Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) art in care of ageing society: focus on dementia

open access articleBackground: Art enhances both physical and mental health wellbeing. The health benefits include reduction in blood pressure, heart rate, pain perception and briefer inpatient stays, as well as improvement of communication skills and self-esteem. In addition to these, people living with dementia benefit from reduction of their noncognitive, behavioural changes, enhancement of their cognitive capacities and being socially active. Methods: The current study represents a narrative general literature review on available studies and knowledge about contribution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in creative arts. Results: We review AI visual arts technologies, and their potential for use among people with dementia and care, drawing on similar experiences to date from traditional art in dementia care. Conclusion: The virtual reality, installations and the psychedelic properties of the AI created art provide a new venue for more detailed research about its therapeutic use in dementia

e-Spective: pervasive computing presenting a new perspective of the city

As urban environments become increasingly hybrid physical and digital spaces, designing for public computing in city contexts requires researchers and practitioners to explore the intersections between spatial and physical context, sociality and pervasive computing technologies. This paper presents the e-Spective research project bringing together expertise from the fields of architecture, sociology, human-computer interaction, and computer science to explore inner city socialising and to design and evaluate in situ a public pervasive computer system prototype facilitating sociality by adding to a city precinct a digital layer of information about people, places and activities adapted to each individual user’s own physical and social context. Making invisible dimensions of the inhabited physical space around you visible, the prototype system augments the city and contributes to the ongoing reshaping of urban life by facilitating new kinds of behaviour and situated social interactions in public spaces

Concise and Effective Network for 3D Human Modeling from Orthogonal Silhouettes

In this paper, we revisit the problem of 3D human modeling from two orthogonal silhouettes of individuals (i.e., front and side views). Different from our prior work {\cite{wang2003virtual}}, a supervised learning approach based on \textit{convolutional neural network} (CNN) is investigated to solve the problem by establishing a mapping function that can effectively extract features from two silhouettes and fuse them into coefficients in the shape space of human bodies. A new CNN structure is proposed in our work to exact not only the discriminative features of front and side views and also their mixed features for the mapping function. 3D human models with high accuracy are synthesized from coefficients generated by the mapping function. Existing CNN approaches for 3D human modeling usually learn a large number of parameters (from {8.5M} to {355.4M}) from two binary images. Differently, we investigate a new network architecture and conduct the samples on silhouettes as input. As a consequence, more accurate models can be generated by our network with only {2.4M} coefficients. The training of our network is conducted on samples obtained by augmenting a publicly accessible dataset. Learning transfer by using datasets with a smaller number of scanned models is applied to our network to enable the function of generating results with gender-oriented (or geographical) patterns

Calipso: Physics-based Image and Video Editing through CAD Model Proxies

We present Calipso, an interactive method for editing images and videos in a physically-coherent manner. Our main idea is to realize physics-based manipulations by running a full physics simulation on proxy geometries given by non-rigidly aligned CAD models. Running these simulations allows us to apply new, unseen forces to move or deform selected objects, change physical parameters such as mass or elasticity, or even add entire new objects that interact with the rest of the underlying scene. In Calipso, the user makes edits directly in 3D; these edits are processed by the simulation and then transfered to the target 2D content using shape-to-image correspondences in a photo-realistic rendering process. To align the CAD models, we introduce an efficient CAD-to-image alignment procedure that jointly minimizes for rigid and non-rigid alignment while preserving the high-level structure of the input shape. Moreover, the user can choose to exploit image flow to estimate scene motion, producing coherent physical behavior with ambient dynamics. We demonstrate Calipso's physics-based editing on a wide range of examples producing myriad physical behavior while preserving geometric and visual consistency.Comment: 11 page

Interstice

When I was about three years old, I distinctly remember being too small to see what was on top of the table. A couple of years later, when I could see those objects, I thought the world around me had grown smaller. In a way, it did, as I experienced, lived, captured, remembered, and shared the space repeatedly. This sense of the world shrinking was exaggerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing new behaviours and modes of interaction to emerge. Continually shaping our modern lives, virtual technologies redefine how we access and share information and stories or even explore new places. Thanks to the exponential increase in our computing powers, we live in hyper- connectivity, constantly in sync with our multiple screens, tabs, devices and profiles. Smartphones serve as two- way communication bringing the world in and letting the home out. As people increasingly rely on digital tools for work, communication, and leisure, the boundaries between physical and digital realms have become blurred. The overlap of our stories, information and spaces has subsequently led to challenges in managing the clutter and disorganization that can arise in physical and digital realms, affecting productivity, well-being, and overall user experience. In response, this thesis aims to create a hybrid space that carefully calibrates information and architecture to initiate interactivity within home settings. The thesis adopts a human-centred design approach, including user interviews and iterative prototyping, to understand how augmented reality (AR) augments reality. Research focuses on young adults, primarily students and working professionals who have access to smart devices where increasing demand for personalized experiences present an ideal environment for AR to grow and thrive. Overall, the research and prototypes are representative of AR as a tool for novelty in familiarity, offering new ways of enhancing interactions and immersive experiences within the home. I believe this synthesis of our physical and digital elements will lead to a de-cluttered and productive mode of engagement

ARShopping: In-Store Shopping Decision Support Through Augmented Reality and Immersive Visualization

Online shopping gives customers boundless options to choose from, backed by extensive product details and customer reviews, all from the comfort of home; yet, no amount of detailed, online information can outweigh the instant gratification and hands-on understanding of a product that is provided by physical stores. However, making purchasing decisions in physical stores can be challenging due to a large number of similar alternatives and limited accessibility of the relevant product information (e.g., features, ratings, and reviews). In this work, we present ARShopping: a web-based prototype to visually communicate detailed product information from an online setting on portable smart devices (e.g., phones, tablets, glasses), within the physical space at the point of purchase. This prototype uses augmented reality (AR) to identify products and display detailed information to help consumers make purchasing decisions that fulfill their needs while decreasing the decision-making time. In particular, we use a data fusion algorithm to improve the precision of the product detection; we then integrate AR visualizations into the scene to facilitate comparisons across multiple products and features. We designed our prototype based on interviews with 14 participants to better understand the utility and ease of use of the prototype.Comment: VIS 2022 Short Paper; 5 page

Geospatial technologies for physical planning: Bridging the gap between earth science and planning

The application of geospatial information technologies has increased recently due to increase in data sources from the earth sciences. The systematic data collection, storage and processing together with data transformation require geospatial information technologies. Rapidly developing computer technology has become an effective tool in design and physical planning in international platforms. Especially, the availability of geospatial information technologies (remote sensing, GIS, spatial models and GPS) for diverse disciplines and the capability of these technologies in data conversion from two dimensions to the three dimensions provide great efficiency. Thus, this study explores how digital technologies are reshaping physical planning and design. While the potential of digital technologies is well documented within physical planning and visualization, its application within practice is far less understood. This paper highlights the role of the geospatial information technologies in encouraging a new planning and design logic that moves from the privileging of the visual to a focus on processes of formation, bridging the interface of the earth science and physical planning