From perception to action using observed actions to learn gestures

User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction - Pervasive computing environments deliver a multitude of possibilities for human–computer interactions. Modern technologies, such as gesture...     

Prototyping flexible touch screen devices using collocated haptic-graphic elastic-object deformation on the GPU

Rapid advances in flexible display technologies and the benefits that they provide are promising enough to consider them for futuristic mobile devices. Current prototyping methods lack facilities to simulate such flexible touch screen displays and the interaction with them. In this paper, we present a technique that provides product developers a tool to interactively simulate products featuring flexible displays, using Augmented Reality and Haptics. This GPU-based algorithm is computationally inexpensive and efficient to deform a polygonal mesh in real time while maintaining an acceptable haptic feedback. The implementation of the algorithm has been found to be successful when applied to a variety of product simulations. This simulation tool can enhance or even replace traditional prototyping and facilitate testing of the prototype at various stages of the design cycle.     

Rapid prototyping of flexible multilayer microfluidic devices using polyester sealing film

Microsystem Technologies - In this study, we proposed a novel fabrication method for rapid prototyping of multilayer flexible microfluidic devices using laser ablated polyester sealing films. The...     

Visual rendering of shapes on 2D display devices guided by hand gestures

Designing of touchless user interface is gaining popularity in various contexts. Users can interact with electronic devices using such interfaces even when their hands are dirty or non-conductive. Also, users with partial physical disability can interact with electronic devices with the help of touchless interfaces. In this paper, we propose a Leap Motion controller-based methodology to facilitate rendering of 2D and 3D shapes on display devices. The proposed method tracks finger movements while users perform natural gestures within the field of view of the motion sensor. Then, trajectories are analyzed to extract extended Npen++ features in 3D. These features capture finger movements during the gestures and they are fed to unidirectional left-to-right Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for training. A one-to-one mapping between gestures and shapes, is proposed. Finally, the shapes corresponding to these gestures are rendered over the display using a typical MuPad supported interface. We have created a dataset of 5400 samples recorded by 10 volunteers. Our dataset contains 18 geometric and 18 non-geometric shapes such as “circle”, “rectangle”, “flower”, “cone”, “sphere”, etc. The proposed method has achieved 92.87% accuracy using a 5-fold cross validation scheme. Experiments reveal that the extended 3D features perform better than the existing 3D features when applied for shape representation and classification. The method can be used for developing diverse HCI applications suitable for smart display devices.     

Development of haptic devices using flexible sheets for virtual training of abdominal palpation

A haptic device using flexible sheets for virtual training of abdominal palpation is proposed, mainly focusing on light and deep palpation. This device forms a semicylinder using two boards with rounded corners and two layered flexible sheets made of rubber. The device imitates the form of an abdomen. A trainee doctor touches and pushes everywhere of the upper sheet directly with his/her fingers and palm or single hand and both hands, regarding it as a virtual abdomen. Pulling the lower sheet lengthwise varies the softness of the sheet: the stretched sheet feels hard and the loose sheet feels soft. The trainee doctor can feel different softness of abdomens by pushing the device. Pulling the upper sheet in waistline direction depresses the centre of the device between the boards like a saddle. Stretching and loosening the upper sheet simulates up-and-down movement of an abdomen due to breathing. As a result, the trainee doctor can experience virtual abdominal palpation in the similar way as real palpation. The softness and depression at the centre of the device are measured for different tensions of the upper and lower sheets, and are compared with the measured softness and up-and-down movement due to breathing of real abdomens. A skilled physician evaluates that the device can present different softness in the range of softness of real abdomens and that the up-and-down movement of the device resembles that of real abdomens due to breathing. The empirical and sensory criterion of the physician is ascertained quantitatively using the device: he pushes abdomens until he feels the same reaction force, regardless of their softness.     

Solution-processed ZnO energy harvester devices based on flexible substrates

Microsystem Technologies - The smart healthcare devices connected to the internet of things (IoT) for medical services can acquire and process physiological data of risk patients, real-time...     

Tackling the Password Problem: Image- and Gesture-Based Alternatives to Alphanumeric Passwords

Abstract

Alphanumeric passwords remain a ubiquitous means of user authentication, yet they are plagued by a fundamental problem: Secure passwords are difficult to create and remember. This paper suggests that image- or gesture-based passwords might strike a better balance between security and usability. It examines two such systems that are currently in widespread commercial use and examines alternative approaches that may offer insights for future improvements. Finally, it considers the possibility that touch-screen gesture passwords may become a viable biometric measure, which may allow them to provide multi-factor gesture-based authentication.     

基于手机加速度传感器的静态手势身份认证方法

针对智能手机上现有传统身份认证方法的缺点,提出一种基于人体生理震颤的静态手势身份认证方法。该方法在用户按特定静态姿势手持智能手机时,由手机内置的加速度传感器记录因持手机而产生的上肢肌肉震颤,经过信号预处理,得到信号的功率谱密度（ PSD）作为身份模板。通过动态时间规整（ DTW）算法计算待认证信号的PSD和模板之间的相似度,得到认证结果。实验结果表明：该方法的等错误率（ EER）和半错误率（ HTER）均在8%以下,验证了本方法的有效性。     

Structural load alleviation using distributed delay shaper: Application to flexible aircraft

Lightweight flexible aircraft suffers from unwanted oscillatory vibrations during aircraft manoeuvres. A recently developed distributed-delay signal (DZV) shaper is therefore proposed to be applied as a feedforward controller to alleviate the manoeuvre loads, as an alternative to traditional structural filters used routinely in this context. Structural filters are essentially linear low-pass filters with bandwidth below the significant flexible modes, applied to control signals generated either by the pilot’s direct input or by the flight control system. It has been showed that if instead a properly tuned signal shaper is used, better performance can be achieved: first, the target modes are significantly attenuated while the responsiveness of the aircraft is less compromised and secondly, the oscillatory nature of the vibrations are reduced. The high fidelity simulation results on a full scaled dynamic model of a highly flexible blended wing–body (BWB) aircraft show that in comparison to traditional structural filters, signal shapers significantly reduce the wing root loading (forces and moments) which provides potential structural benefits.     

IZO deposition by RF and DC sputtering on paper and application on flexible electrochromic devices

The present work describes indium-zinc oxide (IZO) sputtering depositions onto several types of papers, using radio-frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) sputtering with a ceramic IZO target. The electrical and optical properties of the resulting materials were optimized; by studying the argon and oxygen gas flow rates and the sputtering power effects. At optimal deposition conditions, thin films of IZO were achieved with a low sheet resistance (about 20 Ω/sq) and an optical transmittance of ca. 80% in the visible spectrum range. These materials retained these properties for more than 8 months. Electrochromic devices (ECDs) with several configurations were built with those conductive papers and life cycling and contrast were measured for the ECDs. These devices exhibited a very good color contrast (as defined using L^*a^*b^* color coordinates, = 32) and electrochromic cyclability up to 30,000 redox cycles.     

Accelerating SGD using flexible variance reduction on large-scale datasets

Neural Computing and Applications - Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) is a popular optimization method widely used in machine learning, while the variance of gradient estimation leads to slow...     

Docking to flexible nicotinic acetylcholine receptors: a validation study using the acetylcholine binding protein

Computational docking to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and other members of the Cys-loop receptor family is complicated by the flexibility of the so-called C-loop. As observed in the large number of published crystal structures of the acetylcholine binding protein (AChBP), a structural surrogate and homology modeling template for the nAChRs, the conformation of this loop is controlled by the ligand present in the binding pocket. As part of the development of a protocol for unbiased docking to the nAChRs, we here present the results of docking of ligands with known binding modes to an AChBP ensemble with systematic variations in C-loop closure generated via a series of targeted geometry optimizations. We demonstrate the ability to correctly predict binding modes for 12 out of 15 ligands and induced degrees of C-loop closure for 14 out of 15 ligands. Our approach holds a promising potential for structure based drug discovery within nAChRs and related receptors.     

An annotation scheme for conversational gestures: how to economically capture timing and form

The empirical investigation of human gesture stands at the center of multiple research disciplines, and various gesture annotation schemes exist, with varying degrees of precision and required annotation effort. We present a gesture annotation scheme for the specific purpose of automatically generating and animating character-specific hand/arm gestures, but with potential general value. We focus on how to capture temporal structure and locational information with relatively little annotation effort. The scheme is evaluated in terms of how accurately it captures the original gestures by re-creating those gestures on an animated character using the annotated data. This paper presents our scheme in detail and compares it to other approaches.     

A fuzzy semantic approach to retrieving bird information using handheld devices

We propose a new information retrieval model for handheld devices that is suitable for educational and entertainment activities. Our bird-searching system, with versions for PDAs and Tablet PCs, demonstrates the model's effectiveness. Our vision isn't simply to enhance learning with portability but rather to explore the new and varied educational activities that become available with our proposed fuzzy semantic model.     

Diagnosing diabetes using neural networks on small mobile devices

Pervasive computing is often mentioned in the context of improving healthcare. This paper presents a novel approach for diagnosing diabetes using neural networks and pervasive healthcare computing technologies. The recent developments in small mobile devices and wireless communications provide a strong motivation to develop new software techniques and mobile services for pervasive healthcare computing. A distributed end-to-end pervasive healthcare system utilizing neural network computations for diagnosing illnesses was developed. This work presents the initial results for a simple client (patient’s PDA) and server (powerful desktop PC) two-tier pervasive healthcare architecture. The computations of neural network operations on both client and server sides and wireless network communications between them are optimized for real time use of pervasive healthcare services.     

Characterization of electromagnetic fields close to microwave devices using electric dipole probes

A methodology to thoroughly characterize an electric near‐field probe based on small dipole antenna is presented. Both theoretical investigations and experimental direct measurements determine the various characteristics of the probe such as selectivity, sensitivity and spatial resolution. Results show the efficiency of the probe for diagnosing electromagnetic phenomena. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2008.     

PLC替代老设备的继电器控制的设计方法

用PLC替代老设备的继电器控制箱，使产品更新换代。给出了替代的一些步骤和方法。     

Immersive teleconference system based on human-robot-avatar interaction using head-tracking devices

This paper introduces a cost-efficient immersive teleconference system. Especially to enhance immersive interaction capability during one-to-many telecommunication, this paper concentrates on the design of a teleconference system that is composed of a set of robotic devices and web-based control/monitoring interfaces for human-robot-avatar interaction. To this end, we first propose a serverclient network model for human-machine interaction systems based on the latest HTML5 technology. As a hardware system for teleconferencing, the simplest robot is designed specially for remote users to be able to experience augmented reality naturally on live scenes. Modularized software systems are then explained in view of accessibility and functionality. This paper also describes how a human head motion is captured, synchronized with a robot in the real world, and rendered through an 3-D avatar in the augmented world for human-robot-avatar interaction. Finally, the proposed system is evaluated through a questionnaire survey that follows a series of user-experience tests.