MelodicBrush : a cross-modal link between ancient and digital art forms

Author name used in this publication: Stephen ChanRefereed conference paper2011-2012 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

How users assess web pages for information-seeking

In this paper, we investigate the criteria used by online searchers when assessing the relevance of web pages for information-seeking tasks. Twenty four participants were given three tasks each, and indicated the features of web pages which they employed when deciding about the usefulness of the pages in relation to the tasks. These tasks were presented within the context of a simulated work-task situation. We investigated the relative utility of features identified by participants (web page content,structure and quality), and how the importance of these features is affected by the type of information-seeking task performed and the stage of the search. The results of this study provide a set of criteria used by searchers to decide about the utility of web pages for different types of tasks. Such criteria can have implications for the design of systems that use or recommend web pages

Physica A 288 (2000) 31-- 48

The protein folding problem has attracted an increasing attention from physicists. The problem has a #avor of statistical mechanics, but possesses the most common feature of most biological problems -- the profound e#ects of evolution. I will give an introduction to the problem, and then focus on some recent work concerning the so-called "designability principle". The designability of a structure is measured by the number of sequences that have that structure as their unique ground state. Structures di#er drastically in terms of their designability; highly designable structures emerge with a number of associated sequences much larger than the average. These highly designable structures (1) possess "protein-like" secondary structures and motifs, (2) are thermodynamically more stable, (3) fold faster than other structures. These results suggest that protein structures are selected in nature because they are readily designed and stable against mutations, and that such selection simultaneously leads to thermodynamic stability and foldability. According to this picture, a key to the protein folding problem is to understand the emergence and the properties of the highly desginable structures. c 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Detecting handwriting errors with visual feedback in early childhood for Chinese characters

This paper presents KID, an interactive app on a smart device, designed to facilitate and encourage young children to learn and practice Chinese characters. It relies on pen dynamics to extract the strokes and map the written character to the proper one. The stroke orientation is also analyzed for ordering and spatial alignment features that pinpoint common errors. A visual pictorial feedback is then provided to motivate children and to arouse their interest. We iterate the prototype design and implementation upon collecting feedback from focus group interviews, from where the system is greeted with positive comments.Department of ComputingRefereed conference pape