457 research outputs found
Generating expressive speech for storytelling applications
Work on expressive speech synthesis has long focused on the expression of basic emotions. In recent years, however, interest in other expressive styles has been increasing. The research presented in this paper aims at the generation of a storytelling speaking style, which is suitable for storytelling applications and more in general, for applications aimed at children. Based on an analysis of human storytellers' speech, we designed and implemented a set of prosodic rules for converting "neutral" speech, as produced by a text-to-speech system, into storytelling speech. An evaluation of our storytelling speech generation system showed encouraging results
Touch Technology in Affective Human, Robot, Virtual-Human Interactions: A Survey
Given the importance of affective touch in human interactions, technology designers are increasingly attempting to bring this modality to the core of interactive technology. Advances in haptics and touch-sensing technology have been critical to fostering interest in this area. In this survey, we review how affective touch is investigated to enhance and support the human experience with or through technology. We explore this question across three different research areas to highlight their epistemology, main findings, and the challenges that persist. First, we review affective touch technology through the human–computer interaction literature to understand how it has been applied to the mediation of human–human interaction and its roles in other human interactions particularly with oneself, augmented objects/media, and affect-aware devices. We further highlight the datasets and methods that have been investigated for automatic detection and interpretation of affective touch in this area. In addition, we discuss the modalities of affective touch expressions in both humans and technology in these interactions. Second, we separately review how affective touch has been explored in human–robot and real-human–virtual-human interactions where the technical challenges encountered and the types of experience aimed at are different. We conclude with a discussion of the gaps and challenges that emerge from the review to steer research in directions that are critical for advancing affective touch technology and recognition systems. In our discussion, we also raise ethical issues that should be considered for responsible innovation in this growing area
Virtual Meeting Rooms: From Observation to Simulation
Much working time is spent in meetings and, as a consequence, meetings have become the subject of multidisciplinary research. Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMRs) are 3D virtual replicas of meeting rooms, where various modalities such as speech, gaze, distance, gestures and facial expressions can be controlled. This allows VMRs to be used to improve remote meeting participation, to visualize multimedia data and as an instrument for research into social interaction in meetings. This paper describes how these three uses can be realized in a VMR. We describe the process from observation through annotation to simulation and a model that describes the relations between the annotated features of verbal and non-verbal conversational behavior.\ud
As an example of social perception research in the VMR, we describe an experiment to assess human observers’ accuracy for head orientation
Decay-assisted collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy: Application to neutron-deficient francium
This paper reports on the hyperfine-structure and radioactive-decay studies
of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes Fr performed with the
Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) experiment at the ISOLDE
facility, CERN. The high resolution innate to collinear laser spectroscopy is
combined with the high efficiency of ion detection to provide a
highly-sensitive technique to probe the hyperfine structure of exotic isotopes.
The technique of decay-assisted laser spectroscopy is presented, whereby the
isomeric ion beam is deflected to a decay spectroscopy station for alpha-decay
tagging of the hyperfine components. Here, we present the first
hyperfine-structure measurements of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes
Fr, in addition to the identification of the low-lying states of
Fr performed at the CRIS experiment.Comment: Accepted for publication with Physical Review
Laser spectroscopy of francium isotopes at the borders of the region of reflection asymmetry
The magnetic dipole moments and changes in mean-square charge radii of the
neutron-rich isotopes were measured with the
newly-installed Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) beam line at
ISOLDE, CERN, probing the to atomic
transition. The values for
and follow the observed increasing
slope of the charge radii beyond . The charge radii odd-even
staggering in this neutron-rich region is discussed, showing that
has a weakly inverted odd-even staggering while
has normal staggering. This suggests that both isotopes
reside at the borders of a region of inverted staggering, which has been
associated with reflection-asymmetric shapes. The value supports a shell model configuration for the
ground state. The values support the tentative
spin, and point to a intruder ground state configuration.Comment: Accepted for publication with Physical Review
Isomer shift and magnetic moment of the long-lived 1/2 isomer in Zn: signature of shape coexistence near Ni
Collinear laser spectroscopy has been performed on the Zn
isotope at ISOLDE-CERN. The existence of a long-lived isomer with a few hundred
milliseconds half-life was confirmed, and the nuclear spins and moments of the
ground and isomeric states in Zn as well as the isomer shift were
measured. From the observed hyperfine structures, spins and
are firmly assigned to the ground and isomeric states. The magnetic moment
(Zn) = 1.1866(10) , confirms the spin-parity
with a shell-model configuration, in excellent
agreement with the prediction from large scale shell-model theories. The
magnetic moment (Zn) = 1.0180(12) supports a
positive parity for the isomer, with a wave function dominated by a 2h-1p
neutron excitation across the shell gap. The large isomer shift
reveals an increase of the intruder isomer mean square charge radius with
respect to that of the ground state:
= +0.204(6) fm, providing first evidence of shape coexistence.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepeted by Phys. Rev. Lett. (2016
Potential of imprecision: exploring vague language in agent instructors
As we find greater potential for agent instructors, we must be aware of how their language use can affect the user and interaction as a whole. This study investigates the use of intentionally imprecise or vague language as a communicative strategy to mitigate the impact of instructions. We look at the effects it has on improving the perception of agents and user performance. A series of assembly tasks were ran in which users constructed Lego models with the spoken instructions of vague and non-vague agents. Results show that though the non-vague agent was seen as more direct and authoritative, responses to other attributes and performance were much more varied. Findings suggest there is potential for vague language human-agent interaction, though there are several obstacles in agent design to overcome first
Optimisation of a lozenge-based sensor for detecting impending blockage of urinary catheters
Catheter-associated urinary tract infections resulting from urease-positive microorganisms are more likely to cause a urinary catheter blockage owing to the urease activity of the microbes. Catheter blockage can be dangerous and increases the risk of severe infections, such as sepsis. Ureases, a virulence factor in Proteus mirabilis, cause an increase in urine pH - leading to blockage. An optimised biosensor "lozenge" is presented here, which is able to detect impending catheter blockage. This lozenge has been optimised to allow easy manufacture and commercialisation. It functions as a sensor in a physiologically representative model of a catheterised urinary tract, providing 6.7 h warning prior to catheter blockage. The lozenge is stable in healthy human urine and can be sterilized for clinical use by ethylene oxide. Clinically, the lozenge will provide a visible indication of impending catheter blockage, enabling quicker clinical intervention and thus reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with blockage.</p
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