A2W: Context-Aware Recommendation System for Mobile Augmented Reality Web Browser

Peer reviewe

From seen to unseen: Designing keyboard-less interfaces for text entry on the constrained screen real estate of Augmented Reality headsets

Text input is a very challenging task in the constrained screen real-estate of Augmented Reality headsets. Typical keyboards spread over multiple lines and occupy a significant portion of the screen. In this article, we explore the feasibility of single-line text entry systems for smartglasses. We first design FITE, a dynamic keyboard where the characters are positioned depending on their probability within the current input. However, the dynamic layout leads to mediocre text input and low accuracy. We then introduce HIBEY, a fixed 1-line solution that further decreases the screen real-estate usage by hiding the layout. Despite its hidden layout, HIBEY surprisingly performs much better than FITE, and achieves a mean text entry rate of 9.95 words per minute (WPM) with 96.06% accuracy, which is comparable to other state-of-the-art approaches. After 8 days, participants achieve an average of 13.19 WPM. In addition, HIBEY only occupies 13.14% of the screen real estate at the edge region, which is 62.80% smaller than the default keyboard layout on Microsoft Hololens.Peer reviewe

Mobile Augmented Reality: User Interfaces, Frameworks, and Intelligence

Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) integrates computer-generated virtual objects with physical environments for mobile devices. MAR systems enable users to interact with MAR devices, such as smartphones and head-worn wearables, and perform seamless transitions from the physical world to a mixed world with digital entities. These MAR systems support user experiences using MAR devices to provide universal access to digital content. Over the past 20 years, several MAR systems have been developed, however, the studies and design of MAR frameworks have not yet been systematically reviewed from the perspective of user-centric design. This article presents the first effort of surveying existing MAR frameworks (count: 37) and further discuss the latest studies on MAR through a top-down approach: (1) MAR applications; (2) MAR visualisation techniques adaptive to user mobility and contexts; (3) systematic evaluation of MAR frameworks, including supported platforms and corresponding features such as tracking, feature extraction, and sensing capabilities; and (4) underlying machine learning approaches supporting intelligent operations within MAR systems. Finally, we summarise the development of emerging research fields and the current state-of-the-art, and discuss the important open challenges and possible theoretical and technical directions. This survey aims to benefit both researchers and MAR system developers alike.Peer reviewe

How Ontologies Can Help in an eMarketplace

Recently, ontologies have been developed in various business domains with the recent maturing of the Semantic Web technologies. However, ontology-related researches have largely focused on the facilitation of successful matchmaking but not much on traders’ requirement elicitation and potential negotiations in e-marketplaces. Because ontology provides the key knowledge about the inter-relationships among the issues and alternatives of the traders’ requirements, we show how to elicit trade requirements, alternatives, and tradeoff from an agreed ontology. This facilitates the whole business process of the e-marketplace, from matchmaking, recommendation, to negotiation. We further propose a novel methodology for the elicitation of dependencies among traders’ requirements for the formulation of an effective decision plan. As a result, traders can have a better cognition of their requirements and the overall operations of the e-marketplace can be streamlined

Towards a global partnership model in interprofessional education for cross-sector problem-solving

Objectives A partnership model in interprofessional education (IPE) is important in promoting a sense of global citizenship while preparing students for cross-sector problem-solving. However, the literature remains scant in providing useful guidance for the development of an IPE programme co-implemented by external partners. In this pioneering study, we describe the processes of forging global partnerships in co-implementing IPE and evaluate the programme in light of the preliminary data available. Methods This study is generally quantitative. We collected data from a total of 747 health and social care students from four higher education institutions. We utilized a descriptive narrative format and a quantitative design to present our experiences of running IPE with external partners and performed independent t-tests and analysis of variance to examine pretest and posttest mean differences in students’ data. Results We identified factors in establishing a cross-institutional IPE programme. These factors include complementarity of expertise, mutual benefits, internet connectivity, interactivity of design, and time difference. We found significant pretest–posttest differences in students’ readiness for interprofessional learning (teamwork and collaboration, positive professional identity, roles, and responsibilities). We also found a significant decrease in students’ social interaction anxiety after the IPE simulation. Conclusions The narrative of our experiences described in this manuscript could be considered by higher education institutions seeking to forge meaningful external partnerships in their effort to establish interprofessional global health education

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

A2W:context-aware recommendation system for mobile augmented RealityWeb browser

Abstract Augmented Reality (AR) offers new capabilities for blurring the boundaries between physical reality and digital media. However, the capabilities of integrating web contents and AR remain underexplored. This paper presents an AR web browser with an integrated context-aware AR-to-Web content recommendation service named as A2W browser, to provide continuously user-centric web browsing experiences driven by AR headsets. We implement the A2W browser on an AR headset as our demonstration application, demonstrating the features and performance of A2W framework. The A2W browser visualizes the AR-driven web contents to the user, which is suggested by the content-based filtering model in our recommendation system. In our experiments, 20 participants with the adaptive UIs and recommendation system in A2W browser achieve up to 30.69% time saving compared to smartphone conditions. Accordingly, A2W-supported web browsing on workstations facilitates the recommended information leading to 41.67% faster reaches to the target information than typical web browsing

Low power implantable neural recording front-end

Low power smart electronic designs for neural recording applications have recently become a major research topic in circuits and system society. Challenged by the complicated nature of the biology-electronic interface, implantable neural recording circuits must offer high quality signal acquisition while consuming as little power as possible. Furthermore, many applications demand on-chip smart features to maximize energy efficiency as well as to assist the subsequent software-based digital signal processing. This paper reviews the recent advancements in the field, followed by a proposed ultra low-power recording front-end. The proposed design consists of an adjustable gain and bandwidth low-noise amplifier, a bandpass filter, a unity gain buffer and a 9-bit ADC. When simulated using a 0.18 μm/1 V CMOS process, the whole channel consumes only 2.76 μW

HOW ONTOLOGIES CAN HELP IN AN E-MARKETPLACE

Recently, ontologies have been developed in various business domains with the recent maturing of the Semantic Web technologies. However, ontology-related researches have largely focused on the facilitation of successful matchmaking but not much on traders ’ requirement elicitation and potential negotiations in e-marketplaces. Because ontology provides the key knowledge about the inter-relationships among the issues and alternatives of the traders ’ requirements, we show how to elicit trade requirements, alternatives, and tradeoff from an agreed ontology. This facilitates the whole business process of the e-marketplace, from matchmaking, recommendation, to negotiation. We further propose a novel methodology for the elicitation of dependencies among traders’ requirements for the formulation of an effective decision plan. As a result, traders can have a better cognition of their requirements and the overall operations of the e-marketplace can be streamlined