Navigation Interface Research Articles

Finite-element-based matching of pre- and intraoperative data for image-guided endovascular aneurysm repair.

Endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms is a well-established technique throughout the medical and surgical communities. Although increasingly indicated, this technique does have some limitations. Because intervention is commonly performed under fluoroscopic control, 2-D visualization of the aneurysm requires the injection of a contrast agent. The projective nature of this imaging modality inevitably leads to topographic errors, and does not give information on arterial wall quality at the time of deployment. A specially adapted intraoperative navigation interface could increase deployment accuracy and reveal such information, which preoperative 3-D imaging might otherwise provide. One difficulty is the precise matching of preoperative data (images and models) and intraoperative observations affected by anatomical deformations due to tool-tissue interactions. Our proposed solution involves a finite-element-based preoperative simulation of tool-tissue interactions, its adaptive tuning regarding patient specific data, and the matching with intraoperative data. The biomechanical model was first tuned on a group of tenpatients and assessed on a second group of eightpatients.

Faceted navigation framework for XML data

PurposeXML has become a standard data format for many applications and efficient retrieval methods are required. Typically, there are roughly two kinds of retrieval methods, namely path‐based method (e.g. XPath and XQuery) and keyword search, but these methods do not work when users do not have any concrete information need. To expand feasibility of XML data retrieval is an important task and this is the purpose of this paper.Design/methodology/approachThe paper's strategy is to apply faceted navigation for XML data. Faceted navigation is an exploratory search which enables the exploration of data making use of attributes, called facets. General faceted navigation methods are applied for attributed objects but XML data have no criteria because XML nodes are objects and facets. Thus, the paper's approach is to construct a framework to enable faceted navigation over XML data. It first extracts objects based on occurrence of nodes and facets. Then it constructs a faceted navigation interface for extracted objects and facets.FindingsThe framework achieves semi‐automatic construction of faceted navigation interface from an XML database. In the experiments, the show feasibility of the framework is shown by three faceted navigation interfaces using existing real XML data. On the other hand, the user study shows the retrieval method helps users to find required information.Originality/valueThere are only a few works which apply faceted navigation for XML data and these works are based on predefined objects and facets which need human effort. In contrast, this framework needs human decision making only when choosing objects and facets to be used in the faceted navigation interface.

EOG-based visual navigation interface development

This paper presents an EOG-based (Electrooculography) interface for Human Computer Interface (HCI) purposes. The solution enables the filtering of the recorded signals and identification of characteristic peak amplitudes associated with eye saccades, blinks or winks by using a classifier based on a set of fuzzy logic rules and a deterministic finite automaton. The identified eye saccades were assigned to six low-level commands for navigation purposes. An experiment study was conducted in order to check the accuracy and the performances of the proposed interface compared with three traditional input control interfaces. Experimental results show that the developed interface has good performance and can be used for online communication and control in EOG-based HCI systems or even for first-person navigation metaphors in games industry.

Comparing two types of navigational interfaces for Virtual Reality

Previous studies suggest significant differences between navigating virtual environments in a life-like walking manner (i.e., using treadmills or walk-in-place techniques) and virtual navigation (i.e., flying while really standing). The latter option, which usually involves hand-centric devices (e.g., joysticks), is the most common in Virtual Reality-based studies, mostly due to low costs, less space and technology demands. However, recently, new interaction devices, originally conceived for videogames have become available offering interesting potentialities for research. This study aimed to explore the potentialities of the Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a navigation interface in a Virtual Environment presented in an immersive Virtual Reality system. Comparing participants' performance while engaged in a simulated emergency egress allows determining the adequacy of such alternative navigation interface on the basis of empirical results. Forty university students participated in this study. Results show that participants were more efficient when performing navigation tasks using the Joystick than with the Balance Board. However there were no significantly differences in the behavioral compliance with exit signs. Therefore, this study suggests that, at least for tasks similar to the studied, the Balance Board have good potentiality to be used as a navigation interface for Virtual Reality systems.

Integrated development of automotive navigation and route guidance system

The automotive navigation system has been realized and has become popular along with the rapid development of electronic technology. The needs of people to reach destinations efficiently have pushed its development along with the projects of automotive development. Many vehicle-mounted technologies and many technologies supporting the navigation system such as communication and road data have been realized through many years of collaboration of powerful and innovative people among government, academia and industry. The technologies are to meet Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) international standards. Since the navigation interface system is an onboard device observed and operated during driving, securing safety, especially that related to human factors is an important issue. In this paper, the history of the development of the navigation system, research on human factors and standardization to enable social acceptance are described.

A Personal Plane Air Transportation System - The PPlane Project

The seventh European Framework Program (FP7) “Personal Plane” project (PPlane) aims to develop system ideas that enable personal air transport for the long term (2030 and beyond). Such a system will avoid the ever increasing congestion on European roads and offer an alternative to the current conventional transport system across Europe. PPlane will provide in all European countries, an additional component of a future efficient European multimodal transport system aiming at allowing all European citizen to travel anywhere in Europe, gate to gate, within 4 hour or lesss. The preliminary assumption made in the PPlane project is that automation should be developed to enable a “regular Joe” to use a personal aircraft, in various weather conditions, without any command and control difficulties, using a “push button” navigation interface. In conjunction with adapted sophisticated ATM ground system, an on-board automatic system will take care of the complex issues of integration into the future airspace that includes many other sky users, while preserving navigation and emergency management capabilities. A systematic and innovative approach has been developed and implemented within the PPlane project in order to identify and analyze future customers’ needs and to propose novel ideas for a Personal Air Transport System (PATS). This system satisfies the end users while respecting all environmental and social constraints. Several concepts of operation have been initially developed followed by an optimization model that applies a number of selection criteria to define, analyze and prioritize these concepts. The main issues that have been addressed are divided into five domains: security and safety, automation and control, environmental impact, energy constraints, human factors and social acceptance. In each domain, areas such as technologies, regulation, and affordability are considered resulting in the design of viable systems ideas. The project concludes that PPlane vehicle would be an aircraft that is fully automated and electrically propelled for environmental reasons. The ground infrastructure of the PPlane system has also been designed, an ownership model is proposed and a preliminary evaluation of the travel costs has been made. The solution of “flying car” or “roadable aircraft” was ruled out since it would cause many difficulties including multiple safety problems. PPlane is a 36-month project that started in October 2009. The PPlane consortium is coordinated by ONERA (France), administratively supported by Intergam Communications (Israel) and includes leading organizations from 11 European countries and associated states from different aviation domains in industry, research and academy.

Human Pointing Navigation Interface for Mobile Robot with Spherical Vision System

Human-robot interaction requires intuitive interface that is not possible using devices, such as, the joystick or teaching pendant, which also require some trainings. Instruction by gesture is one example of an intuitive interfaces requiring no training, and pointing is one of the simplest gestures. We propose simple pointing recognition for a mobile robot having an upwarddirected camera system. The robot using this recognizes pointing and navigates through simple visual feedback control to where the user points. This paper explores the feasibility and utility of our proposal as shown by the results of a questionnaire on proposed and conventional interfaces.

Exploration of continuous variability in collections of 3D shapes

As large public repositories of 3D shapes continue to grow, the amount of shape variability in such collections also increases, both in terms of the number of different classes of shapes, as well as the geometric variability of shapes within each class. While this gives users more choice for shape selection, it can be difficult to explore large collections and understand the range of variations amongst the shapes. Exploration is particularly challenging for public shape repositories, which are often only loosely tagged and contain neither point-based nor part-based correspondences. In this paper, we present a method for discovering and exploring continuous variability in a collection of 3D shapes without correspondences. Our method is based on a novel navigation interface that allows users to explore a collection of related shapes by deforming a base template shape through a set of intuitive deformation controls. We also help the user to select the most meaningful deformations using a novel technique for learning shape variability in terms of deformations of the template. Our technique assumes that the set of shapes lies near a low-dimensional manifold in a certain descriptor space, which allows us to avoid establishing correspondences between shapes, while being rotation and scaling invariant. We present results on several shape collections taken directly from public repositories.

Self‐guided clinical cases for medical students based on postmortem CT scans of cadavers

In the summer of 2009, we began full body computed tomography (CT) scanning of the pre-embalmed cadavers in the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS) dissection lab. We theorized that implementing web-based, self-guided clinical cases based on postmortem CT (PMCT) scans would result in increased student appreciation for the clinical relevance of anatomy, increased knowledge of cross-sectional anatomy, and increased ability to identify common pathologies on CT scans. The PMCT scan of each cadaver was produced as a DICOM dataset, and then converted into a Quicktime movie file using Osirix software. Clinical cases were researched and written by the authors, and consist of at least one Quicktime movie of a PMCT scan surrounded by a novel navigation interface. To assess the value of these clinical cases we surveyed medical students at UMMS who are currently using the clinical cases in their coursework. Students felt the clinical cases increased the clinical relevance of anatomy (mean response 7.77/10), increased their confidence finding anatomical structures on CT (7.00/10), and increased their confidence recognizing common pathologies on CT (6.17/10). Students also felt these clinical cases helped them synthesize material from numerous courses into an overall picture of a given disease process (7.01/10). These results support the conclusion that our clinical cases help to show students why the anatomy they are learning is foundational to their other coursework. We would recommend the use of similar clinical cases to any medical school utilizing cadaver dissection as a primary teaching method in anatomy education.

Design and Development of Ontology Suite for Software Risk Planning, Software Risk Tracking and Software Risk Control

Problem statement: Ontology as a conceptual courseware structure may work as a mind tool for effective teaching and as a visual navigation interface to the learning objects. Knowledge visualization is defined as the use of visual representations to transfer knowledge between at least two persons. This study presents the design, development and visualization of ontologies for Software Risk Planning, Software Risk Tracking and Software Risk Controlling. Approach: The ontologies are developed using protege tool, an effective ontology editor and it is represented by the formal knowledge representational language OWL. In order to increase the richness of the knowledge available in the ontologies, its semantic representation is presented using ontology document generator. Finally the ontologies are effectively visualised using OntoViz. Results: The ontologies represent the domain knowledge Software Risk Planning, Software Risk Tracking and Software Risk Controlling respectively and is developed with the indention to use it as a knowledge base for effective knowledge representation, Knowledge Management and E-Learning applications. The constructed ontologies are evaluated using quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis. Conclusion: Since the average reuse ratio is 0.95, the developed ontologies are highly cohesive. Comparison of concepts and properties used in the ontologies proved that the developed ontologies are concept oriented ontology. The both quantitative and qualitative analysis says, the developed ontologies are ready to use for applications such as E-Learning, Knowledge Management.

Development of a shoe-mounted assistive user interface for navigation

Assistive technology and assistive devices have been researched and developed to promote an independent daily life for visually impaired individuals. Navigation for the visually impaired may be one of the most challenging tasks due to high expectations on both the functionality and the mechanical specifications of the devices. This research aims at developing a multiple-sensor-based hand-free device as a navigation aid to detect obstacles. The developed device incorporates a sensor unit and a feedback unit with either a wired or a wireless data communication set-up. The working principle and the design criteria are identified with several working scenarios for potential applications. The implementation of the design into a prototype device is discussed in details. The prototype has been tested, and recommendations of possible improvements and future works are proposed.

A Direct Physical Interface for Navigation and Positioning of a Robotic Nursing Assistant

People often use direct physical contact to guide a person to a desired location (e.g., leading a child by the hand) or to adjust a person's posture for a task (e.g., a dance instructor working with a dancer). When a user is in close proximity to a robot, physical contact becomes a potentially valuable channel for communication. We define a direct physical interface (DPI) as an interface that enables a user to influence a robot's behavior by making contact with its body. We evaluated a DPI in a controlled laboratory setting with 18 nurses and compared its performance with that of a comparable gamepad interface. The DPI significantly outperformed the gamepad according to several objective and subjective measures. Nurses also tended to exert more force at the robot's end-effectors and command higher velocities when using the DPI to perform a navigation task compared with using the DPI to perform a positioning task. Based on user surveys, we identify various nursing tasks where robotic assistance may be useful and provide design recommendations specifically in the area of healthcare.

An Exploratory Study of the Validity of Visual Fit Assessment From Three-Dimensional Scans

3D scans are considered to be potentially useful visual analysis tool, but there have been few studies regarding the validity of 3D scans as a tool for visual analysis. We investigated this by comparing results from fit analyses using live models with those using 3D scans of the same models. Professionals from the apparel industry provided feedback on the process of 3D scan fit analyses and suggested ways to improve the process. Results from different areas of the body showed different levels of reliability. In the bust area, misfit and estimates on alteration amounts were the most reliable, while the waist area showed the least consistency in fit interpretation overall. The hip area was not reliable for identification of misfit, but was relatively reliable for estimates of alteration amounts. This study suggested how future studies could improve the process in terms of data organization, display and the navigation interface.

Social navigation in web lectures: a study of virtPresenter

PurposeSocial navigation is an emerging trend for navigation in hypermedia. With social navigation, users can be guided through large volumes of learning content by cues which integrate the browsing history of past users. Earlier papers have shown that social navigation is suitable for navigation not only in classic hypermedia but also in time‐based learning media like web lectures by presenting prototype implementations. The purpose of this paper is to report on user experiences with social navigation for web lectures in the classroom.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents results obtained from a two‐term classroom study with a social navigation interface for web lectures. The study comprises both log file analysis and student questionnaires. The interface used in the study implements a footprint‐based social navigation approach for time‐based continuous media such as web lectures.FindingsThe results of the user study show that social navigation cues significantly affect user lecture navigation, causing users to pay more attention to the material previously explored by other users. The users' subjective feedback on the usefulness of the social navigation cues and related navigation components was significantly positive.Originality/valueSocial navigation has primarily been implemented and researched in traditional text‐ and picture‐based hypermedia. This paper presents an actual user study of footprint‐based social navigation for web lectures. The results of this study are relevant to both practitioners who want to use social navigation in web lectures and researchers who want to improve and research navigation approaches for time‐based media.

Spatial navigation for context-aware video surveillance.

Interactive spatial navigation for video surveillance networks can be difficult. This is especially true for live tracking of complex events along many cameras, in which operators must make quick, accurate navigation decisions on the basis of the actual situation. The proposed spatial navigation interface facilitates such video surveillance tasks.

Video tapestries with continuous temporal zoom

We present a novel approach for summarizing video in the form of a multiscale image that is continuous in both the spatial domain and across the scale dimension: There are no hard borders between discrete moments in time, and a user can zoom smoothly into the image to reveal additional temporal details. We call these artifacts tapestries because their continuous nature is akin to medieval tapestries and other narrative depictions predating the advent of motion pictures. We propose a set of criteria for such a summarization, and a series of optimizations motivated by these criteria. These can be performed as an entirely offline computation to produce high quality renderings, or by adjusting some optimization parameters the later stages can be solved in real time, enabling an interactive interface for video navigation. Our video tapestries combine the best aspects of two common visualizations, providing the visual clarity of DVD chapter menus with the information density and multiple scales of a video editing timeline representation. In addition, they provide continuous transitions between zoom levels. In a user study, participants preferred both the aesthetics and efficiency of tapestries over other interfaces for visual browsing.

Video tapestries with continuous temporal zoom

We present a novel approach for summarizing video in the form of a multiscale image that is continuous in both the spatial domain and across the scale dimension: There are no hard borders between discrete moments in time, and a user can zoom smoothly into the image to reveal additional temporal details. We call these artifacts tapestries because their continuous nature is akin to medieval tapestries and other narrative depictions predating the advent of motion pictures. We propose a set of criteria for such a summarization, and a series of optimizations motivated by these criteria. These can be performed as an entirely offline computation to produce high quality renderings, or by adjusting some optimization parameters the later stages can be solved in real time, enabling an interactive interface for video navigation. Our video tapestries combine the best aspects of two common visualizations, providing the visual clarity of DVD chapter menus with the information density and multiple scales of a video editing timeline representation. In addition, they provide continuous transitions between zoom levels. In a user study, participants preferred both the aesthetics and efficiency of tapestries over other interfaces for visual browsing.

Navigation Interface for Recommending Home Medical Products

Based on users' health issues, an intelligent personal health record (iPHR) system can automatically recommend home medical products (HMPs) and display them in a sequential order. However, the sequential output interface does not categorize search results and is not easy for users to quickly navigate to their desired HMPs. To address this problem, we developed a navigation interface for retrieved HMPs. Our idea is to use medical knowledge and nursing knowledge to construct a navigation hierarchy based on product categories. This hierarchy is added to the left side of each search result Web page to help users move through retrieved HMPs. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our techniques using USMLE medical exam cases.

Ontology-based visualization and navigation in an online digital library

In this paper, we present a novel approach to visualize and navigate the document collection of a DL using ontology. We assume a DL corpus as a network of a large set of information nodes. We use domain ontology to depict the background knowledge organization and map the multimedia information nodes on that knowledge map, in order to make the implicit knowledge organization in a collection explicit. The ontology is automatically created by exploring the Wikipedia knowledge hierarchy, and is delimited to tightly cover the information nodes in the library's collection. We present an abstract view of the knowledge map, clear and concise, which can be progressively ‘zoomed in’ or ‘zoomed out’ to navigate the knowledge space. We place the ontology nodes on the screen, based on their mutual similarity scores for aiding the cognitive process during navigation. The system provides an interactive navigation interface to the users.

Improving Tele-robotic Navigation through Augmented Reality Devices

Navigation is an essential element in many telerobotic operations especially those that involve time pressure and complex terrains. This study demonstrates that properly designed augmented reality interfaces can significantly aid human operators in the task of land based tele-robotic navigation. Participants in this study were assigned to one of three experimental conditions (control, sonification interface, visual interface). All participants were trained in tele-robotic landmine detection and navigation, the groups performed these tasks first with augmentation (session one) and then without (session two/transfer task). The results show that participants in the sonification interface group outperformed the visual interface and control group in terms of primary task sensitivity, the number of sectors cover and the number of sectors repeated. The results further indicated that a well designed AR navigation interface could serve as an effective training tool.