In this paper, we present a novel vibrotactile rendering algorithm for producing real-time tactile interactions suitable for virtual reality applications. The algorithm uses an energy model to produce smooth tactile sensations by continuously recalculating the location of a phantom actuator that represents a virtual touch point. It also employs syncopations in its rendered amplitude to produce artificial perceptual anchors that make the rendered vibrotactile patterns more recognizable. We conducted two studies to compare this Syncopated Energy algorithm to a standard real-time Grid Region algorithm for rendering touch patterns at different vibration amplitudes and frequencies. We found that the Grid Region algorithm afforded better recognition, but that the Syncopated Energy algorithm was perceived to produce smoother patterns at higher amplitudes. Additionally, we found that higher amplitudes afforded better recognition while a moderate amplitude yielded more perceived continuity. We also found that a higher frequency resulted in better recognition for fine-grained tactile sensations and that frequency can affect perceived continuity.

Research advances in the last decades have allowed the introduction of Internet of Things (IoT) concepts in several industrial application scenarios, leading to the so-called Industry 4.0 or Industrial IoT (IIoT). The Industry 4.0 has the ambition to revolutionize industry management and business processes, enhancing the productivity of manufacturing technologies through field data collection and analysis, thus creating real-time digital twins of industrial scenarios. Moreover, it is vital for companies to be as as possible and to adapt to the varying nature of the digital supply chains. This is possible by leveraging IoT in Industry 4.0 scenarios. In this paper, we describe the renovation process, guided by things2i s.r.l., a cross-disciplinary engineering-economic spin-off company of the University of Parma, which a real manufacturing industry is undergoing over consecutive phases spanning a few years. The first phase concerns the digitalization of the control quality process, specifically related to the company's production lines. The use of paper sheets containing different quality checks has been made smarter through the introduction of a digital, smart, and Web-based application, which is currently supporting operators and quality inspectors working on the supply chain through the use of smart devices. The second phase of the IIoT evolution - currently on-going - concerns both digitalization and optimization of the production planning activity, through an innovative Web-based planning tool. The changes introduced have led to significant advantages and improvement for the manufacturing company, in terms of: (i) impressive cost reduction; (ii) better products quality control; (iii) real-time detection and reaction to supply chain issues; (iv) significant reduction of the time spent in planning activity; and (v) resources employment optimization, thanks to the minimization of unproductive setup times on production lines. These two renovation phases represent a basis for possible future developments, such us the integration of sensor-based data on the operational status of production machines and the currently available warehouse supplies. In conclusion, the Industry 4.0-based on-going digitization process guided by things2i allows to continuously collect heterogeneous Human-to-Things (H2T) data, which can be used to optimize the partner manufacturing company as a whole entity.

For mixed reality applications, where reality and virtual reality are spatially merged and aligned in interactive real-time, we propose a pure voxel representation as a rendering and interaction method of choice. We show that voxels\textemdash gap-less volumetric pixels in a regular grid in space\textemdash allow for an actual user experience of a mixed reality environment, for a seamless blending of virtual and real, and for a sense of presence and co-presence in such an environment. If everything is based on voxels, even if coarse, visual coherence is achieved inherently. We argue the case for voxels by (1) conceptually defining and illustrating voxel-based mixed reality, (2) describing the computational feasibility, (3) presenting a fully functioning, low resolution prototype, (4) empirically exploring the user experience, and finally (5) discussing current work and future directions for voxel-based mixed reality. This work is not the first that utilises voxels for mixed reality, but is the first that has an holistic view on voxel-based mixed realities as an effective way of experiencing and interacting with mixed reality environments.

London, UK, 12th–13th October 2004.

Electronic textiles (e-textiles) have played a significant role in computational audio ranging from wearable interfaces for creative expression to more utilitarian purposes such as acoustic monitoring for military applications. This article looks at e-textiles within computational audio from three perspectives: the historical developments of the field; the core enabling technologies; and the primary application areas. It closes with a discussion of what role e-textiles may play in future computational audio systems.

Background: Mainly due to an increase in stress-related health problems and driven by recent technological advances in biosensors, microelectronics, computing platform, and human-computer interaction, ubiquitous physiological information will potentially transform the role of biofeedback in clinical treatment. Such technology is also likely to provide a useful tool for stress management in everyday life. The aim of this systematic review is to: (1) Classify biofeedback systems for stress management, with a special focus on biosensing techniques, bio-data computing approaches, biofeedback protocol, and feedback modality. (2) Review ways of evaluating approaches to biofeedback applications in terms of their effectiveness in stress management. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted using keywords for "Biofeedback" and "Stress" within the following databases: PubMed, IEEE Xplore, ACM, and Scopus. Two independent reviewers were involved in selecting articles. Results: We identified 103 studies published between 1990 and 2016, 46 of which met our inclusion criteria and were further analyzed. Based on the evidence reviewed, HRV, multimodal biofeedback, RSP, HR, and GSR appear to be the most common techniques for alleviating stress. Traditional screen-based visual displays remain the most common devices used for biofeedback display. Biofeedback applications are usually assessed by making both physiological and psychological measurements. Conclusions: This review reveals several challenges related to biofeedback for everyday stress management, such as facilitating user's perception and interpretating the biofeedback information, the demand of ubiquitous biosensing and display technologies, and field evaluation in order to understand the use of biofeedback in everyday environments. We expect that various emerging HCI technologies could be used to address these challenges. New interaction designs as well as biofeedback paradigms can be further explored in order to improve the accessibility, usability, comfort, engagement with, and user experience of biofeedback in everyday use.

Novice science learners or introductory science students vary greatly in their understanding of the nature of science. For example, many students do not conceive of scientific knowledge as a highly ordered, coherent, knowledge structure that contains a set of interrelated ideas. Such a framework enables the learner to relate new material to prior knowledge and, if warranted, assimilate the new material within the framework. Many students have strong beliefs that knowledge is conveyed by authorities, such as the instructor and the textbook. Also many student's own knowledge structure is fragmented or “in pieces,” as described by diSessa. Fortunately, this portrayal is not valid for all students. Many other students enter the classroom with productive intellectual values and possess, or can quickly develop with little prompting, alternative, and coherent conceptions that conflict with target ideas. These students are able to relate new material to prior knowledge and, if warranted, assimilate new material into pre-existing conceptions. The challenge of contemporary science education reform is therefore to address the diverse needs of a “mixed student epistemology” classroom. In this paper we review three instructional strategies that show promise to address this challenge in the context of an introductory physics classroom: (1) the Reflective Writing and Labatorial interventions of Kalman et al. (2) the Conceptual Conflict Collaborative Group and Critique approaches of Kalman and Rohar, and (3) the integrated Elicit-and-Challenge and Bridging Technique strategies of Lattery. Each approach stresses the need for students to critically examine their own ideas in relation to target course ideas and discuss their ideas with peers. The second and third approaches emphasize the important role of the history and philosophy of science in science teaching. The aim of such efforts is not only to convey subject-matter content knowledge, but also to shape the student mindset, metacognitive practice, and understanding of the nature of science.

We present the results of a twenty-year long university-school partnership in which pre-service teachers collaborated with cooperative teachers and peers during their field experiences (practicums). The partnership evolved as a design experiment. Papers presented at AERA but never submitted to a research journal were revisited applying cultural-historical activity theory to understand the university-school partnership’s activity in terms of motive/object, instruments, community, roles, and rules/policies. We point to tensions that manifested contradictions between activity systems. Suggestions for boundary crossing when field experiences are part of an undergraduate program are made.

Interest drives our focus of attention and plays an important role in social communication. Given its relevance for many activities (e.g., learning, entertainment) a system able to automatically detect someone's interest has several potential applications. In this paper, we analyze the physiological and behavioral patterns associated with visual interest and present a method for the automatic recognition of interest, curiosity and their most relevant appraisals, namely, coping potential, novelty and complexity. We conducted an experiment in which participants watched images and micro-videos while multimodal signals were recorded - facial expressions, galvanic skin response (GSR), and eye gaze. After watching each stimulus, participants self-reported their level of interest, curiosity, coping potential, perceived novelty, and complexity. Results showed that interest was associated with other facial Action Units than smiling when dynamics was taken into consideration, especially inner brow raiser and eye lid tightener. Longer saccades were also present when participants watched interesting stimuli. However, correlations of appraisals with specific facial Action Units and eye gaze were in general stronger than those we found for interest. We trained random forests regression models to detect the level of interest, curiosity, and appraisals from multimodal features. The recognition models - unimodal and multimodal - for appraisals generally outperformed those for interest, in particular for static images. In summary, our study suggests that automatic appraisal detection may be a suitable way to detect subtle emotions like interest for which prototypical expressions do not exist.

We propose a novel system which can transform a recipe into any selected regional style (e.g., Japanese, Mediterranean, or Italian). This system has two characteristics. First the system can identify the degree of regional cuisine style mixture of any selected recipe and visualize such regional cuisine style mixtures using barycentric Newton diagrams. Second, the system can suggest ingredient substitutions through an extended word2vec model, such that a recipe becomes more authentic for any selected regional cuisine style. Drawing on a large number of recipes from Yummly, an example shows how the proposed system can transform a traditional Japanese recipe, Sukiyaki, into French style.