Modelling gesture recognition systems

Gesture recognition technologies have recently become available to a general consumer market. The most notable of these technologies rely on camera to support gesture recognition using multiple sensors that allow for standard color pictures, infrared pictures and depth sensing. These capabilities allow for variety of applications, including a body's skeleton or hand recognition. The recognition features allow for a multiple type input control. They allow an actor, who is in front of the camera, to apply different hand gestures, or body movements as the controls for an application or game that is running on the system the camera is plugged into. This paper discusses modelling and simulation of gesture recognition technologies

Middleware-based software architecture for interactions in the smart learning environment

Traditional classrooms involve the use of face-to-face and a whiteboard or projector, but the inabilities to micro manage the environment between the teaching staff and the student calls for a need for a smart interactive learning environment. The aim of this work is to develop evidence and experiments for an architecture for a smart learning environment. This paper discusses the design and implementation of integrating haptic technologies into the architecture of a smart learning environment by designing components of service oriented software middleware that defines a common gesture framework. The study utilised a software test-bed to confirm the feasibility of the architectural design based on the proposed framework. The results indicated that the new structural design allows multiple haptic and gesture peripherals to share a common protocol, as well as, facilitate individual devices to work and exist as stand-alone entities within the ambient setting to enhance collaborative learning

The delegitimisation discursive strategies of women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia

This study investigates gender inequality as embodied in the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. To do so, the study draws on critical discourse studies (CDS), in particular the socio- cognitive approach (Van Dijk, 1998, 2008, 2013). The socio-cognitive approach emphasises the importance of investigating the social, cognitive and discursive dimensions of social problems such as dominance and gender inequality. This study, hence, investigates gender inequality as exemplified in the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia in relation to society, cognition and discourse. The social analysis of this study includes an investigation of how sexism is reproduced through the micro level of society: social practices, including laws and regulations and the macro level of society, social structures such as dominance and groups relations. The cognitive and discursive analyses, on the other hand, mainly concern the matter of women driving. The study carries out a detailed textual analysis of texts written by prominent religious and conservative figures in order to delegitimise women’s right to drive. The aim of this analysis is to identify the impact of sexism on cognition; how women’s driving is understood and interpreted and the impact of sexism on discourse; how women’s driving is represented in text. The latter includes an investigation of the discursive strategies employed in the texts in order to delegitimise women’s right to drive. The social analysis shows that gendered power relations in Saudi Arabia emanated primarily from the historical alliance between the monarch, on the on hand, and tribal leaders and Wahhabi clerics on the other hand. Such historical alliance resulted in the state appropriating tribal (patriarchal) values and Wahhabi perspectives of social reality (male centred interpretations of religious teachings) in the formation of public policies. However, gender relations have been, ii also, constantly influenced by other different factors such economic development, modernisation, activism and politicisation. Regarding the textual analysis, the analysis shows that the texts analysed employed two discursive strategies in order to delegitimise women’s rights to drive. Women’s right to drive was discouraged through, first, the delegitimation of the advocates of women’s right to drive. The texts utilized religious and national identities in order to conceal its sexist facet and hence discredit the advocates of women’s right to drive as the enemy of country and religion. Women’s right to drive was also discouraged through the problematisation of women’s driving. The analysis shows that the texts were controlled by a sexist mental model whereby women driving was interpreted and evaluated in terms of patriarchal norms and values

Augmented Reality based monitoring of the remote-lab

© 2014 IEEE. Augmented Reality technology approach has been being adopted within the education sector. The advanced technology tools in many classes have the potential changed of users' attitudes toward the pedagogical and psychological objectives and goals. Moreover, augmented reality has not elicited so much attention within the corridors of education sector as it is now. In order to improve the interactive effectiveness in the smart classroom environment, there is a demand to tailor the innovation technology and align it with every changing requirements and capabilities of various users. Consequently, the educators are increasingly finding augmented reality suitable for deployment in education. In this paper, a project shows how Augmented Reality utilised with overlay Smart-Grid can support the learning process in attractive methods for monitoring events of captured scenes in remote-lab such as video stream, Web-link from smart devices' camera

The Power of IoT in the Era of Digital Transformation

This paper discusses how Internet of Things (IoT) transforms the day-to-day life and how it becomes an integral part of the digital transformation journey that different businesses undertake to pursue operational excellence

Development of an expert system to assist in Resource Management

© 2014 IEEE. This paper aims to demonstrate an idea of utilizing Kohonen Maps as a tool to portray and study resource allocations when constructing an expert system to assist in Resource Management. The context of work encompasses resource allocation and management tasks related to design of courses, as well as, various teaching and learning projects. The key aspect is to show the design of an expert system for resource allocation with the use of Kohonen Maps as an alternative way to visualise the demand and availability of project resources

The Influence of Electrical Stimulation Applied to Muscles On Motor Function in Health and Disease

This dissertation comprises four experimental studies that investigated assessments and interventions for motor performance in healthy adults and in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). One study assessed the differences between individuals with MS and healthy controls on the factors that determine walking performance, and three studies evaluated the influence of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on motor performance in individuals with MS and in middle-aged and older healthy adults.&nbsp; The first study compared how much of the variance in walking performance could be explained by the functional capabilities of lower leg muscles in persons with MS and in a sexand age-matched control group. There were significant differences between the two groups in the force fluctuations during the steady contractions (force steadiness), the strength of the plantar flexor and dorsiflexor muscles, and the discharge characteristics of motor units during steady contractions. Walking performance in the MS group was associated with force steadiness, whereas in the control group was associated with muscle strength, force steadiness, and variance in common input to motor units during steady contractions. The second study assessed the influence of TENS on motor function and disability status in people with MS. Individuals with MS and healthy controls were evaluated before and after receiving nine treatment sessions during which TENS was applied over leg and hand muscles. In the MS group only, the intervention elicited significant improvements in walking speed and endurance, dynamic balance, manual dexterity, and self-reported levels of fatigue and walking limitations. Some improvements reached clinically meaningful levels. The third study compared the influence of continuous and bursting TENS applied to the quadriceps and tibialis anterior muscles on a test of walking endurance (6-min walk test) in middle-aged adults. Both forms of bursting TENS increased walk distance more than continuous TENS, which was also greater than the no TENS condition. Additionally, several walking kinematic variables were adjusted to produce the average increase in walking speed independent of the TENS condition.&nbsp; The final study compared the influence of continuous and bursting TENS on the performance of older adults on the 6-min test of walking endurance and on the ability to maintain balance during upright standing. Participants performed tests of motor function while TENS was applied to the tibialis anterior and rectus femoris muscles of each leg. There was a significant decrease in the absolute and relative distances walked during the first part of the 6-min walk test in both TENS conditions compared with baseline. Similar results were observed for both TENS conditions. In contrast, the concurrent application of TENS did not influence sway area rate during tests of upright standing balance.&nbsp; This dissertation provides foundational knowledge on the utility of using TENS as an intervention modality and for characterizing the integrity of the motor system in health and disease.</p

Interactivity oriented system architecture for the 21st century classroom : the new smart classroom

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.The Smart Classroom is now a typical feature in education emerging from Information Communications Technologies (ICT) and the constant introduction of new technologies into institutional learning. The aim of the Smart Classroom is that users develop skills, adapt and use technologies in a learning context that produces elevated learning outcomes. However, research has shown that the use of ICT in the classroom is often confused or poorly adapted to the learning setting. The main goal of this research is to design Smart Classroom solutions particularly modelling, that address key limitations of system architecture design, technologies and practice. Applications of very recent technologies, such as AR, Haptics, Cloud and IoT/WSNs are investigated. The expected outcomes involve: improving the design of systems architecture; an improved selection and use of devices; improved teaching skills deployment. An extended model of the Smart Classroom is developed. A quality measurement tool for the validation of the system architecture is constructed to evaluate the model and its assumptions. Devices are also assessed measuring interactivity, usability and performance attributes, as well as, an assessment of teaching skills used in the ICT context. Finally, an innovative model of the Smart Classroom architecture that integrates an effective and practical pedagogic approach is proposed

Inhibition of the platelet glycoprotein VI receptor as a potential treatment for acute coronary syndromes

Aspirin and a P2Y$_{12}$ inhibitor, such as ticagrelor, are routine treatments for myocardial infarction. However, these drugs are not always sufficient for heavy coronary thrombus burden during ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). More potent antiplatelet drugs (glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors) may help in this setting but are limited by excessive bleeding. As glycoprotein VI (GPVI) plays major roles in thrombosis, this thesis aimed to investigate whether a novel platelet GPVI inhibitor, glenzocimab (Acticor Biotech), provides additional antithrombotic effects when combined with aspirin and ticagrelor. Glenzocimab showed an amplified antiplatelet effect on collagen and atherosclerotic plaque-induced platelet aggregation without showing off-target effects on platelet activation mediated by non-GPVI agonists. Glenzocimab and eptifibatide (a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa antagonist) both exhibited similar inhibitory effects on collagen- and atherosclerotic plaque-induced platelet aggregation when used in combination with aspirin and ticagrelor. Glenzocimab also reduced fibrin-stimulated platelet aggregation more than aspirin and ticagrelor. Glenzocimab provided additional antiplatelet effects on platelet aggregation and adhesion and thrombus formation in blood sampled from patients with acute coronary syndromes treated with aspirin and ticagrelor. Glenzocimab blocked platelet procoagulant activity and reduced tissue factor-mediated peak thrombin generation. Glenzocimab did not affect early phases of coagulation (initiation, formation, and strength), which were greatly affected by eptifibatide, but it exerted some effects on clot lysis (late phases of coagulation) as assessed by ROTEM. This is the first work to show that the addition of a novel GPVI inhibitor, glenzocimab, to aspirin and ticagrelor provides greater inhibition of multiple critical mechanisms of arterial thrombosis. This is a promising strategy for the further development of treatment for STEMI due to the minimal role of GPVI in haemostasis

Forms and functions of jokes disseminated during the Covid-19 pandemic in Jordan

People in Jordan have suffered the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Jordanian government took some pre-emptive measures to curb the spread of the virus, including the announcement of indefinite curfew and nationwide strict lockdown. Humorous texts appear to be the people’s key to escape from life stress, minimise the pressure of unpleasant situations and increase pleasure. Jordanian humour attracts our attention to find out what it does during the Covid-19 pandemic and investigate its structure. To pursue this aim, a sample of 50 jokes and memes were collected from Facebook and WhatsApp in 2020 and analysed using the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH). The researchers conducted a systematic and detailed analysis of the data relying on the six knowledge resources postulated by the GTVH, which are script opposition, logical mechanism, situation, target, narrative strategy and language. The analysis showed that humour can be viewed as a tool to release the tensions caused by Covid-19 restrictions on mobility and lockdown. It also revealed the people’s comments on different aspects of their life during the pandemic, including but not limited to social contact, economic status and education. In most of the analysed texts, humour is playful and serves the function of decommitment. This study offers insights into Arabic humour discourse, showing how jokes may serve the emerging context and encourage conducting studies on humorous texts in various settings to show what roles they would play