Prototyping New Interaction Style - a case study on designing deformable mobile devices

This is a project-based thesis work initiated by Nokia Research Center. The goal of this project is to investigate deformable user interfaces (DUIs) on mobile devices. Following background studies and identification of the research questions, various design methodologies were developed to encounter the new interaction style. An exploratory experiment was designed to study the role of form in DUI design. The purpose is to find insights from people’s instinct and tactile sense and to study dimensional properties on flexible materials. Another workshop was arranged so that experts in design and engineering experienced a whole design process for bridging form factors and applications with interaction. During the workshop, the context which is the detaching of touch interface users with the immediate environment was studied. Through these two activities, a set of design cues for deformable mobile devices was thus derived. The method of research through design has been the backbone of this thesis work. Numerous prototypes were implemented as physical representation of the hypotheses in each stage. At last, a working prototype was constructed. Consisting of a flexible mobile device and an information system, the prototype enables deformable interaction with information distributed in the space. A set of user test was conducted accordingly. Through these design activities, the role of form factors in mobile DUIs was examined. Moreover, it can be concluded that physical deformation in DUIs results in more engaging experiences than touch interfaces

Exploring Hand-Based Haptic Interfaces for Mobile Interaction Design

Visual attention is crucial in mobile environments, not only for staying aware of dynamic situations, but also for safety reasons. However, current mobile interaction design forces the user to focus on the visual interface of the handheld device, thus limiting the user's ability to process visual information from their environment. In response to these issues, a common solution is to encode information with on-device vibrotactile feedback. However, the vibration is transitory and is often difficult to perceive when mobile. Another approach is to make visual interfaces even more dominant with smart glasses, which enable head-up interaction on their see-through interface. Yet, their input methods raise many concerns regarding social acceptability, preventing them from being widely adopted. There is a need to derive feasible interaction techniques for mobile use while maintaining the user's situational awareness, and this thesis argues that solutions could be derived through the exploration of hand-based haptic interfaces. The objective of this research is to provide multimodal interaction for users to better interact with information while maintaining proper attention to the environment in mobile scenarios. Three research areas were identified. The first is developing expressive haptic stimuli, in which the research investigates how static haptic stimuli could be derived. The second is designing mobile spatial interaction with the user's surroundings as content, which manifests situations in which visual attention to the environment is most needed. The last is interacting with the always-on visual interface on smart glasses, the seemingly ideal solution for mobile applications. The three areas extend along the axis of the demand of visual attention on the interface, from non-visual to always-on visual interfaces. Interactive prototypes were constructed and deployed in studies for each research area, including two shape-changing mechanisms feasible for augmenting mobile devices and a spatial-sensing haptic glove featuring mid-air hand-gestural interaction with haptic support. The findings across the three research areas highlight the immediate benefits of incorporating hand-based haptic interfaces into applications. First, shape-changing interfaces can provide static and continuous haptic stimuli for mobile communication. Secondly, enabling direct interaction with real-world landmarks through a haptic glove and leaving visual attention on the surroundings could result in a higher level of immersed experience. Lastly, the users of smart glasses can benefit from the unobtrusive hand-gestural interaction enabled by the isolated tracking technique of a haptic glove. Overall, this work calls for mobile interaction design to consider haptic stimuli beyond on-device vibration, and mobile hardware solutions beyond the handheld form factor. It also invites designers to consider how to confront the competition of cognitive resources among multiple tasks from an interaction design perspective.Visuaalisen huomiokyvyn säilyttäminen mobiililaitteita käytettäessä on tärkeää sekä ympäröivien tilanteiden havainnoimisen että käyttäjän turvallisuuden kannalta. Nykyiset mobiilikäyttöliittymäratkaisut kuitenkin vaativat käyttäjää keskittämään huomionsa mobiililaitteen ruudulle, mikä rajoittaa käyttäjän kykyä käsitellä ympäristöön liittyvää visuaalista informaatiota. Eräs paljon käytetty ratkaisu tähän ongelmaan on esittää informaatiota laitteen värinän avulla. Värinäpohjainen esitystapa on kuitenkin hetkeen sidottu ja siten ohimenevä, eikä sitä ole välttämättä helppo havaita käyttäjän liikkeellä ollessa. Toinen tapa hyödyntää ns. älylaseja visuaalisen informaation esittämiseen. Tämän tavan etuna on läpinäkyvä näyttöpinta, joka ei vaadi keskittämään katsetta erilliseen laitteeseen. Älylasien tyypilliset syötemuodot kuitenkin aiheuttavat ongelmia niiden sosiaaliselle hyväksyttävyydelle, mikä estää niiden laajempaa käyttöönottoa. Niinpä tämän tutkimuksen lähtökohtana on tarve uudenlaisten mobiilikäyttöliittymien suunnittelulle siten, että käyttäjän huomio säilyy ympäristössä. Väitöskirjatutkimuksessa esitetään, että ratkaisu voi pohjautua käsin kosketeltavaan haptiseen rajapintaan. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tuottaa mobiilitilanteisiin multimodaalisia käyttöliittymiä, joiden avulla käyttäjä voi vuorovaikuttaa informaation kanssa menettämättä huomiotaan ympäristöstä. Tutkimus keskittyy kolmeen tutkimuskohteeseen. Ensimmäisessä kehitetään ilmaisuvoimaisia haptisia ärsykkeitä tarkastelemalla staattisten haptisten ärsykkeiden suunnittelun mahdollisuuksia. Toinen kohde liittyy tilaan perustuvan vuorovaikutuksen suunnitteluun tilanteessa, jossa käyttäjä vuorovaikuttaa ympäristöön liittyvän informaation kanssa liikkeellä ollessaan, jolloin ympäristön visuaalinen havainnointi on tärkeää. Kolmannessa tutkimuskohteessa kehitetään uudenlainen syötemuoto älylaseille. Nämä kolme tutkimuskohdetta voidaan esittää osina jatkumoa, joka perustuu laitteen vaatiman visuaalisen huomion määrään täysin ei-visuaalisista täysin visuaalisiin käyttöliittymiin. Jokaisen tutkimuskohteen osalta kehitettiin vuorovaikutteisia prototyyppejä: kaksi muotoa muuttavaa mekanismia mobiililaitteiden täydentämiseksi uusilla palautemuodoilla sekä haptinen hansikas, joka mahdollistaa vuorovaikutuksen ilmassa suoritettavien eleiden ja haptisen palautteen avulla. Kaikkien kolmen tutkimuskohteen tulokset korostavat käsin kosketeltavien haptisten rajapintojen etuja käytännön sovelluksissa. Ensinnäkin muotoa muuttavat rajapinnat voivat tuottaa staattisia ja jatkuvia ärsykkeitä, joita voidaan hyödyntää mobiilivuorovaikutuksessa. Toiseksi haptisen hansikkaan mahdollistama suora vuorovaikutus ympäröivien maamerkkien kanssa auttaa säilyttämään visuaalisen huomion ympäristössä ja voi saada aikaan mukaansatempaavamman käyttökokemuksen. Kolmanneksi älylasien käyttäjät hyötyvät haptisen hansikkaan anturien mahdollistamasta huomaamattomasta elevuorovaikutuksesta. Tämä väitöskirja kehottaa mobiilikäyttöliittymien suunnittelijoita ottamaan huomioon muut kuin kädessä pideltävät laitemuodot sekä haptisten ärsykkeiden mahdollisuudet laajemmin kuin laitteen sisäänrakennetun värinäominaisuuden kautta. Väitöstutkimus myös pyytää suunnittelijoita ja muotoilijoita pohtimaan vuorovaikutussuunnittelun näkökulmasta, miten kohdata monisuorittamistilanteissa käyttäjän kognitiivisten resurssien välinen kilpailu

Designing for Mixed Reality Urban Exploration

This paper introduces a design framework for mixed reality urban exploration (MRUE), based on a concrete implementation in a historical city. The framework integrates different modalities, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and haptics-audio interfaces, as well as advanced features such as personalized recommendations, social exploration, and itinerary management. It permits to address a number of concerns regarding information overload, safety, and quality of the experience, which are not sufficiently tackled in traditional non-integrated approaches. This study presents an integrated mobile platform built on top of this framework and reflects on the lessons learned.Peer reviewe

Young Adults View Smartphone Tracking Technologies for COVID-19 as Acceptable:The Case of Taiwan

Taiwan has been successful in controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, without a vaccine the threat of a second outbreak remains. Young adults who show few to no symptoms when infected have been identified in many countries as driving the virus' spread through unidentifiable community transmission. Mobile tracking technologies register nearby contacts of a user and notifies them if one later tests positive to the virus, potentially solving this issue; however, the effectiveness of these technologies depends on their acceptance by the public. The current study assessed attitudes towards three tracking technologies (telecommunication network tracking, a government app, and Apple and Google's Bluetooth exposure notification system) among four samples of young Taiwanese adults (aged 25 years or younger). Using Bayesian methods, we find high acceptance for all three tracking technologies (>75%), with acceptance for each technology surpassing 90% if additional privacy measures were included. We consider the policy implications of these results for Taiwan and similar cultures

Sequence variants of the aging gene CISD2 and the risk for Alzheimer's disease

Background/PurposeThe CISD2 gene has been related to life span control and mitochondrial dysfunction in animals. In addition, inhibition of mitochondrial enzymes due to an accumulation of beta-amyloid peptide has been related to Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to explore the association between sequence variants of the CISD2 gene and risk for AD, which has not been explored previously.MethodsThis was a case–control study involving a total of 276 patients with AD who were recruited from three teaching hospitals in Taiwan from 2007 to 2010; 460 controls were recruited from elderly individuals attending for health check-ups and volunteers in the hospital during the same period of time. All participants were aged 60 years or older. Two haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs), rs223330 and rs223331, were selected from the CISD2 gene to test the association between their polymorphisms and the risk for dementia, and how ApoE ɛ4 status, sex, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes mellitus might modify this association.Resultsrs223330 variant carriage was not associated with risk for AD [TT versus CC: adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.59–1.62; TC versus CC: AOR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.47–1.11]. Similar findings were observed for rs223331 (AA versus TT: AOR = 1.12; AT versus TT: AOR = 0.99). In addition, hypertension significantly modified the association between rs223331 and risk for AD (p = 0.005).Three common haplotypes (with a frequency of 99.8%) were observed for CISD2. Common CISD2 haplotypes were not associated with the risk for AD.ConclusionOur findings suggested that CISD2 htSNPs are not associated with AD risk

3D Chip-level Broadband Measurement Technique for Radiated EM Emission

This paper proposes a novel broadband 3D chip-level radiated EM emission measurement technique. Two different test carriers with the embedded CPW and coil conductors respectively are designed and realized by the integrated passive device (IPD) process, which allow collecting the EM emission via near-field coupling. Using an in-house designed 0.18-μm CMOS VCO as the DUT, the emission spectrum obtained using the CPW conductor demonstrates a broadband characteristic up to above 20 GHz with an excellent agreement of the direct measurements. Compared to the traditional IEC standard approaches typically limited below 3 GHz, the proposed high sensitivity and broadband technique is suitable for evaluating EM interference of high-frequency ICs in advanced 3D packaging

Biphasic Effect of Curcumin on Morphine Tolerance: A Preliminary Evidence from Cytokine/Chemokine Protein Array Analysis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of curcumin on morphine tolerance and the corresponding cytokine/chemokine changes. Male ICR mice were made tolerant to morphine by daily subcutaneous injection for 7 days. Intraperitoneal injections of vehicle, low-dose or high-dose curcumin were administered 15 min after morphine injection, either acutely or chronically for 7 days to test the effect of curcumin on morphine-induced antinociception and development of morphine tolerance. On day 8, cumulative dose-response curves were generated and the 50% of maximal analgesic dose values were calculated and compared among groups. Corresponding set of mice were used for analyzing the cytokine responses by antibody-based cytokine protein array. Acute, high-dose curcumin enhanced morphine-induced antinociception. While morphine tolerance was attenuated by administration of low-dose curcumin following morphine injections for 7 days, it was aggravated by chronic high-dose curcumin following morphine injection, suggesting a biphasic effect of curcumin on morphine-induced tolerance. Of the 96 cytokine/chemokines analyzed by mouse cytokine protein array, 14 cytokines exhibited significant changes after the different 7-day treatments. Mechanisms for the modulatory effects of low-dose and high-dose curcumin on morphine tolerance were discussed. Even though curcumin itself is a neuroprotectant and low doses of the compound serve to attenuate morphine tolerance, high-doses of curcumin might cause neurotoxicity and aggravate morphine tolerance by inhibiting the expression of antiapoptotic cytokines and neuroprotective factors. Our results indicate that the effect of curcumin on morphine tolerance may be biphasic, and therefore curcumin should be used cautiously

Lowering β-Amyloid Levels Rescues Learning and Memory in a Down Syndrome Mouse Model

β-amyloid levels are elevated in Down syndrome (DS) patients throughout life and are believed to cause Alzheimer's disease (AD) in adult members of this population. However, it is not known if β-amyloid contributes to intellectual disability in younger individuals. We used a γ-secretase inhibitor to lower β-amyloid levels in young mice that model DS. This treatment corrected learning deficits characteristic of these mice, suggesting that β-amyloid-lowering therapies might improve cognitive function in young DS patients

Paraoxonase-1 Is Not a Major Determinant of Stent Thrombosis in a Taiwanese Population

BACKGROUND: Clopidogrel is a prodrug that undergoes in vivo bioactivation to show its antiplatelet effects. Recent studies have shown that cytochrome P450 (CYP), ATP-binding cassette transporters (ABCB1), and paraoxonase-1 (PON1) play crucial roles in clopidogrel bioactivation. Here, we aim to determine the effects of genetic polymorphisms of CYP (CYP 2C19*2, CYP 2C19*3, and CYP 2C19*17), ABCB1 (ABCB1 3435C>T, ABCB1 129T>C, and ABCB1 2677G>T/A), and PON1 (PON1 Q192R, PON1 L55M, and PON1 108C>T) on the development of stent thrombosis (ST) in patients receiving clopidogrel after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated the incidence of ST (0.64%) in 4964 patients who were recruited in the CAPTAIN registry (Cardiovascular Atherosclerosis and Percutaneous TrAnsluminal INterventions). The presence of genetic polymorphisms was assessed in 20 subjects who developed ST after aspirin and clopidogrel therapy and in 40 age- and sex-matched control subjects who did not develop ST, which was documented after 9 months of angiographic follow-up. ST was acute in 5 subjects, subacute in 7, late in 7, and very late in 1. The presence of CYP 2C19*2 allele was significantly associated with ST (adjusted odds ratio [ORadj]: 4.20, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.263-9.544; P = 0.031). However, genetic variations in PON1 and ABCB1 showed no significant association with ST. CONCLUSION: We conclude that in a Taiwanese population, PON1 Q192R genotype is not associated with ST development after PCI. However, the presence of CYP 2C19*2 allele is a risk factor for ST development after PCI

Antimetastatic Effects of Norcantharidin on Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Transcriptional Inhibition of MMP-9 through Modulation of NF-kB Activity

The rate of morbidity and mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Taiwan has not lessened because of difficulty in treating tumor metastasis. Norcantharidin (NCTD) is currently used as an anticancer drug for hepatoma, breast cancer, and colorectal adenocarcinoma. NCTD possesses various biological anticancer activities, including apoptosis. However, detailed effects and molecular mechanisms of NCTD on metastasis are unclear. Thus, HCC cells were subjected to treatment with NCTD and then analyzed to determine the effects of NCTD on cell metastasis.Modified Boyden chamber assays revealed that NCTD treatment inhibited cell migration and invasion capacities of HCC cells substantially. Results of zymography and western blotting showed that activities and protein levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and urokinase plasminogen activator (u-PA) were inhibited by NCTD. Western blot analysis showed that NCTD inhibits phosphorylation of ERK1/2. Testing of mRNA level, quantitative real-time PCR, and promoter assays evaluated the inhibitory effects of NCTD on MMP-9 and u-PA expression in HCC cells. The chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay for analyzing the genomic DNA sequences bound to these proteins was reactive to the transcription protein nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB, which was inhibited by NCTD. The expression of NF-kappa B was measured by western blot analysis, which revealed decreased nuclear-factor DNA-binding activity after NCTD treatment.NCTD inhibited MMP-9 and u-PA expression through the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and NF-kappaB signaling pathway which serves as a powerful chemopreventive agent in HCC cell metastasis