The design and development of motion detection edutainment maths for use with slow learners’ children

This research is aimed to examine game-based motion detection technology in helping slow learners’ children to improve and enhance their levels of attention and concentration while learning mathematics. The study also aims to explore that game-based motion detection engage slow learners’ children while learning mathematics. Additionally, the current study examined the role of game-based motion detection in improving the attention and concentration of slow learners’ children as compared to normal healthy students, in terms of learning mathematics and the educational outcomes of such classes Slow learners are considering a wide different range of students who are not performing well in their study. These group could be including ADHD, Autism, impulsive students, inattention and many more. In this research, I have designed and developed a motion-based mathematic game using Kinect Xbox to test and check the effectiveness and efficiency of slow learners’ students in compare with normal students. For the above purpose, the game has been designed based on several learning theories such as Mayer Principles of learning, Kolb’s Learning style and Piaget Theory for K5 and grade 6-8 years old. In experiment design, I have used System Usability Scale (SUS) to rate the features and PACES, Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale have been used for experimentation of the participants. For testing, both qualitative and quantitative model have been accomplished. Qualitative model was based on the feedback from expert teachers who are observing the students and quantitative model was based on demographic analysis, normality test, reliability analysis and validity test. The outcome illustrates the value of game-based instruction, in specific physical activities and their impact on children's mathematics. The current study findings highlighted the suitability, needfulness, attention, and enhanced learning through game based instructional design for slow learners. The study answers the advantages of using game based instructional design for the slow learner students

The design and development of motion detection edutainment maths for use with slow learners’ children

This research is aimed to examine game-based motion detection technology in helping slow learners’ children to improve and enhance their levels of attention and concentration while learning mathematics. The study also aims to explore that game-based motion detection engage slow learners’ children while learning mathematics. Additionally, the current study examined the role of game-based motion detection in improving the attention and concentration of slow learners’ children as compared to normal healthy students, in terms of learning mathematics and the educational outcomes of such classes Slow learners are considering a wide different range of students who are not performing well in their study. These group could be including ADHD, Autism, impulsive students, inattention and many more. In this research, I have designed and developed a motion-based mathematic game using Kinect Xbox to test and check the effectiveness and efficiency of slow learners’ students in compare with normal students. For the above purpose, the game has been designed based on several learning theories such as Mayer Principles of learning, Kolb’s Learning style and Piaget Theory for K5 and grade 6-8 years old. In experiment design, I have used System Usability Scale (SUS) to rate the features and PACES, Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale have been used for experimentation of the participants. For testing, both qualitative and quantitative model have been accomplished. Qualitative model was based on the feedback from expert teachers who are observing the students and quantitative model was based on demographic analysis, normality test, reliability analysis and validity test. The outcome illustrates the value of game-based instruction, in specific physical activities and their impact on children's mathematics. The current study findings highlighted the suitability, needfulness, attention, and enhanced learning through game based instructional design for slow learners. The study answers the advantages of using game based instructional design for the slow learner students

Human-Computer Interaction

In this book the reader will find a collection of 31 papers presenting different facets of Human Computer Interaction, the result of research projects and experiments as well as new approaches to design user interfaces. The book is organized according to the following main topics in a sequential order: new interaction paradigms, multimodality, usability studies on several interaction mechanisms, human factors, universal design and development methodologies and tools

Interactive Machine Learning for User-Innovation Toolkits – An Action Design Research approach

Machine learning offers great potential to developers and end users in the creative industries. However, to better support creative software developers' needs and empower them as machine learning users and innovators, the usability of and developer experience with machine learning tools must be considered and better understood. This thesis asks the following research questions: How can we apply a user-centred approach to the design of developer tools for rapid prototyping with Interactive Machine Learning? In what ways can we design better developer tools to accelerate and broaden innovation with machine learning? This thesis presents a three-year longitudinal action research study that I undertook within a multi-institutional consortium leading the EU H2020 -funded Innovation Action RAPID-MIX. The scope of the research presented here was the application of a user-centred approach to the design and evaluation of developer tools for rapid prototyping and product development with machine learning. This thesis presents my work in collaboration with other members of RAPID-MIX, including design and deployment of a user-centred methodology for the project, interventions for gathering requirements with RAPID-MIX consortium stakeholders and end users, and prototyping, development and evaluation of a software development toolkit for interactive machine learning. This thesis contributes with new understanding about the consequences and implications of a user-centred approach to the design and evaluation of developer tools for rapid prototyping of interactive machine learning systems. This includes 1) new understanding about the goals, needs, expectations, and challenges facing creative machine-learning non-expert developers and 2) an evaluation of the usability and design trade-offs of a toolkit for rapid prototyping with interactive machine learning. This thesis also contributes with 3) a methods framework of User-Centred Design Actions for harmonising User-Centred Design with Action Research and supporting the collaboration between action researchers and practitioners working in rapid innovation actions, and 4) recommendations for applying Action Research and User-Centred Design in similar contexts and scale

Multimedia Development of English Vocabulary Learning in Primary School

In this paper, we describe a prototype of web-based intelligent handwriting education system for autonomous learning of Bengali characters. Bengali language is used by more than 211 million people of India and Bangladesh. Due to the socio-economical limitation, all of the population does not have the chance to go to school. This research project was aimed to develop an intelligent Bengali handwriting education system. As an intelligent tutor, the system can automatically check the handwriting errors, such as stroke production errors, stroke sequence errors, stroke relationship errors and immediately provide a feedback to the students to correct themselves. Our proposed system can be accessed from smartphone or iPhone that allows students to do practice their Bengali handwriting at anytime and anywhere. Bengali is a multi-stroke input characters with extremely long cursive shaped where it has stroke order variability and stroke direction variability. Due to this structural limitation, recognition speed is a crucial issue to apply traditional online handwriting recognition algorithm for Bengali language learning. In this work, we have adopted hierarchical recognition approach to improve the recognition speed that makes our system adaptable for web-based language learning. We applied writing speed free recognition methodology together with hierarchical recognition algorithm. It ensured the learning of all aged population, especially for children and older national. The experimental results showed that our proposed hierarchical recognition algorithm can provide higher accuracy than traditional multi-stroke recognition algorithm with more writing variability

RFID Technology in Intelligent Tracking Systems in Construction Waste Logistics Using Optimisation Techniques

Construction waste disposal is an urgent issue for protecting our environment. This paper proposes a waste management system and illustrates the work process using plasterboard waste as an example, which creates a hazardous gas when land filled with household waste, and for which the recycling rate is less than 10% in the UK. The proposed system integrates RFID technology, Rule-Based Reasoning, Ant Colony optimization and knowledge technology for auditing and tracking plasterboard waste, guiding the operation staff, arranging vehicles, schedule planning, and also provides evidence to verify its disposal. It h relies on RFID equipment for collecting logistical data and uses digital imaging equipment to give further evidence; the reasoning core in the third layer is responsible for generating schedules and route plans and guidance, and the last layer delivers the result to inform users. The paper firstly introduces the current plasterboard disposal situation and addresses the logistical problem that is now the main barrier to a higher recycling rate, followed by discussion of the proposed system in terms of both system level structure and process structure. And finally, an example scenario will be given to illustrate the system’s utilization

Feature based dynamic intra-video indexing

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyWith the advent of digital imagery and its wide spread application in all vistas of life, it has become an important component in the world of communication. Video content ranging from broadcast news, sports, personal videos, surveillance, movies and entertainment and similar domains is increasing exponentially in quantity and it is becoming a challenge to retrieve content of interest from the corpora. This has led to an increased interest amongst the researchers to investigate concepts of video structure analysis, feature extraction, content annotation, tagging, video indexing, querying and retrieval to fulfil the requirements. However, most of the previous work is confined within specific domain and constrained by the quality, processing and storage capabilities. This thesis presents a novel framework agglomerating the established approaches from feature extraction to browsing in one system of content based video retrieval. The proposed framework significantly fills the gap identified while satisfying the imposed constraints of processing, storage, quality and retrieval times. The output entails a framework, methodology and prototype application to allow the user to efficiently and effectively retrieved content of interest such as age, gender and activity by specifying the relevant query. Experiments have shown plausible results with an average precision and recall of 0.91 and 0.92 respectively for face detection using Haar wavelets based approach. Precision of age ranges from 0.82 to 0.91 and recall from 0.78 to 0.84. The recognition of gender gives better precision with males (0.89) compared to females while recall gives a higher value with females (0.92). Activity of the subject has been detected using Hough transform and classified using Hiddell Markov Model. A comprehensive dataset to support similar studies has also been developed as part of the research process. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) providing a friendly and intuitive interface has been integrated into the developed system to facilitate the retrieval process. The comparison results of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) shows that the performance of the system closely resembles with that of the human annotator. The performance has been optimised for time and error rate

Accessibility of Health Data Representations for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities for Design

Health data of consumer off-the-shelf wearable devices is often conveyed to users through visual data representations and analyses. However, this is not always accessible to people with disabilities or older people due to low vision, cognitive impairments or literacy issues. Due to trade-offs between aesthetics predominance or information overload, real-time user feedback may not be conveyed easily from sensor devices through visual cues like graphs and texts. These difficulties may hinder critical data understanding. Additional auditory and tactile feedback can also provide immediate and accessible cues from these wearable devices, but it is necessary to understand existing data representation limitations initially. To avoid higher cognitive and visual overload, auditory and haptic cues can be designed to complement, replace or reinforce visual cues. In this paper, we outline the challenges in existing data representation and the necessary evidence to enhance the accessibility of health information from personal sensing devices used to monitor health parameters such as blood pressure, sleep, activity, heart rate and more. By creating innovative and inclusive user feedback, users will likely want to engage and interact with new devices and their own data

MOBILE ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING (MALL):Teacher uses of smartphone applications (apps) to support undergraduate students’ English as a Foreign Language (EFL) vocabulary development

The purpose of this study is to highlight how smartphones, specifically smartphone applications, can be integrated into the vocabulary development of adult English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners in an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Academic Studies (EAS) context. In the literature on Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), it is largely claimed that the development of language-related technology is on the increase and that the number of tech-savvy students will also grow in the future. These ubiquitous tools, which may also be defined as widely-used, could potentially improve teaching and learning outcomes in vocabulary development, especially through applications installed on smartphones. However, schools and other higher education institutes have not yet fully integrated these devices into their courses and have mostly perceived them as distractors. Moreover, there is limited research on how smartphones could be utilised sensibly, both inside and outside the classroom. This study, therefore, aims to explore methods and approaches which could facilitate vocabulary development and pre-teach EAP words outside the classroom through smartphone applications, while saving in-class time for other activities. The focus in the present study is on vocabulary development, as it is considered to be a priority area in language learning. The majority of language teachers and applied linguistic researchers have recognised the importance of vocabulary learning and aim to promote it further. McCarthy (1990) promotes the idea further, stating that the single, biggest component of any language course through the experience of most language teachers is vocabulary. It is the knowledge of words, which expresses a wide range of meaning. The participants in the present study were required to develop their academic vocabulary, this being a common problem area for EFL learners. Academic vocabulary development is important for them, because when submitting academic assignments, learners have a pressing need to use advanced level academic vocabulary items. This study was conducted using a case-study approach focusing on 20 EFL students at a university in Britain who were attending Pre-sessional EAP classes during the period of the study. Uses of smartphone applications were developed by the teacher, who also acted as the researcher in this study. The focus has been on the students’ perceptions, opinions and overall experience of using these smartphone applications in their EAP vocabulary development, as well as how effective they were. The intention was to discover how the tools can be incorporated into the learning process. The data were collected through questionnaires, a pre-test and a post-test, interviews, diaries and the researcher’s logbook. The latter included a written report of the students’ daily activities and learning experiences, their challenges and success/lack of success in learning. The study provides a rich description and analysis of the effectiveness of smartphone applications in vocabulary development mainly through qualitative data analysis. Limited use of quantitative analysis is made when reporting through numbers and percentages as well as displaying figures. It is anticipated that the results of the study will help to determine the appropriate use of smartphone applications in the vocabulary development of adult EFL students