Texture Mixer: A Network for Controllable Synthesis and Interpolation of Texture

This paper addresses the problem of interpolating visual textures. We formulate this problem by requiring (1) by-example controllability and (2) realistic and smooth interpolation among an arbitrary number of texture samples. To solve it we propose a neural network trained simultaneously on a reconstruction task and a generation task, which can project texture examples onto a latent space where they can be linearly interpolated and projected back onto the image domain, thus ensuring both intuitive control and realistic results. We show our method outperforms a number of baselines according to a comprehensive suite of metrics as well as a user study. We further show several applications based on our technique, which include texture brush, texture dissolve, and animal hybridization.Comment: Accepted to CVPR'1

Exploring Research through Design in Animal-Computer Interaction

This paper explores Research through Design (RtD) as a potential methodology for developing new interactive experiences for animals. We present an example study from an on-going project and examine whether RtD offers an appropriate framework for developing knowledge in the context of Animal-Computer Interaction, as well as considering how best to document such work. We discuss the design journey we undertook to develop interactive systems for captive elephants and the extent to which RtD has enabled us to explore concept development and documentation of research. As a result of our explorations, we propose that particular aspects of RtD can help ACI researchers gain fresh perspectives on the design of technology-enabled devices for non-human animals. We argue that these methods of working can support the investigation of particular and complex situations where no idiomatic interactions yet exist, where collaborative practice is desirable and where the designed objects themselves offer a conceptual window for future research and development

EEG analysis based on dynamic visual stimuli: best practices in analysis of sign language data

This paper reviews best practices for experimental design and analysis for sign language research using neurophysiological methods, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and other methods with high temporal resolution, as well as identifies methodological challenges in neurophysiological research on natural sign language processing. In particular, we outline the considerations for generating linguistically and physically well-controlled stimuli accounting for 1) the layering of manual and non-manual information at different timescales, 2) possible unknown linguistic and non-linguistic visual cues that can affect processing, 3) variability across linguistic stimuli, and 4) predictive processing. Two specific concerns with regard to the analysis and interpretation of observed event related potential (ERP) effects for dynamic stimuli are discussed in detail. First, we discuss the “trigger/effect assignment problem”, which describes the difficulty of determining the time point for calculating ERPs. This issue is related to the problem of determining the onset of a critical sign (i.e., stimulus onset time), and the lack of clarity as to how the border between lexical (sign) and transitional movement (motion trajectory between individual signs) should be defined. Second, we discuss possible differences in the dynamics within signing that might influence ERP patterns and should be controlled for when creating natural sign language material for ERP studies. In addition, we outline alternative approaches to EEG data analyses for natural signing stimuli, such as the timestamping of continuous EEG with trigger markers for each potentially relevant cue in dynamic stimuli. Throughout the discussion, we present empirical evidence for the need to account for dynamic, multi-channel, and multi-timescale visual signal that characterizes sign languages in order to ensure the ecological validity of neurophysiological research in sign languages

Critical race theoretical composition pedagogy and its effects

This research study explores the composing practices of several first-year composition students in two English 250 classes offered at Iowa State University. The study examines and analyzes intercultural awareness students have regarding race, diversity, and life, their own and others’. Using the inductive analysis research design, the research establishes a baseline perspective of students as they perceive themselves or not perceive themselves as “raced bodies.” Additionally, the baseline informs concurrent and emerging themes that students portray when exploring their own self-authorship and their persistent beliefs about how race and culture are or are not significant to composition studies. The relevance of the critical race lens, an identification of racial influences present in all sectors of US society, is a key element of this research study, for in it, the researcher discovers the extent of the social, cultural, and racial influences students perceive in the classroom. The English 250 classes taught had students from various racial backgrounds and skillsets. The class began with the Implicit Association Test on Race that informed students of the test’s interpretation of any pre-existing racial biases they may have had. The course curriculum encouraged students to view themselves from educational, social, and cultural perspectives that helped them gain confidence in self-authorship. The curriculum also included readings from a multicultural reader and racially/culturally-based analyses of scholarship on and about authors from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. Subsequent analysis of student work yielded results that revealed any initial biases students had about race. It also revealed the extent to which students achieved cultural awareness during the course

Collaborative synthesis of visual analytic results

Visual analytic tools allow analysts to generate large collections of useful analytical results. We anticipate that analysts in most real world situations will draw from these collections when working together to solve complicated problems. This indicates a need to understand how users synthesize multiple collections of results. This paper reports the results of collaborative synthesis experiments conducted with expert geographers and disease biologists. Ten participants were worked in pairs to complete a simulated real-world synthesis task using artifacts printed on cards on a large, paper-covered workspace. Experiment results indicate that groups use a number of different approaches to collaborative synthesis, and that they employ a variety of organizational metaphors to structure their information. It is further evident that establishing common ground and role assignment are critical aspects of collaborative synthesis. We conclude with a set of general design guidelines for collaborative synthesis support tools

Modeling Clinicians’ Cognitive and Collaborative Work in Post-Operative Hospital Care

abstract: Clinicians confront formidable challenges with information management and coordination activities. When not properly integrated into clinical workflow, technologies can further burden clinicians’ cognitive resources, which is associated with medical errors and risks to patient safety. An understanding of workflow is necessary to redesign information technologies (IT) that better support clinical processes. This is particularly important in surgical care, which is among the most clinical and resource intensive settings in healthcare, and is associated with a high rate of adverse events. There are a growing number of tools to study workflow; however, few produce the kinds of in-depth analyses needed to understand health IT-mediated workflow. The goals of this research are to: (1) investigate and model workflow and communication processes across technologies and care team members in post-operative hospital care; (2) introduce a mixed-method framework, and (3) demonstrate the framework by examining two health IT-mediated tasks. This research draws on distributed cognition and cognitive engineering theories to develop a micro-analytic strategy in which workflow is broken down into constituent people, artifacts, information, and the interactions between them. It models the interactions that enable information flow across people and artifacts, and identifies dependencies between them. This research found that clinicians manage information in particular ways to facilitate planned and emergent decision-making and coordination processes. Barriers to information flow include frequent information transfers, clinical reasoning absent in documents, conflicting and redundant data across documents and applications, and that clinicians are burdened as information managers. This research also shows there is enormous variation in how clinicians interact with electronic health records (EHRs) to complete routine tasks. Variation is best evidenced by patterns that occur for only one patient case and patterns that contain repeated events. Variation is associated with the users’ experience (EHR and clinical), patient case complexity, and a lack of cognitive support provided by the system to help the user find and synthesize information. The methodology is used to assess how health IT can be improved to better support clinicians’ information management and coordination processes (e.g., context-sensitive design), and to inform how resources can best be allocated for clinician observation and training.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Biomedical Informatics 201

Virtual workplaces : when metaphors breakdown

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1998.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81).Our model of work is shaped by the places we choose to work and the tools we choose to work with. As we introduce new technologies and build new environments our model is changing. Today's virtual workplaces are grounded in models of work that have been reformed from our experiences using current technology in physical workspace. However we are discovering opportunities and possibilities for work in collaborative, virtual environments that question physical models. Emerging patterns of distributed collaboration in persistent virtual environments are changing the way we work in time and space, recasting our notion of workplace. Virtual workplaces are interpreted and experienced through metaphors that describe a space of potential for work occurrences. Through the lens of metaphors, this research focuses on breakdowns between collaborative work and the environment in which work occurs. If what we understand and predict is based on what we already know, then by examining the breakdowns between design and use of collaborative environments we can illuminate the space of possibilities for collaborative work.by Thomas W.I. Gallemore.M.S