Natural User Interface Usability Research in Context of Curved Displays Systems

Continuous development of information technologies makes us review ex-isting rules and recommendations designed to improve the efficiency of IT use, to ensure optimal working conditions for the users, to increase produc-tivity, security and to protect human health. Relevant researrch in the field of computer engineering is performed in the dissertation. The thesis analyzes natural user interfaces and their usabil-ity (efficiency, productivity and satisfaction with witch a particular user can reach specific goals in a specific environment) for performing of various functions. This dissertation examines factors, which determine efficiency of usability, and how efficiency is influenced by a curved display. The problem is relevant and the raised goal and objectives are new from the point of view of science. First of all, the thesis examines how to improve working conditions by developing graphical user interface of the infor-mation systems. Secondly, the influence of information submission to human, while one is performing task and specific domain tasks using graph-ical user interface, is examined. As there is no common opinion on how to create natural user interfaces and there is no definite set of parameters which determine the efficiency of usability, performed experimental research is an important contribution to the solution of these problems

Emotion and Stress Recognition Related Sensors and Machine Learning Technologies

This book includes impactful chapters which present scientific concepts, frameworks, architectures and ideas on sensing technologies and machine learning techniques. These are relevant in tackling the following challenges: (i) the field readiness and use of intrusive sensor systems and devices for capturing biosignals, including EEG sensor systems, ECG sensor systems and electrodermal activity sensor systems; (ii) the quality assessment and management of sensor data; (iii) data preprocessing, noise filtering and calibration concepts for biosignals; (iv) the field readiness and use of nonintrusive sensor technologies, including visual sensors, acoustic sensors, vibration sensors and piezoelectric sensors; (v) emotion recognition using mobile phones and smartwatches; (vi) body area sensor networks for emotion and stress studies; (vii) the use of experimental datasets in emotion recognition, including dataset generation principles and concepts, quality insurance and emotion elicitation material and concepts; (viii) machine learning techniques for robust emotion recognition, including graphical models, neural network methods, deep learning methods, statistical learning and multivariate empirical mode decomposition; (ix) subject-independent emotion and stress recognition concepts and systems, including facial expression-based systems, speech-based systems, EEG-based systems, ECG-based systems, electrodermal activity-based systems, multimodal recognition systems and sensor fusion concepts and (x) emotion and stress estimation and forecasting from a nonlinear dynamical system perspective

Políticas de Copyright de Publicações Científicas em Repositórios Institucionais: O Caso do INESC TEC

A progressiva transformação das práticas científicas, impulsionada pelo desenvolvimento das novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC), têm possibilitado aumentar o acesso à informação, caminhando gradualmente para uma abertura do ciclo de pesquisa. Isto permitirá resolver a longo prazo uma adversidade que se tem colocado aos investigadores, que passa pela existência de barreiras que limitam as condições de acesso, sejam estas geográficas ou financeiras. Apesar da produção científica ser dominada, maioritariamente, por grandes editoras comerciais, estando sujeita às regras por estas impostas, o Movimento do Acesso Aberto cuja primeira declaração pública, a Declaração de Budapeste (BOAI), é de 2002, vem propor alterações significativas que beneficiam os autores e os leitores. Este Movimento vem a ganhar importância em Portugal desde 2003, com a constituição do primeiro repositório institucional a nível nacional. Os repositórios institucionais surgiram como uma ferramenta de divulgação da produção científica de uma instituição, com o intuito de permitir abrir aos resultados da investigação, quer antes da publicação e do próprio processo de arbitragem (preprint), quer depois (postprint), e, consequentemente, aumentar a visibilidade do trabalho desenvolvido por um investigador e a respetiva instituição. O estudo apresentado, que passou por uma análise das políticas de copyright das publicações científicas mais relevantes do INESC TEC, permitiu não só perceber que as editoras adotam cada vez mais políticas que possibilitam o auto-arquivo das publicações em repositórios institucionais, como também que existe todo um trabalho de sensibilização a percorrer, não só para os investigadores, como para a instituição e toda a sociedade. A produção de um conjunto de recomendações, que passam pela implementação de uma política institucional que incentive o auto-arquivo das publicações desenvolvidas no âmbito institucional no repositório, serve como mote para uma maior valorização da produção científica do INESC TEC.The progressive transformation of scientific practices, driven by the development of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which made it possible to increase access to information, gradually moving towards an opening of the research cycle. This opening makes it possible to resolve, in the long term, the adversity that has been placed on researchers, which involves the existence of barriers that limit access conditions, whether geographical or financial. Although large commercial publishers predominantly dominate scientific production and subject it to the rules imposed by them, the Open Access movement whose first public declaration, the Budapest Declaration (BOAI), was in 2002, proposes significant changes that benefit the authors and the readers. This Movement has gained importance in Portugal since 2003, with the constitution of the first institutional repository at the national level. Institutional repositories have emerged as a tool for disseminating the scientific production of an institution to open the results of the research, both before publication and the preprint process and postprint, increase the visibility of work done by an investigator and his or her institution. The present study, which underwent an analysis of the copyright policies of INESC TEC most relevant scientific publications, allowed not only to realize that publishers are increasingly adopting policies that make it possible to self-archive publications in institutional repositories, all the work of raising awareness, not only for researchers but also for the institution and the whole society. The production of a set of recommendations, which go through the implementation of an institutional policy that encourages the self-archiving of the publications developed in the institutional scope in the repository, serves as a motto for a greater appreciation of the scientific production of INESC TEC

Information density and visual activity in dynamic pictures

Zbog velikog utjecaja na društvo vizualni mediji tema su kontinuiranog istraživanja u ovom i u prošlom stoljeću. U ovoj disertaciji predložen je i provjeren model mjerenja vizualne aktivnosti medija koji se temelji na algoritmima za uklanjanje pozadine poznatim u području računalnog vida. Algoritmi za uklanjanje pozadine obrađuju video sadržaje na način da se kao izlaz obrade dobije dvobojni video sadržaj, pri čemu je jedna boja detektirani pokretni objekt, dok je druga nepomična pozadina. Koristeći omjer broja točaka detektiranih pokretnih objekata i ukupnog broja točaka u nekom video sadržaju može se kvantificirati količina pokreta, što je ključna ideja ove disertacije. S obzirom da je dostupno nekoliko desetaka različitih algoritama za uklanjanje pozadine, za izbor odgovarajućeg algoritma korišten je Model ograničenog kapaciteta obrade motiviranih posredovanih poruka, kojim je moguće kvantificirati gustoću informacija video sadržaja. Nakon izbora algoritma za uklanjanje pozadine, predloženi model uspoređen je s postojećim modelom za mjerenje vizualne aktivnosti, tj. Cuttingovim Indeksom vizualne aktivnosti pri čemu je dobiven vrlo visok koeficijent korelacije rs = 0,823. Potom je testirana robusnost obaju modela s obzirom na šum. Provjera predloženog modela provedena je na skupu od 50 filmova koji su dobili nagradu Academy Award for Best Picture između 1965. i 2014. godine, te 30 video spotova koji su dobili nagradu MTV Best Music Video između 1984. i 2013. godine. Uočen je statistički značajan rast vrijednosti, odnosno predložena mjera ukazuje na porast vizulane aktivnosti kroz vrijeme.Due to their large influence on the society visual media have been a subject of research in the last two centuries. New opportunities for analysis of visual media have been created through digitisation and development of information and communication technologies. A phenomenon observed by many authors is constant growth of video content activity. This thesis puts forward the method of visual media activity measurement based on the background subtraction algorithms that are known for computer vision systems. Gibson (1954) defines the term visual activity as the totality of movement of objects and people along a constant background and visual information gained through movement of the observer. The problem of visual activity measurment stems from the fact that it is desirable to include the recipient of the information because the amount of emitted visual information and perceived visual activity are not necessarily in a correlation. The background subtraction algorithms process video content in such manner that output of the processing is a two-colour video content where one colour is a detected movable object, while the other is stationary background. The key concept in this thesis is that it is possible to quantify movement by using a ratio of the number of pixels of the detected movable objects and the total number of pixels in the given video content. Since several dozen different background subtraction algorithms are available, the Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing was used in order to select the suitable one. It is a model capable of quantification of video information density. The model itself also includes recipients of visual information. Following the selection of the background subtraction algorithms, the proposed model for visual activity measuring was compared with the existing visual activity measurement model – Cutting’s visual activity index – and a strong correlation of rs = 0.823 was observed. It is obvious that both models take into consideration similar properties of video content. Furthermore, due to properties of the underlying algorithms themselves, the proposed visual activity measurement model based on background subtraction algorithms is significantly less susceptible to noise than Cutting’s visual activity index. That has also been proven by introduction of noise in video content which led to significant increases of the visual activity index – even in cases of comparably low noise levels – while the same was not observed with the background subtraction visual activity index. It is to be expected that the visual activity mesuring model based on background subtraction will be less sensitive to application of varying levels of video content compression than Cutting’s visual activity index. The final testing of the proposed model was performed using two groups of video content. The first group consisted of 50 recipients of the Academy Award for Best Picture presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences between 1965 and 2014. The second group consisted of recipients of the MTV Best Music Video award presented between 1984 and 2013. The Mann-Kendall Trend Test was used to test background subtraction visual activity index changes concerning the award-winning feature films in the above 5-decade period. It was revealed that the value grew in the period. The same test was applied to test the changes in the award-winning music videos in the above 3-decade period – likewise revealing a growth of the background subtraction visual activity index. As an alternative to the Cutting’s visual activity index, the background subtraction visual activity index shall allow scientists in the field of humanities and social sciences to quantify visual activity which is hitherto described in qualitative terms in their works. A potential opportunity for further development and automation of the Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing is also introduced because measurement of certain aspects of information density could be automated

Shortest Route at Dynamic Location with Node Combination-Dijkstra Algorithm

Abstract— Online transportation has become a basic requirement of the general public in support of all activities to go to work, school or vacation to the sights. Public transportation services compete to provide the best service so that consumers feel comfortable using the services offered, so that all activities are noticed, one of them is the search for the shortest route in picking the buyer or delivering to the destination. Node Combination method can minimize memory usage and this methode is more optimal when compared to A* and Ant Colony in the shortest route search like Dijkstra algorithm, but can’t store the history node that has been passed. Therefore, using node combination algorithm is very good in searching the shortest distance is not the shortest route. This paper is structured to modify the node combination algorithm to solve the problem of finding the shortest route at the dynamic location obtained from the transport fleet by displaying the nodes that have the shortest distance and will be implemented in the geographic information system in the form of map to facilitate the use of the system. Keywords— Shortest Path, Algorithm Dijkstra, Node Combination, Dynamic Location (key words