Scenario Generation with Cellular Automaton for Game-based Crisis Simulation System

Crisis is infrequent and unpredictable event which is challenging to prepare and resolve. Scenario generation for modeling a crisis using computational approach is preferable due to its flexibility to produce automated variation of scenario based on different setup key factors. Combining crisis generation with game technology, serious-game game can be developed to provide potential support in training and simulation practice of real-world crisis situation to different stakeholders. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a computational framework to provide automated generation of a fire crisis scenario with firefighter-agent simulation using cellular automaton with influence map for agent behavior optimization, and visualization using a 3D game engine. The framework is evaluated based on performance, convergence and realistic behavior of both crisis event (e.g. fire propagation or control) and crisis resolution (e.g. firefighter solving the crisis)

Survey: Development and analysis of a games-based crisis scenario generation system

Crisis is an infrequent and unpredictable event which is challenging to prepare and resolve. Serious-game approach proved to provide potential support in training and simulating event of real-world crisis situation to different stakeholders. Yet in practice, the approach meets with difficulty on how to setup and utilize different core components such as asset management, crisis scenario generation, agent simulation, real-world constraints, and the evaluation process to yield beneficial information upon running the system. To address this issue, the key question is what can be done to propose a general crisis game-based framework providing necessary core components while generating evaluation result yielding potential analytical data for a crisis management process. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to review and consolidate the existing research on scenario generation techniques and related crisis simulation framework, then to propose novel solution to combine both processes and to derive a desirable scenario content which is also being validated in the simulation framework based on the JADE multi-agent architecture. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Improving Camera Pose Estimation for Indoor Marker-less Augmented Reality

Vision-based Augmented Reality (AR) techniques rely heavily on Computer Vision algorithms for most of their tasks. It is understood that these algorithms require numerous parameters to function and their values can affect their outputs. Oftentimes the results vary greatly when different parameters were used and as a result, the performance of the AR technique that utilises them varies accordingly as well. This paper aims at improving the performance of AR techniques by employing a novel algorithm to adjust the parameters automatically during runtime. More specifically, the proposed technique works on improving the camera pose estimation stage, arguably one of the most crucial stages, of such AR systems

Simulation of Area of Interest Management for Massively Multiplayer Online Games Using OPNET

In recent years, there has been an important growth of online gaming. Today’s Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) can contain millions of synchronous players scattered across the world and participating with each other within a single shared game. The increase in the number of players in MMOGs has led to some issues with the demand of server which generates a significant increase in costs for the game industry and impacts to the quality of service offered to players. With the number of players gradually increasing, servers still need to work efficiently under heavy load and, new researches are required to improve the established MMOG system architectures. In dealing with a considerable scale of massively multiplayer online games, several client-server and peer-to-peer solutions have been proposed. Although they have improved the scalability of MMOGs in different degrees, they faced new serious challenges in interest management. In this paper, we propose a novel static area of interest management in order to reduce the delay and traffic of Hybrid P2P MMOGs. We propose to use OPNET Modeler 18.0, and in particular the custom application to simulate the new architecture, which required the implementation of new nodes models and behaviors in the simulator to emulate correctly the new architecture. The scenarios include both client-server and hybrid P2P system to evaluate the communication of games with (125, 500, and 1000) peers. The simulation results show that area of interest management for MMOGs based on the hybrid P2P architectures have low delay and traffic received compared with MMOGs based on client-server system

A Novel Multi-Agent Planning System for Digital Interactive Storytelling

Digital Interactive Storytelling (DIS) is a relatively novel area of computer entertainment that aims at investigating interactive applications capable of generating consistent, emergent, and rich stories. To provide new solutions for DIS, we designed and are implementing and evaluating a novel multi-agent DIS framework, DIEGESIS, which includes agents' coordination and new planning and re-planning solutions. In this article, we discuss the design and implementation of DIEGESIS, explaining in detail the mechanisms of our planning algorithms, and the story execution and agent coordination algorithms, along with a planning methods evaluation and agent planning and coordination examples. We are currently in the process of creating a large DIS scenario, involving the story of Homer's Troy, with several levels that will allow us to further evaluate and expand our system

Coarticulation and speech synchronization in MPEG-4 based facial animation

In this paper, we present a novel coarticulation and speech synchronization framework compliant with MPEG-4 facial animation. The system we have developed uses MPEG-4 facial animation standard and other development to enable the creation, editing and playback of high resolution 3D models; MPEG-4 animation streams; and is compatible with well-known related systems such as Greta and Xface. It supports text-to-speech for dynamic speech synchronization. The framework enables real-time model simplification using quadric-based surfaces. Our coarticulation approach provides realistic and high performance lip-sync animation, based on Cohen-Massaro’s model of coarticulation adapted to MPEG-4 facial animation (FA) specification. The preliminary experiments show that the coarticulation technique we have developed gives overall good and promising results when compared to related techniques

Predicting and Visualising City Noise Levels to Support Tinnitus Sufferers

On a daily basis, urban residents are unconsciously exposed to hazardous noise levels. This has a detrimental effect on the ear-drum, with symptoms often not apparent till later in life. The impact of harmful noises levels has a damaging impact on wellbeing. It is estimated that 10 million people suffer from damaged hearing in the UK alone, with 6.4million of retirement age or above. With this number expected to increase significantly by 2031, the demand and cost for healthcare providers is expected to intensify. Tinnitus affects about 10 percent of the UK population, with the condition ranging from mild to severe. The effects can have psychological impact on the patient. Often communication becomes difficult, and the sufferer may also be unable to use a hearing aid due to buzzing, ringing or monotonous sounds in the ear. Action on Hearing Loss states that sufferers of hearing related illnesses are more likely to withdraw from social activities. Tinnitus sufferers are known to avoid noisy environments and busy urban areas, as exposure to excessive noise levels exacerbates the symptoms. In this paper, an approach for evaluating and predicting urban noise levels is put forward. The system performs a data classification process to identify and predict harmful noise areas at diverse periods. The goal is to provide Tinnitus sufferers with a real-time tool, which can be used as a guide to find quieter routes to work; identify harmful areas to avoid or predict when noise levels on certain roads will be dangerous to the ear-drum. Our system also performs a visualisation function, which overlays real-time noise levels onto an interactive 3D map. Keywords: Hazardous Noise Levels, Data Classification, Tinnitus, Visualisation, Hearing Loss, Prediction, Real-Tim

Securing Health Care Information Systems using Visualisation Techniques

Health care information systems form the backbone of health care infrastructures and are increasingly reliant on medical devices to capture and transmit data. These devices, however, are vulnerable to attacks from the digital domain. The number of differing medical devices and information systems interacting with one another in new and increasingly less secure and disparate ways creates new challenges in information systems security. This work-in-progress paper presents a system design and methodology for modelling data interactions and data flow within the health care infrastructure. The system will increase situational awareness for users of information systems and promote stronger cyber security best practices and policies within this rapidly evolving landscape

A novel scalable hybrid architecture for MMOG

We present a novel MMOG Hybrid P2P architecture and detail its key components, topology and protocols. We highlight the main components which lie at the heart of the proposed solution, and their roles, and describe the methods of tackling the key scenarios which are faced by the architecture during gameplay. For each role, we discuss the interactions that exist between them and describe the protocols that will be used for inter-role communication to perform the atomic actions necessary for maintaining the consistency and responsiveness of an MMOG such as peer addition, peer removal, group transfer, object change persistency and many more. We conclude the chapter with a comparison of the architecture against several existing P2P MMOG frameworks, discussing the differences which exist between them and how the novel Hybrid-P2P architecture we propose aims to address their flaws

A Study into Detecting Anomalous Behaviours within HealthCare Infrastructures

The theft of medical data, which is intrinsically valuable, can lead to loss of patient privacy and trust. With increasing requirements for valuable and accurate information, patients need to be confident that their data is being stored safely and securely. However, medical devices are vulnerable to attacks from the digital domain, with many devices transmitting data unencrypted wirelessly to electronic patient record systems. As such, it is now becoming more necessary to visualise data patterns and trends in order identify erratic and anomalous data behaviours. In this paper, a system design for modelling data flow within healthcare infrastructures is presented. The system assists information security officers within healthcare organisations to improve the situational awareness of cyber security risks. In addition, a visualisation of TCP Socket Connections using real-world network data is put forward, in order to demonstrate the framework and present an analysis of potential risks