Human-machine symbiosis overview

The interface between humans and technology is a rapidly changing field. In particular as technological methods have improved dramatically so interaction has become possible that could only be speculated about even a decade earlier. This interaction can though take on a wide range of forms. Indeed standard buttons and dials with televisual feedback are perhaps a common example. But now virtual reality systems, wearable computers and most of all, implant technology are throwing up a completely new concept, namely a symbiosis of human and machine. No longer is it sensible simply to consider how a human interacts with a machine, but rather how the human-machine symbiotic combination interacts with the outside world. In this paper we take a look at some of the recent approaches, putting implant technology in context. We also consider some specific practical examples which may well alter the way we look at this symbiosis in the future. The main area of interest as far as symbiotic studies are concerned is clearly the use of implant technology, particularly where a connection is made between technology and the human brain and/or nervous system. Often pilot tests and experimentation has been carried out apriori to investigate the eventual possibilities before human subjects are themselves involved. Some of the more pertinent animal studies are discussed briefly here. The paper however concentrates on human experimentation, in particular that carried out by the authors themselves, firstly to indicate what possibilities exist as of now with available technology, but perhaps more importantly to also show what might be possible with such technology in the future and how this may well have extensive social effects. The driving force behind the integration of technology with humans on a neural level has historically been to restore lost functionality in individuals who have suffered neurological trauma such as spinal cord damage, or who suffer from a debilitating disease such as lateral amyotrophic sclerosis. Very few would argue against the development of implants to enable such people to control their environment, or some aspect of their own body functions. Indeed this technology in the short term has applications for amelioration of symptoms for the physically impaired, such as alternative senses being bestowed on a blind or deaf individual. However the issue becomes distinctly more complex when it is proposed that such technology be used on those with no medical need, but instead who wish to enhance and augment their own bodies, particularly in terms of their mental attributes. These issues are discussed here in the light of practical experimental test results and their ethical consequences.

Generating virtual environments to allow increased access to the built environment

The problems encountered by individuals with disabilities when accessing large public buildings is described and a solution based on the generation of virtual models of the built environment is proposed. These models are superimposed on a control network infrastructure, currently utilised in intelligent building applications such as lighting, heating and access control. The use of control network architectures facilitates the creation of distributed models that closely mirror both the physical and control properties of the environment. The model of the environment is kept local to the installation which allows the virtual representation of a large building to be decomposed into an interconnecting series of smaller models. This paper describes two methods of interacting with the virtual model, firstly a two dimensional aural representation that can be used as the basis of a portable navigational device. Secondly an augmented reality called DAMOCLES that overlays additional information on a user’s normal field of view. The provision of virtual environments offers new possibilities in the man-machine interface so that intuitive access to network based services and control functions can be given to a user.

The chaos machine: analogue computing rediscovered (1)

Analogue computers provide actual rather than virtual representations of model systems. They are powerful and engaging computing machines that are cheap and simple to build. This two-part Retronics article helps you build (and understand!) your own analogue computer to simulate the Lorenz butterfly that's become iconic for Chaos theory.

Expert system to detect incipient fauts in rotating machines using fuzzy logic and virtual instrumentation

This paper refers to the design of an expert system that captures a waveform through the use of an accelerometer, processes the signal and converts it to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transformer to then, using artificial intelligence techniques, specifically Fuzzy Reasoning, it determines if there is any failure present in the underlying mode of the equipment, such as imbalance, misalignment or bearing defects.

Diseño e instalación de un servicio web de tienda virtual en alta disponibilidad

[ES]Diseño e instalación de un servicio web de tienda virtual en un entorno de computación en clúster para proporcionar alta disponibilidad y balanceo de carga del mencionado servicio. La infraestructura requerida para este despliegue será virtual, utilizándose como plataforma de virtualización KVM. Las tareas se organizan en : 1.Tareas para la creación de un clúster de balanceo de carga donde una máquina será la encargada de recibir las peticiones de los clientes y de redirigirlas a los servidores web según la carga de éstos. 2. Tareas para la creación de un clúster de alta disponibilidad para que en caso de fallo siempre haya un servidor de base de datos que pueda atender a las peticiones de los servidores web.

Towards Centrifugal Compressor Stages Virtual Testing

Flow features inside centrifugal compressor stages are very complicated to simulate with numerical tools due to the highly complex geometry and varying gas conditions all across the machine. For this reason, a big effort is currently being made to increase the fidelity of the numerical models during the design and validation phases. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) plays an increasing role in the assessment of the performance prediction of centrifugal compressor stages. Historically, CFD was considered reliable for performance prediction on a qualitatively level, whereas tests were necessary to predict compressors performance on a quantitatively basis. In fact "standard" CFD with only the flow-path and blades included into the computational domain is known to be weak in capturing efficiency level and operating range accurately due to the under-estimation of losses and the lack of secondary flows modeling. This research project aims to fill the gap in accuracy between "standard" CFD and tests data by including a high fidelity reproduction of the gas domain and the use of advanced numerical models and tools introduced in the author's OEM in-house CFD code. In other words, this thesis describes a methodology by which virtual tests can be conducted on single stages and multistage centrifugal compressors in a similar fashion to a typical rig test that guarantee end users to operate machines with a confidence level not achievable before. Furthermore, the new "high fidelity" approach allowed understanding flow phenomena not fully captured before, increasing aerodynamicists capability and confidence in designing high efficiency and high reliable centrifugal compressor stages.

Innovative Man Machine Interfaces In Aeronautics

The research activity focused on the study, design and evaluation of innovative human-machine interfaces based on virtual three-dimensional environments. It is based on the brain electrical activities recorded in real time through the electrical impulses emitted by the brain waves of the user. The achieved target is to identify and sort in real time the different brain states and adapt the interface and/or stimuli to the corresponding emotional state of the user. The setup of an experimental facility based on an innovative experimental methodology for “man in the loop" simulation was established. It allowed involving during pilot training in virtually simulated flights, both pilot and flight examiner, in order to compare the subjective evaluations of this latter to the objective measurements of the brain activity of the pilot. This was done recording all the relevant information versus a time-line. Different combinations of emotional intensities obtained, led to an evaluation of the current situational awareness of the user. These results have a great implication in the current training methodology of the pilots, and its use could be extended as a tool that can improve the evaluation of a pilot/crew performance in interacting with the aircraft when performing tasks and procedures, especially in critical situations. This research also resulted in the design of an interface that adapts the control of the machine to the situation awareness of the user. The new concept worked on, aimed at improving the efficiency between a user and the interface, and gaining capacity by reducing the user’s workload and hence improving the system overall safety. This innovative research combining emotions measured through electroencephalography resulted in a human-machine interface that would have three aeronautical related applications: • An evaluation tool during the pilot training; • An input for cockpit environment; • An adaptation tool of the cockpit automation.

Especificación del comportamiento de un avatar en un mundo virtual mediante una ontología

El presente trabajo describe la construcción de una aplicación que controla a un Non Player Character (NPC), en un mundo virtual. La aplicación desarrollada, que tiene como nombre BotManager, realiza dos tareas fundamentales: 1) conectarse al repositorio de conocimiento, que en esta implementación es una ontología expresada en OWL, para obtener las acciones que debe realizar el NPC dentro del mundo virtual; y 2) ordenar al NPC que realice estas acciones en un mundo virtual creado con la plataforma OpenSimulator. BotManager puede tener variadas aplicaciones, por lo tanto puede ser usada como complemento en mundos virtuales aplicados a la educación, simulación, ocio, etc. Ahora bien, la principal razón que motivó el desarrollo del BotManager fue la de crear un sistema de demostración automática de tareas en un mundo virtual destinado a la educación/ entrenamiento. De esta forma, un Sistema Inteligente de Tutoría integrado con un mundo virtual podría demostrar paso a paso a un estudiante cómo realizar una tarea en el mundo virtual. La ontología que lee el BotManager extiende la ontología propuesta en la tesis “Una propuesta de modelado del estudiante basada en ontologías y diagnóstico pedagógico-cognitivo no monótono” de Julia Parraga en el 2011 (Ontología de Julia). La construcción y las pruebas del BotManager se llevaron a cabo en tres etapas: 1) creación de la Ontología de Acciones del NPC que extiende la Ontología de Julia; 2) diseño e implementación de la aplicación en C# que lee la ontología que contiene el plan de acción del NPC, y ordena al NPC realizar las acciones en el mundo virtual; y 3) pruebas de la aplicación con la práctica “preparación de una taza de cafe”, que es parte de un Laboratorio Virtual de Biotecnología. El BotManager se ha diseñado como una aplicación cliente que se conecta a un servidor de Open- Simulator. Por lo tanto, puede ejecutarse en una máquina distinta a la del servidor. Asimismo, en la implementación del BotManager se ha utilizado una librería gratuita denominada LibOpenMetaverse que permite controlar un NPC de forma remota.---ABSTRACT---This paper describes the construction of an application that controls a Non Player Character (NPC), in a virtual world. The application developed, called BotManager, performs two main tasks: 1) the connection to the repository of knowledge, which in this implementation is an ontology expressed in OWL, and retrieving the actions to be performed by the NPC within the virtual world; and 2) commanding the NPC to perform these actions in a virtual world created with the OpenSimulator platform. BotManager can have diverse applications, therefore it can be used as a complement in virtual worlds applied to education, simulation, entertainment, etc. However, the main reason behind the development of BotManager was to create an automatic demonstration of tasks in a virtual world for education / training. Thus, a virtual world integrated with an Intelligent Tutoring Systems could demonstrate step by step to a student how to perform a task in the virtual world. The ontology used by the BotManager extends ontology proposed in the thesis “A proposal for modeling ontologies based student and not monotonous teaching-cognitive diagnosis” by Julia Parraga in 2011 (Julia’s Ontology). Construction and testing of BotManager were conducted in three stages: 1) creation of the NPC Actions Ontology by extending the Julia’s Ontology; 2) design and implementation of the application in C# that reads the ontology containing the plan of action of the NPC, and commands the NPC to perform the read plan in the virtual world; and 3) testing of the application with the practice “preparing a cup of coffee”, which is part of a Virtual Laboratory of Biotechnology. The BotManager has been designed as a client application that connects to an OpenSimulator server. Therefore, it can run on a different machine to the server. To implement the BotManager we have used a free library called libopenmetaverse that allows us to control a NPC remotely.

Learning Data-Driven Models of Non-Verbal Behaviors for Building Rapport Using an Intelligent Virtual Agent

There is a growing societal need to address the increasing prevalence of behavioral health issues, such as obesity, alcohol or drug use, and general lack of treatment adherence for a variety of health problems. The statistics, worldwide and in the USA, are daunting. Excessive alcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States (with 79,000 deaths annually), and is responsible for a wide range of health and social problems. On the positive side though, these behavioral health issues (and associated possible diseases) can often be prevented with relatively simple lifestyle changes, such as losing weight with a diet and/or physical exercise, or learning how to reduce alcohol consumption. Medicine has therefore started to move toward finding ways of preventively promoting wellness, rather than solely treating already established illness. Evidence-based patient-centered Brief Motivational Interviewing (BMI) interven- tions have been found particularly effective in helping people find intrinsic motivation to change problem behaviors after short counseling sessions, and to maintain healthy lifestyles over the long-term. Lack of locally available personnel well-trained in BMI, however, often limits access to successful interventions for people in need. To fill this accessibility gap, Computer-Based Interventions (CBIs) have started to emerge. Success of the CBIs, however, critically relies on insuring engagement and retention of CBI users so that they remain motivated to use these systems and come back to use them over the long term as necessary. Because of their text-only interfaces, current CBIs can therefore only express limited empathy and rapport, which are the most important factors of health interventions. Fortunately, in the last decade, computer science research has progressed in the design of simulated human characters with anthropomorphic communicative abilities. Virtual characters interact using humans’ innate communication modalities, such as facial expressions, body language, speech, and natural language understanding. By advancing research in Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can improve the ability of artificial agents to help us solve CBI problems. To facilitate successful communication and social interaction between artificial agents and human partners, it is essential that aspects of human social behavior, especially empathy and rapport, be considered when designing human-computer interfaces. Hence, the goal of the present dissertation is to provide a computational model of rapport to enhance an artificial agent’s social behavior, and to provide an experimental tool for the psychological theories shaping the model. Parts of this thesis were already published in [LYL+12, AYL12, AL13, ALYR13, LAYR13, YALR13, ALY14].

Competency Based Assessment Using Virtual Reality (VERT): Is It a Realistic Possibility ?

The education of the radiography profession is based within higher education establishments, yet a critical part of all radiography programmes is the clinical component where students learn the practical skills of the profession. Assessments therefore not only have to assess a student’s knowledge, but also their clinical competence and core skills in line with both Health and Care Professions Council and the Society and College of Radiographers requirements. This timely thesis examines the possibility of using the Virtual Environment for RadioTherapy (VERT) as an assessment tool to evaluate a student’s competence so giving the advantage of a standard assessment and relieving time pressures in the clinical department. A mixed methods approach was taken which can be described as a Quantitative Qualitative design with the emphasis being on the Quantitative element; a so called QUAN  qual design. The quantitative evaluation compared two simulations, one in the virtual reality environment and another in the department using a real treatment machine. Students were asked to perform two electron setups in each simulation; the order being randomly decided and so the study would be described as a randomised cross-over design. Following this, qualitative data was collected in student focus groups to explore student perspectives in more depth. Findings indicated that the performance between the two simulators was significantly different, p < 0∙001; the virtual simulation scoring significantly lower than the hospital based simulation overall and in virtually all parameters being assessed. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data supported this finding and identified 4 main themes; equipment use, a lack of reality, learning opportunities and assessment of competence. One other sub-theme identified for reality was that of the environment and senses.

Interface de app para dispositivos móveis de universidade virtual, caso da UAb

O avanço das tecnologias de informação continua a mudar os paradigmas de ensino e aprendizagem. Os meios disponíveis são cada vez mais diversificados e, com a necessidade de procurar novos estudantes e diversificar o público-alvo, as instituições de ensino superior estão a repensar os seus modelos de negócio e estratégias pedagógicas. A proliferação de dispositivos móveis catalisa uma aposta crescente no ensino a distância (EaD) no sentido de proporcionar aprendizagens em mobilidade (m-learning). No entanto, as soluções existentes para m-learning são ainda pouco adaptadas às recentes metodologias de EaD, na maioria das vezes funcionando como extensão de um ambiente virtual de aprendizagem ou com muito foco nos conteúdos. Sendo a Universidade Aberta (UAb) a única instituição de ensino superior público em Portugal de ensino a distância, com um modelo pedagógico próprio, constitui um natural caso de aplicação de tecnologia móvel em novos contextos de aprendizagem, importando por isso estudar e desenhar os mecanismos de interação mais adequados com professores e estudantes em mobilidade. Adotou-se neste trabalho a metodologia Design Science Research, tendo sido identificadas as características e comportamentos de potenciais utilizadores, e definidas as funcionalidades que devem ser disponibilizadas na primeira versão de uma aplicação para dispositivos móveis (app) no contexto do ensino a distância. É proposto o design da interface dessa app, usando o modelo da UAb como caso de aplicação, e disponibilizada uma lista de orientações para o desenvolvimento do protótipo funcional. Da investigação realizada, concluiu-se que a interface proposta constitui um modelo válido para o desenho de uma app para aprendizagens em mobilidade, no regime de ensino de uma universidade virtual. A partir deste modelo, as instituições de ensino superior podem desenvolver apps adaptando-se ao avanço das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação e ficarem alinhadas com as necessidades dos seus alunos e docentes, particularmente se dispuserem de oferta formativa a distância.

Conception of a YBCO Superconducting ZFC-Magnetic Bearing Virtual Prototype

This paper presents the conception of an original superconducting Frictionless Zero Field Cooling bearing virtual prototype. In previous work also shown in this conference, a viability study of a Zero Field Cooling-superconducting bearing concept was conducted. It showed that the virtual prototype is feasible. Moreover, the simulation studies showed that a Zero Field Cooling superconducting track provides not only effective lateral stability but also higher levitation forces than the commonly used Field Cooling tracks. In this paper the new Zero Field Cooling -bearing virtual prototype is modeled in 3D. The virtual prototype was designed having in mind: i) a future implementation in high density polyurethane, for low temperature robustness; ii) future manufacturing in a three axes CNC milling machine and; iii) future implementation of some parts using an additive manufacturing technique.

Exploring the effectiveness of virtual product placement on recall and recognition of new brands

This paper investigates the effectiveness of virtual product placement as a marketing tool by examining the relationship between brand recall and recognition and virtual product placement. It also aims to address a gap in the existing academic literature by focusing on the impact of product placement on recall and recognition of new brands. The growing importance of product placement is discussed and a review of previous research on product placement and virtual product placement is provided. The research methodology used to study the recall and recognition effects of virtual product placement are described and key findings presented. Finally, implications are discussed and recommendations for future research provided.