Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

Haptics: Science, Technology, Applications

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications, EuroHaptics 2022, held in Hamburg, Germany, in May 2022. The 36 regular papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 129 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: haptic science; haptic technology; and haptic applications

Brain-Computer Interfaces

Die vorliegende Dissertation beschreibt Ergebnisse der Arbeit, durchgeführt am Fraunhofer Institut für Rechnerarchitektur und Softwaretechnik (FIRST), insbesondere bei der Forschungsgruppe für Intelligente Datenanalyse (IDA), im Rahmen des Projektes "Brain-Computer Interface" (BCI). Das angestrebte Ziel des aktuell laufenden Projektes ist es, ein Hardware- und Software-System zu entwerfen und zu entwickeln, das in der Lage ist elektroencephalographische (EEG)Signale(gewonnen auf eine nicht-invasive Art, mit Hilfe der Oberflächenelektroden, die über dem Kopf des Benutzers angebracht sind), in Echtzeit in spezielle Kommandos umzuwandeln, so dass für den Probanden eine verlässliche Steuerung einer Computeranwendung, bzw. eines Gerätes ermöglicht wird. Die Steuerung einer Computeranwendung soll im Rahmen dieser Arbeit in Form von einfachen Computerspielen (Ping-Pong, Pacman, Tetris) repräsentiert werden, im Weiteren bezeichnet als "Brain-Gaming". Hierzu sind fundierte Überlegungen zum Entwurf und Realisierung einer Kommunikationsschnittstelle und des zugehörigen Protokolls angestellt worden. Ein weiterer wichtiger Bestandteil jeder Steuerung ist deren Strategie und der Befehlssatz der Anwendung. So wurden mehrere Strategien entwickelt, implementiert und in verschiedenen Szenarien experimentell erprobt. Die Flexibilität der Steuerungsschnittstelle stellte sich als einer der wichtigsten Aspekte beim Entwurf und der Entwicklung von Rückkopplungsanwendungen. Bei der Steuerung eines Gerätes kann es sich um das Lenken und Bewegen eines Rollstuhls, z.B. für querschnittsgelehmte Patienten, oder um das Bewegen einer Arm-, bzw. Beinprothese für Patienten mit amputierten Extremitäten handeln. Dies wurde vorerst als Simulation einer Extremität (Arm) auf dem Computer-Bildschirm realisiert, so dass es in zukünftigen Experimenten an bedürftigen Patienten getestet werden kann. Im Gegensatz zu Brain-Gaming Experimenten, bei denen der Spieler mit einem zusätzlichen Kommunikationskanal (der unabhängig von anderen normalen Kanälen des menschlichen neuromuskulären Systems ist) ausgestattet wird, stellen die Experimente an Patienten keine Anforderung an die ultra-schnelle Erkennung der Bewegungsabsicht; So kann das Steuersignal zur Ausführung einer simulierten Bewegung auch nach dem Auslösen der eigentlichen Phantombewegung, sogar nach deren Ausführung, erkannt werden. In Experimenten mit Feedback-Szenarien, die kompetitiven Spielen ähneln, können verschiedene Aspekte der ultraschnellen Erkennung einer Bewegungsintension mit Hilfe von Reaktionstests untersucht werden. Dieses eröffnet neue Perspektiven bei der Ausführung von Präventivmaßnahmen in zeitkritischen Anwendungen. Diese Dissertation, sowie die Entwicklung und Implementierung des Prototyps basiert auf fundierten Erkenntnissen der Neurophysiologie; Ein ausgewähltes Kapitel dieser Dissertation verschafft deshalb tieferen Einblick in die menschliche Neurophysiologie. Ferner, beschreibt ein gesondertes Kapitel dieser Dissertation die Entwicklung und Implementierung eines online Prototyps " des BBCI-Systems (Berliner Brain-Computer Interface) " in dessen Einzelkomponenten und der Gesamtheit aus dem Sichtpunkt der Softwaretechnik. Im Rahmen der Arbeit wurden mehrere Rückkopplungsmodule (Bio-Feedback), sowohl spielerischen Charakters, als auch zu Rehabilitationszwecken entwickelt, die hier im Detail vorgestellt werden. Mit besonderer Aufmerksamkeit wurde der Einfluss des online Bio-Feedbacks auf den Probanden untersucht.This dissertation aims to describe work carried out at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology (FhG-FIRST), in particular at the research group for Intelligent Data Analysis (IDA), within the project "Brain-Computer Interface" (BCI). The goal of that project is to design and develop a hardware and software system that is capable of transforming, in real-time, electroencephalographic (EEG) signals (signals retrieved in a non-invasive way from surface electrodes placed over the user's head) into specific commands such that the user gains reliable control over a computer application or a device. In this dissertation, control over a computer application will be represented with "Brain-Gaming", i.e. simple computer games like Ping-Pong, Pacman or Tetris. To this end, substantial considerations were made on the design and realization of a communication interface and its corresponding protocol. A further important component of every control operation is its strategy and the control alphabet, i.e. the command set. For this purpose, several control strategies were developed, implemented and proved experimentally in different scenarios. The most important aspect of the design and development of these interfaces turned out to be their flexibility. Control over a device could include the steering and moving of a wheel-chair for paralyzed patients or the gaining of control over an arm or foot prosthesis for patients with amputated limbs. The latter was realized here as a computer-based simulation of a virtual limb (e.g. arm), such that it can be tested in future experiments on patients with amputated limbs. In contrast to the "Brain-Gaming" experiments, where the player was equipped with an additional communication channel (one that exists independently of normal communication channels of the human neuromuscular system), the experiments with patients did not require an ultra-fast recognition of the intended movement; i.e. the command signal for a simulated movement can be recognized after the phantom movement is initialized and performed. In experiments with feedback scenarios, which can be resembled as competitive games, several aspects of ultra-fast movement detection could be investigated with reaction tests. This opens new perspectives for the execution of preventive actions in time-critical applications. This dissertation, and the development and implementation of the prototype, is based on well-founded insights into human neurophysiology; one chapter will deal exclusively with these insights. Moreover, a special chapter of this dissertation will also describe the development and implementation of an online prototype of the BBCI system (Berlin Brain-Computer Interface) from the software engineering viewpoint. A number of bio-feedback modules, for gaming and for rehabilitation purposes, were developed within this work and will be presented in detail. Special attention was paid to the influence of the online bio-feedback on the user's behavior

Queer quests: journeying through manifestations of queerness in video games

This thesis focuses on the various manifestations of queerness in video games, and investigates how video games’ queer potential connects and clashes with LGBTQ politics, as well as with gaming culture and hegemonic masculinity. Through the lens of queer theory, I adopt two main angles of approach. Firstly, I concentrate on video game characters and study them as vessels of queer politics. Focusing on two game characters, and their reception within gaming communities, I explore the limits and potentials of the queer politics in video games. As such, despite the prevalence of heteronormative values in video game narratives, I argue that some game characters embody unexpected vessels of queer hope. Expanding upon this argument, this thesis moves away from queer characters and interrogates the inherent queerness of games themselves. In doing so, I delve into multiple choice dialogue systems and forms of ‘aimless’ game exploration, and argue that games can enfold the player in a queer, timeless bubble where alternative possibilities loom on the horizon. As such, I argue that the player escapes from normative time structures and freely articulates game time and space. In this way, these sequences occur in a queer temporality which runs counter to core game mechanics, such as achievements and rewards. Extending this queering of game, I finally argue that particular counternormative gaming practices, such as intentionally losing, celebrate the failure of heteromasculinity both inside and outside gaming culture. In this way, and throughout this thesis, I argue that video games operate as a multidimensional medium, providing various instances where queerness manifests itself. While I demonstrate that some of these instances can be found in other popular media such as cinema and literature, I argue that video game queerness also takes unique shapes that are exclusive to the medium. As such, I suggest that video games, as a polysemic medium, gleam with queer potentiality, and are pioneers in revealing new queer embodiments

TOWARDS STEADY-STATE VISUALLY EVOKED POTENTIALS BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACES FOR VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENTS EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT INTERACTION

In the last two decades, Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have been investigated mainly for the purpose of implementing assistive technologies able to provide new channels for communication and control for people with severe disabilities. Nevertheless, more recently, thanks to technical and scientific advances in the different research fields involved, BCIs are gaining greater attention also for their adoption by healthy users, as new interaction devices. This thesis is dedicated to to the latter goal and in particular will deal with BCIs based on the Steady State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP), which in previous works demonstrated to be one of the most flexible and reliable approaches. SSVEP based BCIs could find applications in different contexts, but one which is particularly interesting for healthy users, is their adoption as new interaction devices for Virtual Reality (VR) environments and Computer Games. Although being investigated since several years, BCIs still poses several limitations in terms of speed, reliability and usability with respect to ordinary interaction devices. Despite of this, they may provide additional, more direct and intuitive, explicit interaction modalities, as well as implicit interaction modalities otherwise impossible with ordinary devices. This thesis, after a comprehensive review of the different research fields being the basis of a BCI exploiting the SSVEP modality, present a state-of-the-art open source implementation using a mix of pre-existing and custom software tools. The proposed implementation, mainly aimed to the interaction with VR environments and Computer Games, has then been used to perform several experiments which are hereby described as well. Initially performed experiments aim to stress the validity of the provided implementation, as well as to show its usability with a commodity bio-signal acquisition device, orders of magnitude less expensive than commonly used ones, representing a step forward in the direction of practical BCIs for end users applications. The proposed implementation, thanks to its flexibility, is used also to perform novel experiments aimed to investigate the exploitation of stereoscopic displays to overcome a known limitation of ordinary displays in the context of SSVEP based BCIs. Eventually, novel experiments are presented investigating the use of the SSVEP modality to provide also implicit interaction. In this context, a first proof of concept Passive BCI based on the SSVEP response is presented and demonstrated to provide information exploitable for prospective applications

The New Fuzziness: Richard Rorty on Education

The New Fuzziness: Richard Rorty and Education is an examination of the works of Richard Rorty, focusing on his impact on education. Richard Rorty is one of the most provocative and influential of contemporary thinkers writing in English. This unpublished manuscript is written by Dr. Philip E. Devine, Professor of Philosophy at Providence College

Reading Cruft: A Cognitive Approach to the Mega-Novel

Reading Cruft offers a new critical model in which to examine a genre vital to modern literature, the mega-novel. Building on theoretical work in both cognitive narratology and cognitive poetics, it argues that the mega-novel is primarily characterized by its inclusion of a substantial amount of pointless text ( cruft ), which it uses to challenge its readers\u27 abilities to modulate their attention and rapidly shift their modes of text processing. Structured into five chapters respectively devoted to subgenres in which mega-novels have been grouped--the dictionary novel, the encyclopedic novel, the Menippean satire, the picaresque and frame-tale, and the epic and allegory--it demonstrates how these books make substantial use of their generic elements but also include text that fails to either fulfill or subvert their most crucial elements, rendering much of their text into excess that cannot be deeply processed. However, mega-novels also contain text that, though appearing to be cruft, is actually quite important, forcing readers to subtly distinguish between the text that does require deep attention and that which does not. This requires readers to develop more sophisticated procedures of attentional modulation in text processing. Reading Cruft argues that the education of attention this process prompts can aid readers in learning to manage the information overload that increasingly characterizes every aspect of contemporary life