Interactive Computer Research Articles

Overview of Gesture Recognition Based Virtual Mouse and Keyboard

Abstract: Researchers around the globe nowadays are concentrating on making our devices more interactive and trying to make the devices more operational with minimal physical contact. Thai research proposes an interactive computer system that uses computer vision to create a virtual keyboard and mouse using only hand gestures. We can utilize a built-in camera or an external camera to track the image of different gestures performed by the person’s hand and according to different gestures conduct mouse cursor operations such as right and left clicks, as well as move the cursor. In addition to that, we can control the console using different gestures such as one finger to select the particular alphabet and a four-finger motion gesture to perform swipe operation in either the left or right direction. This proposed system with no wire or any other external device will act as virtual keyboard and mouse. The only hardware aspect of this system is the webcam which is used to capture images whereas the coding part will be done in python programming language

Assessment of the joint delivery voucher programme for senior high school technical vocational livelihood in selected public schools in occidental Mindoro, Philippines

This paper assessed the Joint Delivery Voucher Program for senior high school technical vocational livelihood between 2017and 2021 in selected public high schools in Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. The study employed survey research method. The sources of information were from primary and secondary data. Further, the project employed the cost sharing approach and educational institution approach. Result showed that face-to-face learning with result demonstration was the “always” preferred extension teaching methods before the COVID 19 pandemic. -learning, modules, IEC, instructional materials, mobile application and interactive computer assisted module were used during the COVID 19 pandemic implementation. The program implementation encountered “slightly serious problems.” The students had acquired “adequate competency” in the program that enabled them to pass the national assessment and evaluated the JDVP implementation as “excellent.

Instrumental Digital Didactics in Modern Pedagogy

nstrumental digital didactics (IDD) is a practical component of modern pedagogy that reflects the process of acquiring knowledge using a variety of digital means of obtaining, processing and interpreting empirical data. In the process of e-learning digitized content acts only as an activator of sensory perception of information, simplifying the understanding of learning objects. Instead, IDD is based on active usage of technological means in training (e-learning, classical, distance, blended and hybrid learning) which complement and accompany nature experiment. Both concepts are parts of a wider category of digital didactics and logically protract the traditional theory of education in current conditions. DID complements the scientific method of conducting research and engineering design with such opportunities as creation of interactive computer models, visualization of experimental data and their comparison with theory, predicting the course of the process due to changes of influence factors. The development of digital didactics determines changes in the structure of teacher activity, which can be interpreted as didactic engineering. The IDD-based teaching techniques developed at the STEM-Laboratory MANLab are an example of an innovative knowledge management system.

DivBrowse-interactive visualization and exploratory data analysis of variant call matrices.

The sequencing of whole genomes is becoming increasingly affordable. In this context, large-scale sequencing projects are generating ever larger datasets of species-specific genomic diversity. As a consequence, more and more genomic data need to be made easily accessible and analyzable to the scientific community. We present DivBrowse, a web application for interactive visualization and exploratory analysis of genomic diversity data stored in Variant Call Format (VCF) files of any size. By seamlessly combining BLAST as an entry point together with interactive data analysis features such as principal component analysis in one graphical user interface, DivBrowse provides a novel and unique set of exploratory data analysis capabilities for genomic biodiversity datasets. The capability to integrate DivBrowse into existing web applications supports interoperability between different web applications. Built-in interactive computation of principal component analysis allows users to perform ad hoc analysis of the population structure based on specific genetic elements such as genes and exons. Data interoperability is supported by the ability to export genomic diversity data in VCF and General Feature Format 3 files. DivBrowse offers a novel approach for interactive visualization and analysis of genomic diversity data and optionally also gene annotation data by including features like interactive calculation of variant frequencies and principal component analysis. The use of established standard file formats for data input supports interoperability and seamless deployment of application instances based on the data output of established bioinformatics pipelines.

Programming of marine engineers' simulator training

Continuous improvement of the technical equipment of sea vessels is inevitably accompanied by the development and complication of the training base for marine specialists. Simulator training based on a computer model of operating the units of the liquefied natural gas tanker of the Veliky Novgorod type includes interactive computer programs for learning management, created using the e-Tutor computer module included in the simulator delivery set. In the course of systematizing the experience of using specialized programming tools for educational and research activities of students in organizing and conducting simulator training for electrical engineers on computer simulation models of sea vessels, a system of conventional graphic symbols for the elements of the flowchart of the training exercise program has been formed and their description has been given. Training and control exercises include familiarization with the mnemonic diagrams of the integrated marine vessel automation system and assessment of the state of the ship's electrical power system with their help, starting the propulsion electrical installation, providing energy to the operating propulsion electrical installation under load changes, switching on the backup diesel generator unit for parallel operation with the network in normal and emergency modes, acceleration of the vessel to the given speed in accordance with the tasks of the instructor. The advantages of training programming using the e-Tutor computer module are the ability to use the simulator in self-study mode with automated teaching support.

Interactive computer assessment and analysis of students’ ability in scientific modeling

Scientific modeling (SM) is a core scientific practice and critical for students’ scientific literacy. Previous research has not used interactive computer assessment to investigate students’ SM ability. This study aimed to explore an effective way in human-computer interaction to reveal the challenges faced by students in the four-element process of constructing, using, evaluating, and revising models. Contextualized in the solar system, eleven interactive tasks assessed 419 students in grades 4, 7, and 10. Results indicated that “model evaluation” and “model revision” were more difficult for students than “model construction” and “model use.” Grade significantly predicted students’ SM ability (p<.001). The interaction with re-answer according to feedback promoted students’ in-depth reflection and performance in SM. Findings of the study may provide a basis for improving students’ SM ability.

On Mixed-Initiative Content Creation for Video Games

In this article, we present a survey of mixed-initiative methods for the creation of content for video games. We also propose a definition of what mixed initiative implies, as the term lacks a clear specification. The survey includes works not directly aimed at video games but which create content that can potentially be used in games, such as art programs utilizing mixed initiative. Furthermore, we highlight research areas that overlap wholly or partly with mixed initiative, such as casual creators, explainable artificial intelligence, or interactive evolutionary computation. We examine these and several other topics in the context of mixed initiative. Finally, we provide a catalogue of typical techniques and challenges connected with mixed initiative before considering future directions.

Complexity Theory

Computational Complexity Theory is the mathematical study of the intrinsic power and limitations of computational resources like time, space, or randomness. The current workshop focused on recent developments in various sub-areas including interactive proof systems, quantum information and computation, algorithmic coding theory, arithmetic complexity, expansion of hypergraphs and simplicial complexes, Markov chain Monte Carlo, and pseudorandomness. Many of the developments are related to diverse mathematical fields such as algebraic geometry, extremal combinatorics, combinatorial number theory, probability theory, representation theory, and operator algebras.

Engineering UPF and comfort parameters of knitted fabrics and validation using statistical techniques

PurposeThe thermophysiological comfort of fabrics is prerequisite as customers covet adequate moisture, heat management-supported and UV protective clothing that measure up to their levels of activities and environmental conditions. Hitherto, scant tasks have been reported with the purpose of engineering both comfort and UV protection simultaneously. From that vantage point, the objective of this work is to develop a model for optimum UPF, air permeability, water-vapour resistance, thermal resistance, thermal absorptivity and areal density of knitted fabrics.Design/methodology/approachWeft knitted fabrics of various compositions were investigated. UPF was tested using the Labsphere UV transmittance analyser. The FX 3300 (Textest instruments) air permeability tester was used to test air permeability. Thermal comfort and water-vapour resistance were evaluated using the Alambeta and Permetest instruments, respectively. Based on image processing, the porosity was measured. Fabrics thickness and areal density were measured according to standard methods. Furthermore, parametric and non-parametric statistical test methods were applied to the data for analysis.FindingsLinear regression was substantiated by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Then multiple linear regression of porosity and thickness together on UPF and comfort parameters were visually depicted by virtue of 3D linear plots. Residual analysis with quantile-quantile and probability plots, advocated the tests using the Shapiro-Wilk test. The result was validated by comparison with experimental data tested. The samples gave satisfactory relative errors and were supported by the z-test method. All tests indicated failure to reject the null hypothesis.Originality/valueThe predictive models were embedded into an interactive computer program. Fabric thickness and porosity are the inputs needed to run the program. It will predict the optimum UPF, areal density and thermophysiological comfort parameters. In a nutshell, knitters may use the program to determine optimum structural parameters for diverse permutations of UPF and thermophysiological comfort parameters; scilicet high UV protection together with low thermal insulation combined with low water-vapour resistance and high air permeability.

Don't Break my Flow: Effects of Switching Latency in Shooting Video Games

Latency is inherently part of every interactive computing system and particularly important for video games. Previous work shows that constant latency above 25 ms reduces game experience and player performance. However, latency in the wild varies and is never constant due to multiple factors, such as updates in routing tables, users changing their location, or the system's workload. It is unclear if switching latency impairs the gaming experience stronger than a constant high latency. To elucidate, we conducted an experiment with 264 participants playing a shooting video game induced with 0 ms, 33 ms, and 66 ms controlled latency. While playing, the game switched between different latency levels based on three frequencies. Our analysis shows that switching latency significantly impaired the participants' flow. Additionally, we found effects on the perceived tension, the experienced challenge, and the players' performance. We conclude that games should prioritize constant latency, even if that entails artificially adding latency.

Improving PHIRI performance and scalability: working within EGI-ACE

Abstract EGI-ACE is a 30-month H2020 project (Jan 2021 - June 2023) with a mission to empower researchers from all disciplines to collaborate in data- and compute-intensive Open Science, enabled by free-at-point-of-use services that are delivered through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). EGI-ACE delivers the EOSC Compute Platform (ECP), a federated system of compute and storage infrastructure extended with platform services to support diverse types of data processing and data analytics cases. The ECP currently includes High Throughput Compute (HTC) and Cloud Compute facilities, and will broaden its scope with High Performance Compute services later in 2022. The platform layer of the ECP provides assistance for single sign-on, transfer and federation of distributed data, interactive computing, management of large numbers of jobs, orchestration of compute clusters, AI and machine learning tasks. There are over 25 thematic services in EOSC that build on the ECP, and deliver scalable data analysis for different domains, from astrophysics, through life sciences, environmental sciences, to humanities. PHIRI participates in EGI-ACE as one of the ‘Early Adopters’ of the ECP. Under the EGI-ACE workplan PHIRI will explore reproducible population health workflows with the use of cloud computing, single-sign-on, Jupyter Notebooks and Binder services of the ECP. The tests will enable PHIRI to scale out existing data analysis notebooks to big capacity machines, to reproduce simulations and models across users, and to overall validate the technological and sustainability approaches of EGI-ACE. PHIRI will also advise the project on best ways to introduce secure processing capabilities within the ECP services.

Gamifying rehabilitation: MILORD platform as an upper limb motion rehabilitation service

Motor learning is based on the correct repetition of specific movements for their permanent storage in the central nervous system (CNS). Rehabilitation relies heavily on the repetition of specific movements, and game scenarios are ideal environments to build routines of repetitive exercises that have entertaining characteristics. In this respect, the gamification of the rehabilitation program, through the introduction of game-specific techniques and design concepts, has gained attention as a complementary or alternative to routine rehabilitation programs. A gamified rehabilitation program promises to gain the patient's attention, to reduce the monotony of the process and preserve motivation to attend, and to create virtual incentives through the game, toward maintaining compliance to the “prescribed” program. This is often achieved through goal-oriented tasks and real-time feedback in the form of points and other in-game rewards. This paper describes MILORD rehabilitation platform, an affordable technological solution, which aims to support health professionals and enable remote rehabilitation, while maintaining health service characteristics and monitoring. MILORD is an end-to-end platform that consists of an interactive computer game, utilizing a leap motion sensor, a centralized user management system, an analysis platform that processes the data generated by the game, and an analysis dashboard presenting a set of meaningful features that describe upper limb movement. Our solution facilitates the monitoring of the patients' progress and provides an alternative way to analyze hand movement. The system was tested with normal subjects and patients and experts to record user's experience, receive feedback, identify any problems, and understand the system's value in monitoring and support motion defect and progress. This small-scale study indicated the capacity of the analysis to quantify the movement in a meaningful way and express the differences between normal and pathological movement, and the user experience was positive with both patients and normal subjects.

The Circumferential Femoroplasty: An All-Arthroscopic Technique for Addressing a Challenging Hip Deformity

Femoroacetabular impingement is recognized as a common cause of hip pain. Cam-type femoroacetabular impingement results from abnormal contact between an aspherical femoral head and the acetabular rim during hip range of motion, leading to labral tearing, cartilage damage, and, eventually, osteoarthritis. Arthroscopic correction of this bony deformity has been well described, particularly in the anterolateral quadrant of the femoral neck. Some deformities extend well beyond this quadrant, involving most or all of the circumference of the femoral neck, making arthroscopic decompression a challenge. We present a post-less, all-arthroscopic technique for performing a circumferential cam decompression using 3-dimensional preoperative planning software and interactive fluoroscopy-integrated computer vision interface.

Integrating and Evaluating Helpful Features in Interactive Computer Assisted Learning Courseware for Low Achieving Children

With the aim to provide a learning content that is digitally delivered to assist low achieving children, this paper proposes some helpful features in an interactive courseware. The low achieving children usually encounter reading problem. Therefore, common courseware with textual instructions are not suitable for them. Accordingly, this paper discusses an Interactive Computer Assisted Learning courseware for Low Achievers known as Bijak Matematik. The application consolidates the well-defined components and elements that induce positive interaction supported with helpful object behavior features in the learning courseware. This study went through a threestage research process, which are i) design, ii) development and iii) user experience testing. Having design and develop the application, user experience testing was conducted with 30 participants from five primary schools. Result justifies that the prototype (iCAL4LA-Bijak Matematik) is significantly very helpful to the targeted users.

The ParFlow Sandtank: An interactive educational tool making invisible groundwater visible

Physical aquifer models are a highly effective teaching tool for hydrology education, however they come with inherent limitations that include the high cost to purchase, the static configuration of the model materials, the time required to visualize hydrogeological phenomena, and the effort to reset and clean them over time. To address these and other limitations, we have developed an interactive computer simulation of a physical aquifer model called the ParFlow Sandtank. In this gamified interface, users run the simulation using a familiar web-app like interface with sliders and buttons while learning real hydrologic concepts. Our user interface allows participants to dive into the world of hydrology, understanding assumptions about model parameters such as hydraulic conductivity, making decisions about inputs to groundwater aquifer systems such as pumping rates, visualizing outputs such as stream flow, transport, and saturation, and exploring various factors that impact real environmental systems such as climate change. The ParFlow Sandtank has already been used in a variety of educational settings with more than 9,000 users per year, and we feel this emerging educational tool can be used broadly in educational environments and can be scaled-up to provide greater accessibility for students and educators. Here we present the capabilities and workflow of the ParFlow Sandtank, two use cases, and additional tools and custom templates that have been developed to support and enhance the reach of the ParFlow Sandtank.

ASL Trigger Recognition in Mixed Activity/Signing Sequences for RF Sensor-Based User Interfaces

The past decade has seen great advancements in speech recognition for control of interactive devices, personal assistants, and computer interfaces. However, deaf and hard-of-hearing (HoH) individuals, whose primary mode of communication is sign language, cannot use voice-controlled interfaces. Although there has been significant work in video-based sign language recognition, video is not effective in the dark and has raised privacy concerns in the deaf community when used in the context of human ambient intelligence. RF sensors have been recently proposed as a new modality that can be effective under the circumstances where video is not. This article considers the problem of recognizing a trigger sign (wake word) in the context of daily living, where gross motor activities are interwoven with signing sequences. The proposed approach exploits multiple RF data domain representations (time-frequency, range-Doppler, and range-angle) for sequential classification of mixed motion data streams. The recognition accuracy of signs with varying kinematic properties is compared and used to make recommendations on appropriate trigger sign selection for RF-sensor-based user interfaces. The proposed approach achieves a trigger sign detection rate of 98.9% and a classification accuracy of 92% for 15 ASL words and three gross motor activities.

ДИГИТАЛНИ ИНСТРУМЕНТИ ЗА КОМПЮТЪРНИ ПРЕЗЕНТАЦИИ, ИЗПОЛЗВАНИ ПРИ ОБУЧЕНИЕТО НА УЧИТЕЛИ

The following work is devoted to the appropriate digital tools for interactive computer presentations that could be used in the pedagogical specialists’ training. It is known that in last two years educational systems around the world have switched to online learning. This has led to a need for retraining of pedagogical specialists in the field of preparation of e-learning content. This is the main reason why it is important for teachers to know modern digital tools that provide various services related to cloud storage, video conferencing, creating presentations, building web content, creating mind maps, collecting and providing information, creating digital notebooks, working with a whiteboard, creating tests for control and assessment of knowledge and much more. This work presents two digital tools for innovative and attractive computer presentations and their practical application in teachers’ training. The described digital tools are used in the teachers’ training in bachelor’s and master’s programs of FMI at the University of Plovdiv „Paisii Hilendarski“, as well as in various qualification courses conducted by the Department of Qualification and Professional Development of pedagogical specialists at the same university.

Reconstruction of Gene Regulatory Network for Colon Cancer Dataset

Abstract: Molecular networks involve interacting proteins, RNA, and DNA molecules, which underlie the major functions of living cells. DNA microarray probes how the gene expression changes to perform complex coordinated tasks in adaptation to a changing environment at a genome-wide scale. Microarray is a technology that has been widely used to probe the presence of genes in a sample of DNA or RNA. This technology helps to check the expression levels of thousands of genes together. The DNA microarray was established as a tool for the efficient collection of mRNA expression for a large number of genes. The mapping function route maps pairs of genes that present similar positive, and negative interactions and also defines how the range of each gene is going to be segmented. From all the combinations a function transforms each pair of labels into another one that classifies the type of interaction. This project addresses the challenge of reconstructing molecular networks and gene regulation from gene expression data. Reconstruction of gene regulatory networks which can also be called reverse engineering is a process of identifying gene interaction networks from the experimental microarray gene expression profiles through computation techniques. The main features involved in the computation of interaction in the filtered genes are the discretization mapping function, gene-gene mapping function, and filtering function.

A Collaborative Task Offloading Framework for Smart TV Applications in a Household Computing Environment

Smart TV can perform interactive computing while also providing video content services. However, this leads to a high delay during interactive computing because of the lack of computing capability, thus smart TVs are unable to undertake large scenes and complex interactive computing tasks. This article proposes a collaborative task offloading framework (CTOF) for interactive computing of smart TV video applications. The main contributions of this article are as follows: 1) a computing offloading mechanism is proposed for interactive computing with video content. A part of the interactive computing task is offloaded to the user’s high-computing mobile device in a household video service environment via a Wi-Fi Direct channel and 2) a collaborative computing offloading algorithm is proposed for complex interactive computing tasks. According to the computing complexity and the computing expansion coefficient, a parallel and serial collaborative smart offloading framework is established to minimize the delay. We conduct extensive experiments to indicate that in the existing experimental network environment, the video-based complex interactive service operation efficiency is improved by 20%. With a smart offloading framework, we can further achieve a satisfactory experience in terms of the interactive computing delay. Consequently, the smart TV can quickly respond to the complex video interactive service and improve the business interaction capability of the smart TV.

Experimental and computational fluid-structure interaction analysis and optimization of deep-V planing-hull grillage panels subject to slamming loads – Part I: Regular waves

The paper presents the multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) of a deep-V planing-hull grillage panel subject to slamming loads in regular waves. Namely, fluid structure interaction (FSI) experiments, computations, and MDO are presented and discussed for a bottom-panel grillage of a high-speed Generic Prismatic Planing Hull in regular waves. Computations are performed via one- and tightly coupled two-way computational fluid and structural dynamics (CFD/CSD) using unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation solvers to compute the hydrodynamic loads. The structural assessment of the original/traditional grillage is performed using a fully parametric finite element (FE) model, showing the significant effects of the FE boundary conditions on the structural response. Firstly, an equivalent static and uniform load is identified via CFD and applied during optimization using two design spaces. The selected optimized design provides a grillage-weight reduction of 35% and an overall factor of safety equal to 1.72. The optimized design presents variations of stiffeners dimensions across the grillage with the largest stiffener at the middle, distributing the stress more uniformly among the stiffeners. The effects of one-versus two-way coupling are negligible for both the original/traditional and optimized grillages (as per the hydroelasticity factor R), whereas the effects of FE boundary conditions on the analysis and optimization outcomes are significant, confirming the need for proper calibration of the FE model in FSI and MDO studies. Secondly, MDO is performed with a dynamic load applied via one-way coupling FSI. An additional 5% weight reduction is identified, achieving a 40% weight reduction compared to the traditional grillage. The optimal design presents the largest stiffener close to the keel, which is significantly different than the design obtained for uniform/static load. Comparison of computational and experimental data is very good, indicating that the accuracy of CFD, rigid-body motions, CSD, and FSI is overall satisfactory. Overall, the development of the computational tools is successful, and the computational/optimization capabilities are demonstrated via comparison with experimental data for both the original/traditional and static-load optimized grillages.