Supersampling of Data from Structured-light Scanner with Deep Learning

This paper focuses on increasing the resolution of depth maps obtained from 3D cameras using structured light technology. Two deep learning models FDSR and DKN are modified to work with high-resolution data, and data pre-processing techniques are implemented for stable training. The models are trained on our custom dataset of 1200 3D scans. The resulting high-resolution depth maps are evaluated using qualitative and quantitative metrics. The approach for depth map upsampling offers benefits such as reducing the processing time of a pipeline by first downsampling a high-resolution depth map, performing various processing steps at the lower resolution and upsampling the resulting depth map or increasing the resolution of a point cloud captured in lower resolution by a cheaper device. The experiments demonstrate that the FDSR model excels in terms of faster processing time, making it a suitable choice for applications where speed is crucial. On the other hand, the DKN model provides results with higher precision, making it more suitable for applications that prioritize accuracy.Comment: Pubslished in 2023 World Symposium on Digital Intelligence for Systems and Machines (DISA) Proceedings. Published version copyrighted by IEEE, pre-print released in accordance with the copyright agreemen

Utilizing the Proteus Effect to Improve Performance Using Avatars in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality allows users to experience a sense of ownership of a virtual body-a phenomenon commonly known as the body ownership illusion. Researchers and designers aim at inducing a body ownership illusion and creating embodied experiences using avatars-virtual characters that represent the user in the digital world. In accordance with the real world where humans own a body and interact via the body with the environment, avatars thereby enable users to interact with virtual worlds in a natural and intuitive fashion. Interestingly, previous work revealed that the appearance of an avatar can change the behavior, attitude, and perception of the embodying user. For example, research found that users who embodied attractive or tall avatars behaved more confidently in a virtual environment than those who embodied less attractive or smaller avatars. Alluding to the versatility of the Greek God Proteus who was said to be able to change his shape at will, this phenomenon was termed the Proteus effect. For designers and researchers of virtual reality applications, the Proteus effect is therefore an interesting and promising phenomenon to positively affect users during interaction in virtual environments. They can benefit from the limitless design space provided by virtual reality and create avatars with certain features that improve the users' interaction and performance in virtual environments. To utilize this phenomenon, it is crucial to understand how to design such avatars and their characteristics to create more effective virtual reality applications and enhanced experiences. Hence, this work explores the Proteus effect and the underlying mechanisms with the aim to learn about avatar embodiment and the design of effective avatars. This dissertation presents the results of five user studies focusing on the body ownership of avatars, and how certain characteristics can be harnessed to make users perform better in virtual environments than they would in casual embodiments. Hence, we explore methods for inducing a sensation of body ownership of avatars and learn about perceptual and physiological consequences for the real body. Furthermore, we investigate whether and how an avatar's realism and altered body structures affect the experience. This knowledge is then used to induce body ownership of avatars with features connected with high performance in physical and cognitive tasks. Hence, we aim at enhancing the users' performance in physically and cognitively demanding tasks in virtual reality. We found that muscular and athletic avatars can increase physical performance during exertion in virtual reality. We also found that an Einstein avatar can increase the cognitive performance of another user sharing the same virtual environment. This thesis concludes with design guidelines and implications for the utilization of the Proteus effect in the context of human-computer interaction and virtual reality

Money laundering

Praní špinavých peněz je opomíjeným fenoménem s vysokou společenskou nebezpečností, která plyne z nutného propojení této činnosti s nelegálními činnostmi, tedy s organizovaným zločinem. Jelikož cílem téměř jakékoli nelegální činnosti je vytvářet zisk (a největší zisk generují činnosti se značnou společenskou nebezpečností, např. obchod s drogami), je potřeba, aby boj proti praní špinavých peněz byl účinný a pomáhal tak potlačovat zdrojovou kriminalitu. Je tedy v zájmu celé společnosti proti tomuto jevu bojovat a odstřihnout organizovaný zločin od co největší části jeho prostředků, a to i přes nástroje proti praní špinavých peněz. Cílem mé práce je podrobné objasnění problematiky praní špinavých peněz, důkladné zmapování celého procesu při použití převážně komparativní a analytické metody a shrnutí mezinárodní a české právní úpravy proti praní špinavých peněz. Byl bych rád, kdyby po přečtení mé práce měl každý čtenář zcela konkrétní představu o fenoménu praní špinavých peněz. V první části práce se zabývám celkovým konceptem praní špinavých peněz, tedy historií a definicí vlastního pojmu. Také podrobněji porovnávám pojmy praní špinavých peněz a legalizace výnosů z trestné činnosti. Následně rozebírám podstatu praní špinavých peněz a financování terorismu a průběh procesu praní špinavých peněz. Dále...Money laundering is marginalized phenomenon with high social impact which comes from necessary connection of this activity with illegal activities, especially organized crime. Since the goal of almost every illegal activity is to create profit (and since the biggest profit comes from the activities which are highly dangerous for the society, such as drug trafficking) it is vital for the society to fight money laundering effectively. It is in the best interest of the whole society to fight this phenomenon and cut the organized crime out of their resources through effective control of the money laundering. The goal of this thesis is to explain the issue of money laundering in detail, to map the whole process while using mostly comparative and analytic methods and summarize the international and Czech anti- money laundering legislation. I would be glad if the reader had truly concrete idea about the phenomenon of money laundering after reading my thesis. In the first part, I am dealing with the whole concept of money laundering, meaning history and definition of the term itself. I also compare terms money laundering and legalization of proceeds from crime. Then I analyze the true nature of money laundering and financing of terror and the process of money laundering. I also deal with concrete subjects...Department of National EconomyKatedra národního hospodářstvíPrávnická fakultaFaculty of La

Processing and Segmentation of Human Teeth from 2D Images using Weakly Supervised Learning

Teeth segmentation is an essential task in dental image analysis for accurate diagnosis and treatment planning. While supervised deep learning methods can be utilized for teeth segmentation, they often require extensive manual annotation of segmentation masks, which is time-consuming and costly. In this research, we propose a weakly supervised approach for teeth segmentation that reduces the need for manual annotation. Our method utilizes the output heatmaps and intermediate feature maps from a keypoint detection network to guide the segmentation process. We introduce the TriDental dataset, consisting of 3000 oral cavity images annotated with teeth keypoints, to train a teeth keypoint detection network. We combine feature maps from different layers of the keypoint detection network, enabling accurate teeth segmentation without explicit segmentation annotations. The detected keypoints are also used for further refinement of the segmentation masks. Experimental results on the TriDental dataset demonstrate the superiority of our approach in terms of accuracy and robustness compared to state-of-the-art segmentation methods. Our method offers a cost-effective and efficient solution for teeth segmentation in real-world dental applications, eliminating the need for extensive manual annotation efforts.Comment: Pubslished in 2023 World Symposium on Digital Intelligence for Systems and Machines (DISA) Proceedings. Published version copyrighted by IEEE, pre-print released in accordance with the copyright agreemen

Towards Inducing Weight Perception in Virtual Reality Through a Liquid-based Haptic Controller

Rendering haptic sensations while interacting with virtual objects, such as experiencing weight is essential for creating natural virtual reality (VR) experiences. However, accurately providing the forces required to sense an object’s weight poses a demanding challenge. Hence, standard VR setups do not allow users to experience different weight sensations. In this paper, we propose a haptic VR controller design that renders the weight of virtual objects by regulating the mass of the controller through liquid transfer. Our planned system consists of two tracked controllers that contain a water bag. They are connected to a liquid reservoir in the back, to or from which water is transferred to change the weight of the controller. A Microcontroller determines the weight of each reservoir via a bi-directional water pump and a set of solenoid valves. To evaluate the prototype, we are planning to investigate in a study whether our system can enhance the VR experience and sense of presence while lifting and swinging virtual objects. Furthermore we plan to examine, whether the device can be used to amplify avatar embodiment

Validating virtual reality for time perception research: Virtual reality changes expectations about the duration of physical processes, but not the sense of time

Immersive virtual reality (VR) provides a versatile method for investigating human time perception, because it allows the manipulation and control of relevant variables (e.g., the speed of environmental changes) that cannot be modified in the real world. However, an important premise for interpreting the results of VR studies, namely that the method itself does not affect time perception, has received little attention. Here we tested this assumption by comparing timing performance in a real environment and a VR scenario. Participants performed two timing tasks, requiring the production of intervals defined either by numerical values ("eight seconds") or by a physical process (“the time it takes for a bottle to run out when turned over"). We found that the experience of immersive VR exclusively altered judgments about the duration of physical processes, whereas judgments about the duration of abstract time units were unaffected. These results demonstrate that effects of VR on timing performance are not driven by changes in time perception itself, but rather by altered expectations regarding the duration of physical processes. The present study validates the use of VR in time perception research and strengthens the interpretation of changed timing behaviour induced by manipulations within VR

AudienceAR - Utilising Augmented Reality and Emotion Tracking to Address Fear of Speech

With Augmented Reality (AR) we can enhance the reality by computer-generated information about real entities projected in the user's field of view. Hence, the user's perception of a real environment is altered by adding (or subtracting) information by means of digital augmentations. In this demo paper we present an application where we utilise AR technology to show visual information about the audience's mood in a scenario where the user is giving a presentation. In everyday life we have to talk to and in front of people as a fundamental aspect of human communication. However, this situation poses a major challenge for many people and may even go so far as to lead to fear and and avoidance behaviour. Based on findings in previous work about fear of speech, a major cause of anxiety is that we do not know how the audience judges us. To eliminate this feeling of uncertainty, we created an AR solution to support the speaker while giving a speech by tracking the audience's current mood and displaying this information in real time to the speaker's view: AudienceAR. By doing so we hypothesise to reduce the speaker's tension before and during presentation. Furthermore, we implemented a small web interface to analyse the presentation based on the audience mood after the speech is given. Effects will be tested in future work

SentiBooks: Enhancing Audiobooks via Affective Computing and Smart Light Bulbs

We present SentiBooks, a smartphone application to enhance the audiobook listening experience via affective computing and smart light bulbs. Users can connect to Philips Hue Light Bulbs with a smartphone app while listening to an audiobook. The app analyzes the emotional expression of the narrator of the audiobook using speech emotion recognition and adjusts the colors of the lighting settings according to the expression of the narrator in 10-seconds intervals. By transitioning between colors that are connected to the specific emotion that is currently dominant in the reading, the overall audiobook experience is intensified

SpEYEders: Adults’ and children’s affective responses during immersive playful gaze interactions transforming virtual spiders

Specific phobias like spider phobia represent a frequent mental health problem in children and adolescents, demanding innovative prevention and treatment approaches. We therefore develop an eye tracking supported Virtual Reality serious game for school-aged children, realizing gaze interactions to promote attention towards, and positive experiences during exposure to spiders. Within pilot studies in adults (n=30) and children (n=14) without fear of spiders, we assessed positive and negative affect during prototype gaze feedback through five different variants: If gazed for few seconds, the virtual spider changed into a shrunk, a rainbow coloured, or dying spider, or morphed into a smileyball, or speaks friendly. We found the highest positive affect for the rainbow and smileyball variant, followed by the shrunk and friendly speaking variant. In contrast, the dying variant was excluded due to the possible induction of negative affect. Findings indicate eligible variants for the further development of the VR serious game

Looking fear in the eye: Gamified virtual reality exposure towards spiders for children using attention based feedback

Many children around the globe suffer from spider phobia. Virtual reality exposure therapy is an effective phobia treatment, but so far predominantly tailored for adults. A gamified approach utilizing gaze interaction would allow for a more child-friendly and engaging experience, and provide the possibility to foster working mechanisms of exposure therapy. We developed an application in which children make spiders change in positively connoted ways (e.g., make them dance or shrink) if sufficient visual attention towards them is captured via eye tracking. Thereby, motivation for and positive affects during exposure towards spiders are aspired. In this pilot study on 21 children without (n = 11) and with fear of spiders (n = 10), we examined positive and negative affect during exposure to a virtual spider and to different gaze-related transformations of the spider within a quasi-experimental design. Within a one-group design, we additionally examined fear of spiders in spider fearful children before and one week after the intervention. We found that significantly more positive than negative affect was induced by the spiders’ transformations in children without and with fear of spiders. Fear of spiders was furthermore significantly reduced in spider-fearful children, showing large effect sizes (d > .80). Findings indicate eligibility for future clinical use and evaluation in children with spider phobia