Vision-based interaction within a multimodal framework

Our contribution is to the field of video-based interaction techniques and is integrated in the home environment of the EMBASSI project. This project addresses innovative methods of man-machine interaction achieved through the development of intelligent assistance and anthropomorphic user interfaces. Within this project, multimodal techniques represent a basic requirement, especially considering those related to the integration of modalities. We are using a stereoscopic approach to allow the natural selection of devices via pointing ges-tures. The pointing hand is segmented from the video images and the 3D position and orientation of the forefinger is calculated. This modality has a subsequent integration with that of speech, in the context of a multimodal interaction infrastructure. In a first phase, we use semantic fusion with amodal input, considering the modalities in a so-called late fusion state

The effect of body mass index on global brain volume in middle-aged adults: a cross sectional study

BACKGROUND: Obesity causes or exacerbates a host of medical conditions, including cardiovascular, pulmonary, and endocrine diseases. Recently obesity in elderly women was associated with greater risk of dementia, white matter ischemic changes, and greater brain atrophy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether body type affects global brain volume, a marker of atrophy, in middle-aged men and women. METHODS: T1-weighted 3D volumetric magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess global brain volume for 114 individuals 40 to 66 years of age (average = 54.2 years; standard deviation = 6.6 years; 43 men and 71 women). Total cerebrospinal fluid and brain volumes were obtained with an automated tissue segmentation algorithm. A regression model was used to determine the effect of age, body mass index (BMI), and other cardiovascular risk factors on brain volume and cognition. RESULTS: Age and BMI were each associated with decreased brain volume. BMI did not predict cognition in this sample; however elevated diastolic blood pressure was associated with poorer episodic learning performance. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that middle-aged obese adults may already be experiencing differentially greater brain atrophy, and may potentially be at greater risk for future cognitive decline

Dissolving the dichotomies between online and campus‑based teaching: a collective response to The Manifesto for teaching online

This article is a collective response to the 2020 iteration of The Manifesto for Teach-ing Online. Originally published in 2011 as 20 simple but provocative statements, the aim was, and continues to be, to critically challenge the normalization of education as techno-corporate enterprise and the failure to properly account for digital methods in teaching in Higher Education. The 2020 Manifesto continues in the same critically pro-vocative fashion, and, as the response collected here demonstrates, its publication could not be timelier. Though the Manifesto was written before the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the responses gathered here inevitably reflect on the experiences of moving to digi-tal, distant, online teaching under unprecedented conditions. As these contributions reveal, the challenges were many and varied, ranging from the positive, breakthrough opportunities that digital learning offered to many students, including the disabled, to the problematic, such as poor digital networks and access, and simple digital poverty. Regardless of the nature of each response, taken together, what they show is that The Manifesto for Teaching Online offers welcome insights into and practical advice on how to teach online, and creatively confront the supremacy of face-to-face teaching

Dissolving the dichotomies between online and campus-based teaching: a collective response to The manifesto for teaching online (Bayne et al. 2020)

This article is a collective response to the 2020 iteration of The Manifesto for Teaching Online. Originally published in 2011 as 20 simple but provocative statements, the aim was, and continues to be, to critically challenge the normalization of education as techno-corporate enterprise and the failure to properly account for digital methods in teaching in Higher Education. The 2020 Manifesto continues in the same critically provocative fashion, and, as the response collected here demonstrates, its publication could not be timelier. Though the Manifesto was written before the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the responses gathered here inevitably reflect on the experiences of moving to digital, distant, online teaching under unprecedented conditions. As these contributions reveal, the challenges were many and varied, ranging from the positive, breakthrough opportunities that digital learning offered to many students, including the disabled, to the problematic, such as poor digital networks and access, and simple digital poverty. Regardless of the nature of each response, taken together, what they show is that The Manifesto for Teaching Online offers welcome insights into and practical advice on how to teach online, and creatively confront the supremacy of face-to-face teaching

INL - Integrierte Netzbasierte Lernumgebung - Neue Medien in der universitären Ausbildung

Der Einsatz der Neuen Medien und die Integration innovativer Technologien in die universitäre Ausbildung sind in gleichem Maße Trend wie Notwendigkeit. Mit der enormen Durchdringung der unterschiedlichsten Lebensbereiche durch das WWW ist dieser Prozeß noch erheblich beschleunigt worden. Es ist fast selbstverständlich, dass eine Hochschule Lernmaterial auch über das Internet zur Verfügung stellt. Dem entsprechend hat sich das Angebot von Lernmaterial im WWW vervielfacht und der Computer ist als Werkzeug zur Wissensvermittlung neu entdeckt worden

Internet-based Learning & Training as a Challenge for Universities -what we learned from Ideals-

With the emerging accessibility of the Internet and the World Wide Web, this new medium has been discovered as a powerful dissemination channel for various purposes. On our evolution towards the Information Society and as an effect of the ongoing globalization, the Internet is becoming a key factor in the area of education, either. In the past years, many projects have tried and indeed are still trying to usse the Internet as an environment for educational purposes, especially for distance learning. Firstly, the paper describes different aspects and implications, that the emerge of the Internet and the WWW might ore more likely will have on the future of higher education. Secondly, the conceptual foundation for a future Internet-based learning and teaching environment is presented and the realization and the achievements of the project IDEALS are introduced. Finally, the attempt of formulating recommendations based on our experience for a successful establishing of Internet based learning at Institutes of Higher Education is done

Lernerprofilierung - Wissen, was der Lernende weiß

Web-based learning environment rarely use information about the learner's knowledge state to adapt courses. This paper introduces different approaches of learner profiling and how the utilisation of the information about the learner profits the learning process. It describes some relations to current standardisation initiatives. An overview on our approach, that uses meta-data associated with learning materials to collect knowledge related information is presented. A description of possibilities to use this information for assessment and runtime adaptation of courses is given

Internet-based learning and training as a challenge for universities -what we learned from ideals-

With the emerging accessibility of the Internet and the World Wide Web, this new medium has been discovered as a powerful dissemination channel for various purposes. On our evolution towards the Information Society and as an effect of the ongoing globalization, the Internet is becoming a key factor in the area of education, either. In the past years, many projects have tried and indeed are still trying to usse the Internet as an environment for educational purposes, especially for distance learning. Firstly, the paper describes different aspects and implications, that the emerge of the Internet and the WWW might ore more likely will have on the future of higher education. Secondly, the conceptual foundation for a future Internet-based learning and teaching environment is presented and the realization and the achievements of the project IDEALS are introduced. Finally, the attempt of formulating recommendations based on our experience for a successful establishing of Internet based learning at Institutes of Higher Education is done