningful mathematical discourse.     

A web-based self-testing system with some features of Web 2.0: Design and primary implementation

Self-testing is a means to check learning effect. Besides time–space restriction, there are many deficiencies in traditional offline self-testing. With the development of information technology, learners can have self-testing on the Internet. Self-testing on Internet, namely, web-based self-testing, overcomes time–space limitation of traditional offline self-testing, but there are still several disadvantages such as monotony and lack of interaction. In the article, a web-based self-testing system with some features of Web 2.0 is designed and implemented, aiming at overcoming the weaknesses of current online self-testing system. Firstly, taking English self-testing as an example, the framework of the system and functions of its main modules is designed according to theories of social learning and constructivism as well as the idea of Web 2.0 and the characteristics of server-side programming. Secondly, in accordance with the design above, a new system is implemented for English learners primarily by using HTML, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL comprehensively. The role and duty of webmaster are also described briefly. To test the system, some English learners were invited randomly to use it, and feedback information was collected from them after a period of time. It is shown by feedbacks that most learners are satisfied with the system, and the system is of distinct features and favorable practicality compared with other systems, but it still needs to be improved in the design of user interface and some other details. Results in the article demonstrate that the new system can overcome the shortcomings of current systems to some extent.     

Construction safety training via e-Learning: Learning effectiveness and user satisfaction

In Taiwan, promoting knowledge of “Labor Safety” which relates to life and work right is very important. Safety training and learning effectiveness become essential issues of adult learning. To reduce the costs of educational training, enterprises have also started to aggressively introduce e-learning education training. Unlike the construction industry, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of e-learning and conventional learning. This study tested the effectiveness of the safety education to prevent falls by different learning modes used to assess safety behavior and learning effectiveness during the education training period. According to the average pass rate, satisfaction degree of course and total number of unsafe behavior, the e-learning mode improves learning effectiveness. Additionally, when the e-learning mode is introduced in the construction safety education training, the labor can use the teaching material more independently and multimedia system, such as animated teaching materials, case teaching, and repeated course learning, to reduce the error rate of operation, property loss rate, and light (heavy) injury. Under this condition, the e-learning mode is positively associated with the learning effectiveness of construction safety education training. High learning effectiveness promotes safe behavior during construction operations.     

物联网技术在公安工作中的应用研究

物联网被认为是继计算机、互联网与移动通信之后的世界信息产业的下一步发展方向。同时,随着物联网技术在中国的发展,物联网在现实中不断转变成不同行业的相关应用,人们也在通过物联网技术来不断提高自身的生活质量和水平。公安机关可以利用物联网技术实现监管的智能化,特别是在处理反恐和突发事件、智能安防、公共场所人群安全防范等众多方面都有很大的发展空间。文章分析了物联网概念及特点,论述了物联网在中国的典型应用,最后提出物联网技术在公安机关各项工作中的应用初探。     

Incorporating haptic feedback in simulation for learning physics

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a haptic augmented simulation in learning physics. The results indicate that haptic augmented simulations, both the force and kinesthetic and the purely kinesthetic simulations, were more effective than the equivalent non-haptic simulation in providing perceptual experiences and helping elementary students create multimodal representations of the movements of gears. However, in most cases, force feedback was needed to construct a fully loaded multimodal representation that helps students to comprehend later instruction with less sensory modalities. In addition, the force and kinesthetic simulation was effective in helping to transfer knowledge to new learning situations. These findings suggest that it is important to help elementary students make a solid cognitive grounding with the use of a perceptual anchor.