The experience of enchantment in human–computer interaction

Improving user experience is becoming something of a rallying call in human–computer interaction but experience is not a unitary thing. There are varieties of experiences, good and bad, and we need to characterise these varieties if we are to improve user experience. In this paper we argue that enchantment is a useful concept to facilitate closer relationships between people and technology. But enchantment is a complex concept in need of some clarification. So we explore how enchantment has been used in the discussions of technology and examine experiences of film and cell phones to see how enchantment with technology is possible. Based on these cases, we identify the sensibilities that help designers design for enchantment, including the specific sensuousness of a thing, senses of play, paradox and openness, and the potential for transformation. We use these to analyse digital jewellery in order to suggest how it can be made more enchanting. We conclude by relating enchantment to varieties of experience.An earlier version of this paper was presented at Chi’2004 Fringe.     

Human–computer interaction using vision-based hand gesture recognition systems: a survey

Considerable effort has been put toward the development of intelligent and natural interfaces between users and computer systems. In line with this endeavor, several modes of information (e.g., visual, audio, and pen) that are used either individually or in combination have been proposed. The use of gestures to convey information is an important part of human communication. Hand gesture recognition is widely used in many applications, such as in computer games, machinery control (e.g., crane), and thorough mouse replacement. Computer recognition of hand gestures may provide a natural computer interface that allows people to point at or to rotate a computer-aided design model by rotating their hands. Hand gestures can be classified into two categories: static and dynamic. The use of hand gestures as a natural interface serves as a motivating force for research on gesture taxonomy, its representations, and recognition techniques. This paper summarizes the surveys carried out in human--computer interaction (HCI) studies and focuses on different application domains that use hand gestures for efficient interaction. This exploratory survey aims to provide a progress report on static and dynamic hand gesture recognition (i.e., gesture taxonomies, representations, and recognition techniques) in HCI and to identify future directions on this topic.     

Invariance analysis of modified C2 features: case study—handwritten digit recognition

Humans are very efficient in recognizing alphanumeric characters, even in the presence of significant image distortions. Recent advances in visual neuroscience have led to a solid model of object and shape recognition in the visual ventral stream which competes with the state-of-the-art computer vision systems on some standard recognition tasks. A modification of this model is also proposed by adding more biologically inspired properties such as sparsification of features, lateral inhibition and feature localization to enhance its performance. In this study, we show that using features proposed by the modified model results in higher handwritten digit recognition rates compared with the original model over English and Farsi handwritten digit datasets. Our analyses also demonstrate higher invariance of the modified model to various image distortions.     

Relaxed individual control of skeletal muscle forces via physical human–robot interaction

This study develops a relaxed formulation of a method for controlling individual muscle forces using exoskeleton robots. Past studies have developed a muscle-force control method with very strict limitations on the conditions. These conditions will be removed, and the problem will be reformulated as a constrained optimization of several parameters. The optimization algorithm recognizes when a solution to the muscle control problem cannot be exactly realized, and finds the solution that minimizes the mean errors of the individual muscles between expected and desired muscle activation. This is demonstrated in a computer simulation of human arm dynamics and compared against the prior method to demonstrate its wider applicability. In addition, the control method is extended to resolve issues associated with a nonideal exoskeleton with incomplete torque application to the joints. A quasi-optimized motor-task that minimizes the errors in target muscles and nontarget muscles can be obtained. This paper presents theoretical analysis, simulation, and experimental results on the performance of the relaxed individual muscle control.     

Vision-based arm gesture recognition for a long-range human–robot interaction

This paper proposes a vision-based human arm gesture recognition method for human–robot interaction, particularly at a long distance where speech information is not available. We define four meaningful arm gestures for a long-range interaction. The proposed method is capable of recognizing the defined gestures only with 320×240 pixel-sized low-resolution input images captured from a single camera at a long distance, approximately five meters from the camera. In addition, the system differentiates the target gestures from the users’ normal actions that occur in daily life without any constraints. For human detection at a long distance, the proposed approach combines results from mean-shift color tracking, short- and long-range face detection, and omega shape detection. The system then detects arm blocks using a background subtraction method with a background updating module and recognizes the target gestures based on information about the region, periodical motion, and shape of the arm blocks. From experiments using a large realistic database, a recognition rate of 97.235% is achieved, which is a sufficiently practical level for various pervasive and ubiquitous applications based on human gestures.     

The design of hand gestures for human–computer interaction: Lessons from sign language interpreters

The design and selection of 3D modeled hand gestures for human–computer interaction should follow principles of natural language combined with the need to optimize gesture contrast and recognition. The selection should also consider the discomfort and fatigue associated with distinct hand postures and motions, especially for common commands. Sign language interpreters have extensive and unique experience forming hand gestures and many suffer from hand pain while gesturing. Professional sign language interpreters (N=24) rated discomfort for hand gestures associated with 47 characters and words and 33 hand postures. Clear associations of discomfort with hand postures were identified. In a nominal logistic regression model, high discomfort was associated with gestures requiring a flexed wrist, discordant adjacent fingers, or extended fingers. These and other findings should be considered in the design of hand gestures to optimize the relationship between human cognitive and physical processes and computer gesture recognition systems for human–computer input.     

Numerical analysis of a synchronization phenomenon: Pedestrian–structure interaction

The pedestrian–structure interaction is considered by developing a non-linear double pendulum model, representing the lateral walking of the pedestrian and the horizontal vibration mode of the structure. To understand the synchronization phenomenon, the two oscillators were considered in their phase spaces, and a ring-dynamics approach was applied. As synchronization occurs, pedestrian motion becomes in phase quadrature with a quarter-of-period in advance of the bridge motion: this ensures stability of walking conditions on a moving deck, but causes random cancellation of forces typical of an incoherent crowd. Correspondingly, the lateral force transmitted to the structure increases its value, approaching resonance conditions.     

The solitary wave solution of coupled Klein–Gordon–Zakharov equations via two different numerical methods

In this research, we propose two different methods to solve the coupled Klein–Gordon–Zakharov (KGZ) equations: the Differential Quadrature (DQ) and Globally Radial Basis Functions (GRBFs) methods. In the DQ method, the derivative value of a function with respect to a point is directly approximated by a linear combination of all functional values in the global domain. The principal work in this method is the determination of weight coefficients. We use two ways for obtaining these coefficients: cosine expansion (CDQ) and radial basis functions (RBFs-DQ), the former is a mesh-based method and the latter categorizes in the set of meshless methods. Unlike the DQ method, the GRBF method directly substitutes the expression of the function approximation by RBFs into the partial differential equation. The main problem in the GRBFs method is ill-conditioning of the interpolation matrix. Avoiding this problem, we study the bases introduced in Pazouki and Schaback (2011) [44]. Some examples are presented to compare the accuracy and easy implementation of the proposed methods. In numerical examples, we concentrate on Inverse Multiquadric (IMQ) and second-order Thin Plate Spline (TPS) radial basis functions. The variable shape parameter (exponentially and random) strategies are applied in the IMQ function and the results are compared with the constant shape parameter.     

Player–video game interaction: A systematic review of current concepts

Video game design requires a user-centered approach to ensure that the experience enjoyed by players is as good as possible. However, the nature of player–video game interactions has not as yet been clearly defined in the scientific literature. The purpose of the present study was to provide a systematic review of empirical evidences of the current concepts of player–video game interactions in entertainment situations. A total of 72 articles published in scientific journals that deal with human–computer interaction met the criteria for inclusion in the present review. Major findings of these articles were presented in a narrative synthesis. Results showed that player–video game interactions could be defined with multiple concepts that are closely linked and intertwined. These concepts concern player aspects of player–video game interactions, namely engagement and enjoyment, and video game aspects, namely information input/output techniques, game contents and multiplayer games. Global approaches, such as playability, also exist to qualify player–video game interactions. Limitations of these findings are discussed to help researchers to plan future advances of the field and provide supplementary effort to better know the role of less-studied aspects. Practical implications are also discussed to help game designers to optimize the design of player–video game interactions.     

Human–machine interaction as a model of machine–machine interaction: how to make machines interact as humans do

Turn-taking is one of the main features of communicative systems. In particular, it is one of the bases allowing robust interactions in imitation, thanks to its two linked aspects, i.e., communication and learning. In this article, we propose a simple model based on the interaction of two neural oscillators inhibiting each other which explain how 'turn-taking' may emerge dynamically between two agents. An implementation of the model on a simple robotic platform made of one CCD camera and one simple arm (ADRIANA platform) is detailed. Results showing the emergence of a 'turn-taking' dynamics on this platform are discussed and an extension in simulation for a larger scale of parameters in order to validate robustness is given.     

Delayed decisions in speech recognition — The case of formants

Consciously designed message bearing signals are generally well suited to bottom-up decoding. Signals are first segmented into low-level units, the units are classified, and the higher level information is then deduced. Evidence from the reading of printed text suggests that humans may not use such a strategy even on signals apparently well suited to it, and that spontaneous modes of communication - handwriting and speech - are quite unsuited to the stratery. It is argued that the most effective algorithms for automatic speech recognition derive their effectiveness from an ability to delay low-level decisions (such as segmential identities and boundaries) until higher level decisions (such as word identities) have been made. A case is made for the representation of speech for recognition purposes in terms of the frequencies of the vocal tract resonances (formants). The fact that formant frequencies have not hitherto been widely used in speech recognition is ascribed to their resembling other low-level features in that they too cannot be reliably extracted and labeled prior to some higher level decisions. An algorithm is presented that allows decisions on formant identities to be delayed and made contingent on higher level decisions. A technique is described for deriving the cost functions used in this algorithm from the statistical properties of formants, and some practical applications of the algorithm are briefly described.     

A philosophical study of human–artefact interaction

This paper focuses on a critical intersection between philosophy of technology and cognitive archaeology with an objective in view. These two rapidly developing disciplines intersect on the problem of characterizing the dynamic relationship between human beings and technical artefacts. The intricacies of human–artefact relation have been a source of curiosity and contemplation for philosophers of technology since 1970s. In contrast, the cognitive archaeologists’ interest in interpreting the exact nature of the interaction between human cognitive system and material culture is relatively recent. The central objective of this paper is to show why the cognitive archaeologists’ account of the relation between human cognition and material culture as exemplified by the classical-phenomenological example of the blind person’s use of a stick needs to be critically reviewed in the light of philosophical-(post)-phenomenological research and new empirical findings on tool use and prosthesis. There are three sections in this paper. In the first section, certain distinctive features of cognitive archaeology, which are important for the following discussion, are mentioned in brief. The second section consists of an exposition of Don Ihde’s account of embodiment relations—typical examples of which include the blind person’s use of a stick—with particular emphasis on the aspect of what Ihde calls “quasi-transparency”. Possible reasons behind the cognitive archaeologists’ indifference to the said aspect are pointed out. In the third section, the difficulties involved in analysing the case of the blind person’s stick are discussed in the light of recent empirical research on bodily extension (by means of artefacts) and prosthesis (incorporation of artefacts into the body). The paper ends with some critical comments on the cognitive archaeologists’ interpretation of the relation between the blind person and his stick and explains why their interpretation requires revision in view of current findings on tool use and prosthesis.     

The work compatibility improvement framework: an assessment of the worker–work environment interaction in the manufacturing sector

The manufacturing sector in the US is challenged by high health care costs and shortage of qualified workers, which are largely attributed to the degree of fit between the worker and work environment. In this regard, a healthy worker–work environment interface is a necessary and sufficient condition for the containment of health care costs and the retaining/attraction of highly qualified knowledge workers and should be based on the principles of optimum physical, cognitive and emotional health for the workers. In prior research, the Work Compatibility Improvement Framework (WCIF) was introduced as a vehicle to address these issues and was defined as the identification, improvement and maintenance of the well-being characteristics of the workforce and its interaction with the work environment through the application of engineering, medicine, management and human sciences methodologies, technologies and best practices. This paper advances WCIF by examining its applications in manufacturing with regard to the evaluation of working conditions impacting musculoskeletal/stress outcome measures. A study was conducted in a machining department of a bag packaging manufacturer in the Midwest of the United States. The work tasks were planned and executed with regard to the following aims: (1) to compute work compatibility as a function of work demands and energisers; (2) to establish whether the prevalence of musculoskeletal/stress disorders increases with a decrease in the quality of worker–work environment interface in terms of work compatibility level and other work factors such as shift and job category. A major finding is that a ‘poor’ work environment (a function of all work domains) results in musculoskeletal/stress disorders that are 105% and 67% higher than those for a ‘good’ work environment. The evening shift exhibited the poorest compatibility followed by the night shift relative to the day shift. Application of the work compatibility approach demonstrated the detection of non-added value work. It is essential to evaluate the various domains of worker–work environment interface to uncover the root causes that tend to sub-optimise the physical/cognitive/emotional health of the workforce. The WCIF was used to uncover the non-value added effort in the work process. These findings will have major implications for developing and implementing customised design interventions with the aim to maximise the benefit and reduce the cost of employees in a manufacturing enterprise. The study findings suggest that the WCIF should be pursued as a potential strategic tool for optimising human performance in an enterprise to create healthy workplaces.     

EMERS: a tree matching–based performance evaluation of mathematical expression recognition systems

Performance evaluation of mathematical expression recognition systems is attempted. The proposed method assumes expressions (input as well as recognition output) are coded following MathML or T_EX/LaT_EX (which also gets converted into MathML) format. Since any MathML representation follows a tree structure, evaluation of performance has been modeled as a tree-matching problem. The tree corresponding to the expression generated by the recognizer is compared with the groundtruthed one by comparing the corresponding Euler strings. The changes required to convert the tree corresponding to the expression generated by the recognizer into the groundtruthed one are noted. The number of changes required to make such a conversion is basically the distance between the trees. This distance gives the performance measure for the system under testing. The proposed algorithm also pinpoints the positions of the changes in the output MathML file. Testing of the proposed evaluation method considers a set of example groundtruthed expressions and their corresponding recognized results produced by an expression recognition system.     

Motion recognition using local auto-correlation of space–time gradients

In this paper, we propose a motion recognition scheme based on a novel method of motion feature extraction. The feature extraction method utilizes auto-correlations of space–time gradients of three-dimensional motion shape in a video sequence. The method effectively exploits the local relationships of the gradients corresponding to the space–time geometric characteristics of the motion. For recognizing motions, we apply the framework of bag-of-frame-features, which, in contrast to the standard bag-of-features framework, enables the motion characteristics to be captured sufficiently and the motions to be quickly recognized. In experiments on various datasets for motion recognition, the proposed method exhibits favorable performances as compared to the other methods, and faster computational time even than real time.     

The legal recognition of online brokerage in UAE: is a conceptual rethink imperative?

The flourish of online brokerage in the United Arab Emirates does not only rely on the technology but also depends on the legal framework and whether it is flexible enough to encompass such modern form of brokerage and allow the smooth running of its procedures. This paper thus explores the main challenges that might face the future of online securities transactions via the Internet, and determines whether or not the current legal framework provides adequate protection to the investors in an online environment. Furthermore, this paper briefly addresses the issue of what the law ought to be in order to enhance the trust and the predictability needed by the relevant parties involved in online brokerage service over the Internet.