Visual Channels Research Articles

Experiment Study for Wrist-Wearable Electro-Tactile Display.

Tactile sensation is a promising information display channel for human beings that involves supplementing or replacing degraded visual or auditory channels. In this paper, a wrist-wearable tactile rendering system based on electro-tactile stimulation is designed for information expression, where a square array with 8 × 8 spherical electrodes is used as the touch panel. To verify and improve this touch-based information display method, the optimal mode for stimulus signals was firstly investigated through comparison experiments, which show that sequential stimuli with consecutive-electrode-in-active mode have a better performance than those with single-electrode-in-active mode. Then, simple Chinese and English characters and 26 English characters’ recognition experiments were carried out and the proposed method was verified with an average recognition rate of 95% and 82%, respectively. This wrist-wearable tactile display system would be a new and promising medium for communication and could be of great value for visually impaired people.

Truth or Square: Aspect Ratio Biases Recall of Position Encodings.

Bar charts are among the most frequently used visualizations, in part because their position encoding leads them to convey data values precisely. Yet reproductions of single bars or groups of bars within a graph can be biased. Curiously, some previous work found that this bias resulted in an overestimation of reproduced data values, while other work found an underestimation. Across three empirical studies, we offer an explanation for these conflicting findings: this discrepancy is a consequence of the differing aspect ratios of the tested bar marks. Viewers are biased to remember a bar mark as being more similar to a prototypical square, leading to an overestimation of bars with a wide aspect ratio, and an underestimation of bars with a tall aspect ratio. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the aspect ratio of the bar marks indeed influenced the direction of this bias. Experiment 3 confirmed that this pattern of misestimation bias was present for reproductions from memory, suggesting that this bias may arise when comparing values across sequential displays or views. We describe additional visualization designs that might be prone to this bias beyond bar charts (e.g., Mekko charts and treemaps), and speculate that other visual channels might hold similar biases toward prototypical values.

A relevance-theoretic account of translating jokes with sexual innuendos inModern Familyinto Spanish

AbstractThe main purpose of this paper is to analyse jokes containing sexual innuendos in ambiguous utterances from the first two seasons ofModern Familyand their translation into Spanish using relevance theory. More often than not, the ambiguity and sexual innuendos are also reflected in the Spanish versions analysed. Hence, in all those cases, in relevance-theoretical terms, the cognitive effects intended in the source text (ST), including humorous ones, will also be accessible to target text (TT) viewers. It, therefore, follows that the pragmatic scenario is preserved in the TT, sometimes at the expense of a sacrifice in the semantic scenario. In audio-visual texts, ambiguity may also impact the visual channel. Although in some cases the visual component may render the translator’s task difficult, in others it may act as an aid to both the translator and TT viewer, contributing to the yielding of humorous effects.

Translation criticism meets multimodality: evaluating the translation of a picturebook – an experiment

The German picturebook Eins Zwei Drei Tier(one, two, three, animal) (1999), written and illustrated by Nadia Budde for children aged three years and over, contains a total of 98 words, 64 humorous illustrations of people and animals, 18 pages and 17 rhymes. At first sight, it seems untranslatable, yet it has been published in many languages, one of which is Portuguese. A picturebook is usually read to and by children, which means that its message is transmitted through the auditory and visual channels, and sometimes also through the tactile one too. Given these multimodal characteristics, how can the translation be evaluated?Translation criticism theories from the 1990s have usually focused on the text-level, and Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast’s translation criticism model (1994, 1997, 1998) is no exception. This paper conducts the experiment to apply her model to a picturebook.

MULTI-ELEMENT SCALE INDICATOR DEVICES IN BUILT-IN SYSTEMS

The work is devoted to investigation of functional principles of data display means building in embedded systems and definition of ways of reliability increasing of information transfer at interaction in user interface. The importance of a visual communication channel with the operator to ensure the protection of information in complex systems and responsible applications is shown. The principles of implementation of the data output subsystem in embedded systems are analyzed and it is found that the required level of information is provided only by multi-element indicator devices. The element base of indicators is investigated and determined that the most effective display elements from a reliable and ergonomic point of view for built-in applications are LEDs. Analysis of the principles of visual presentation of information showed that the analog (discrete-analog) method of data transmission to the operator provides the highest level of ergonomic parameters of indicators. In this case, the best results have a scale indication based on the additive information model. The use of color speeds up the reading of information from the scale. The control schemes of indicator elements for construction of reliable devices are analyzed. It has been found that the use of microcontrollers significantly increases the level of reliability and provides flexibility of such control schemes. In this case, the software used has a significant impact on the reliability and efficiency of solutions. The matrix connection of LEDs, which are switched in a dynamic mode, allows to build effective means of communication with the operator. It is determined that the best set of technical, reliability and ergonomic characteristics will be obtained when implementing data output in embedded systems using LED bar graph display with microcontroller means in bicyclical dynamic mode. However, very little attention has been paid to investigation of the principles of construction and software optimization support for scale information using control schemes based on microcontrollers.

Color synesthesia in modern female poetry

A display of synesthesia in the poetic speech of contemporary artists is analyzed. The lack of special studies of synesthetic linguistic representation in modern poetry determines the relevance of the proposed investigation. In scientific interpretation, synesthesia is the interaction of words to denote emotions or other abstract or particular concepts. In linguistics, the term „synesthesia” is used to denote the mechanism of metaphorical analogy, formed on the basis of visual, taste, auditory, odorative, tactile human senses, which supply their own units to denote other conceptual areas. In modern poetry, synesthesia is productive as a mean of verbalizing subjective experiences. Furthermore, achromatic colors (white, gray, black) are actively used in poetry. Tokens to denote shades of blue (blue, cyan, blue), associated with the concept of melancholy, are also used quite often. In the analyzed poems color-sound synesthesia prevails. This fact can be explained by the physiological significance of visual and audio channels for obtaining information, as well as the genre specificity of the analyzed texts. At the syntactic level, the traditional model of a synaesthetic phrase is a combination of an adjectival colorative with a noun token to denote a concept of another conceptual sphere. The definition location in the postposition to the denoted word gives synesthetic constructions additional stylistic significance, strengthens their expressive potential. The use of complex adjectives as double epithets is a rarely used syntactic model of synesthesia. Sometimes synesthesia becomes the creative basis of the whole poetry. The analysis of synesthetic constructions makes it possible to comprehend the deep inner world of poets, features of poetic thinking, Ukrainian worldview in general.

System of automatic analysis of methods for recognizing the emotional state of a person

The introduction of methods and means of digital transformation of industry and the social sphere poses new challenges. One of these tasks is the management of active systems, in which simple registration and identification of the initiators of actions is not enough, but a deeper assessment of their state, including psychophysical and emotional, is required. The article is devoted to the analysis of methods and means of recognizing the emotional state of a person. Approaches to automated recognition of a person's emotional state based on primary, secondary and more complex features are analyzed. The main focus is on a comprehensive approach to recognition of a person's emotional state based on the analysis of visual and audio channels using neural networks and computer psyche algorithms. The target of the article is a formalization of methods and development of means to recognize a person's emotional state according to complex audiovisual criteria. Analyzed software for recognizing the emotional state of a person: FaceReaderNoldus, EmoDetect, FaceSecurity, Microsoft Oxford Project Emotion Recognition, eMotion Software, MMER_FEASy. Methods used to recognize the emotional state of a person by his face have been investigated, such as: the method of basic components, the Viola-Jones method, template comparison, the Hopfield neural network, the method based on the localization of key points on the face and the method based on texture information. Separately analyzed methods of recognizing the emotional state of a person from his speech. invention proposes a solution for multilevel recognition of emotional state of a person based on using algorithms of neural networks and computer psyche. Software for recognizing the emotional state of a person was analyzed: the developed approach can be used for various digital applications, ranging from the analysis of the psychophysiological and emotional state of a person - an operator (pilot, driver, etc.), to multimedia mobile applications for analyzing the emotional state of an interlocutor. The trend for remote work and self-employment opens up such areas of application of these applications as consulting psychologists, interviewing online, optimizing the human resources of companies and organizations. Prospects for using the latest versions of emotional analyzers are shown.

Действия с виртуальными объектами на тачскрин-устройствах: анализ перцептивного опыта современных дошкольников

The paper focuses on the analysis of perception of virtual objects (objects of the virtual environment displayed on the screens of touch screen devices) in children of early and preschool age engaged in actions with these objects. The first part of the article reviews the psychological outcomes of a child mastering how to operate a touch screen device as a tool from the standpoint of D.B. Elkonin’s theory of child development and P.Ya. Galperin’s concept of the functional differences between a tool and a means. In the second part of the article we analyze the perceptual experience obtained by children of early and preschool age when using touchscreen devices. As we see it, the main distinguishing feature of perception of virtual objects is the discrepancy between the information received through the visual and haptic channels. We analyze the results of experimental studies that reveal the impact of this phenomenon on the process of perception of virtual objects and the extent to which the representations of virtual and real objects differ: 1) the ability of children to process haptic information, as well as to implement intermodal transfer, improves at the age of 5 to 7 years; 2) in situations of a significant discrepancy in information from different senses, children under 6 do not perform multisensory integration, but rely on one sense (usually vision). In our pilot study (17 children aged 4—5 years), a significant increase in the time of haptic recognition of a virtual object as compared to a visually perceived one (Temp = 28 at p ≤ 0.05) was detected. This can be taken as an argument in favor of the fact that children move beyond the limits of processing only visual information in situations of visual-haptic discrepancy.

Towards Higher Sense of Presence: A 3D Virtual Environment Adaptable to Confusion and Engagement

Virtual Reality scenarios where emitters convey information to receptors can be used as a tool for distance learning and to enable virtual visits to company physical headquarters. However, immersive Virtual Reality setups usually require visualization interfaces such as Head-mounted Displays, Powerwalls or CAVE systems, supported by interaction devices (Microsoft Kinect, Wii Motion, among others), that foster natural interaction but are often inaccessible to users. We propose a virtual presentation scenario, supported by a framework, that provides emotion-driven interaction through ubiquitous devices. An experiment with 3 conditions was designed involving: a control condition; a less confusing text script based on its lexical, syntactical, and bigram features; and a third condition where an adaptive lighting system dynamically acted based on the user's engagement. Results show that users exposed to the less confusing script reported higher sense of presence, albeit without statistical significance. Users from the last condition reported lower sense of presence, which rejects our hypothesis without statistical significance. We theorize that, as the presentation was given orally and the adaptive lighting system impacts the visual channel, this conflict may have overloaded the users' cognitive capacity and thus reduced available resources to address the presentation content.

Лазерний далекомір відносно безпечного для зору діапазону довжин хвиль

Subject and Purpose. The development and prototype making of a laser rangefinder operating in the 1.50…1.70 μm spectral region is reported. This wavelength region is attractive to both laser producers and laser users for, first of all, relative eye-safety of radiation. Methods and Methodology. The paraxial scheme of rangefinder construction is used, involving a software-controlled power supply of laser radiation with technical arrangements providing its adaptation to varying operating conditions. The alignment of the transceiver channels is provided with laser beam visualization methods. Results. A pulsed laser rangefinder operating at a 1.54 μm wavelength has been developed, a prototype has been made. The rangefinder essentially consists of the transmitting and receiving channels and the visual channel for targeting. The radiation source is a pulsed laser on ytterbium-erbium glass with semiconductor diode pumping and modulated Q-factor. The laser provides a 6 mJ power pulse of 25 ns duration and 5 mrad radiation divergence. A laser light spot of a required aperture is formed using a Galilean telescope system. For the photodetector of the reflected radiation, a pin-photodiode with a photosensitive area diagonal of 0.3 mm and a 2.5 ns time resolution is used. The echo signal processing module has been developed and performed, providing a high-precision registration of a time delay between the starting and reflected pulses. An effective method with the use of a charge-coupled device and an LCD monitor has been proposed and implemented for the alignment of all the three rangefinder channels. The rangefinder can operate in a single-pulse or repetitive-pulse mode with a probing pulse repetition rate of 1 Hz. Conclusion. A pulsed laser rangefinder operating in a relatively eye-safe spectrum region has been developed, a prototype has been made. The field tests have shown that the created rangefinder measures an object distance within 140…7 000 m with a measurement error no worse than 3 m.

Deep-Learning-Empowered Digital Forensics for Edge Consumer Electronics in 5G HetNets

The upcoming 5G heterogeneous networks (HetNets) have attracted much attention worldwide. Large amounts of high-velocity data can be transported by using the bandwidth spectrum of HetNets, yielding both great benefits and several concerning issues. In particular, great harm to our community could occur if the main visual information channels, such as images and videos, are maliciously attacked and uploaded to the Internet, where they can be spread quickly. Therefore, we propose a novel framework as a digital forensics tool to protect end users. It is built based on deep learning and can realize the detection of attacks via classification. Compared with the conventional methods and justified by our experiments, the data collection efficiency, robustness, and detection performance of the proposed model are all refined. In addition, assisted by 5G HetNets, our proposed framework makes it possible to provide high-quality real-time forensics services on edge consumer devices such as cell phone and laptops, which brings colossal practical value. Some discussions are also carried out to outline potential future threats.

Brief Overview and Experience of Visual Evoked Potential of First 67 cases at Referral Neuroscience Hospital in Bangladesh

Background: The visual evoked potentials (VEP) is a valuable tool to document occult lesions of the central visual channels especially within the optic nerve.
 Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to observe the findings of first few cases of VEP done in the neurophysiology department of the National Institute of Neurosciences (NINS), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
 Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Neurophysiology at the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 2017 to March 2020. All patients referred to the Neurophysiology Department of NINS for VEP were included. Pattern reversal VEPs were done using standard protocol set by International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN).
 Results: The mean age of the study population was 30.70 (±12.11) years (6-68 years) with 31 (46.3%) male and 36 (53.7%) female patients. The mean duration of illness was 8.71 (±1.78) months (3 days- 120 months). Most common presenting symptom was blurring of vision (37.3%) and dimness of vision (32.8%). Patterned VEP revealed mixed type (both demyelinating and axonal) of abnormality in most cases [29(43.35)]. The most common clinical diagnosis was multiple sclerosis (29.85%) and optic neuropathy (26.87%). In the clinically suspected cases of multiple sclerosis, optic neuropathy and optic neuritis most of the cases of VEP were abnormal and the p value is 0.04 in optic neuropathy and optic neuritis.
 Conclusion: The commonest presentation of the patients in this series were blurring of vision and dimness of vision. The most common clinical diagnosis for which VEP was asked for, was optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis. Most abnormalities were of mixed pattern (demyelinating and axonal).
 Journal of National Institute of Neurosciences Bangladesh, 2020;6(2): 74-77

A multichannel human-swarm robot interaction system in augmented reality

BackgroundA large number of robots have put forward the new requirements for humanrobot interaction. One of the problems in human-swarm robot interaction is how to naturally achieve an efficient and accurate interaction between humans and swarm robot systems. To address this, this paper proposes a new type of human-swarm natural interaction system. MethodsThrough the cooperation between three-dimensional (3D) gesture interaction channel and natural language instruction channel, a natural and efficient interaction between a human and swarm robots is achieved. ResultsFirst, A 3D lasso technology realizes a batch-picking interaction of swarm robots through oriented bounding boxes. Second, control instruction labels for swarm-oriented robots are defined. The instruction label is integrated with the 3D gesture and natural language through instruction label filling. Finally, the understanding of natural language instructions is realized through a text classifier based on the maximum entropy model. A head-mounted augmented reality display device is used as a visual feedback channel. ConclusionsThe experiments on selecting robots verify the feasibility and availability of the system.

See how it feels to move: Relationships between movement characteristics and perception of emotions in dance

Music makes humans move in ways found to relate to, for instance, musical characteristics, personality, or emotional content of the music. In this study, we investigated associations between embodiments of musical emotions and the perception thereof. After collecting motion capture data of dancers moving to emotionally distinct musical stimuli, silent stick-figure animations were rated by a set of observers regarding perceived discrete emotions, while 10 movement features were computationally extracted from the motion capture data. Results indicate kinematic profiles—emotion-specific sets of movement characteristics—that furthermore conform with dimensional models of valence and arousal, suggesting that observers rated the emotions consistently according to distinct movement features prevalent in the animations. Outcomes show commonalities and differences to a previous study that linked these movement features to auditory perception of musical emotion, providing insights into how emotional expression of music-induced movement could be conveyed and understood through auditory and visual channels, respectively.

Multi-view clustering toward aerial images by combining spectral analysis and local refinement

Aerial images’ clustering is of great significance in many domains of the last-generation computer systems, such as intelligent navigation, geological analysis, and disaster prediction. Conventional methods exploit only the global visual information and unimodal visual feature to characterize each aerial image, which is simple and self-descriptive in some cases. However, it cannot adequately simulate tiny and fine-grained visual patterns within each aerial image, such as automobiles of the “intersection” category and houses of the “residence” category. Moreover, the unimodal feature cannot effectively capture each aerial image. Other visual channels, such as the light spectrum, should also be encoded into the aerial image modeling system. We propose a novel aerial image clustering system, with a seamless fusion of spectrum and local features in this work. The multispectral visual clue is characterized by color plus texture channels from aerial images of each spectral channel. Simultaneously, locally distributed and very small objects combined with their spatial configurations are described by a set of graphlets. That is, each edge connects a pair of small objects, which are spatially neighboring. Subsequently, a multi-view learning algorithm is formulated to fuse the above channels to characterize each aerial image optimally. The importance of multiple spectral channels is flexibly tuned. A graph-based clustering algorithm is adopted to categorize the massive-scale aerial images into multiple types based on each aerial image’s fused feature description. Extensive comparative results on a million-level real-world aerial photograph set prove our method’s advantage over available state-of-the-art ones. Besides, visualization results imply that our clustering algorithm can optimally discriminate aerial images from different categories.

Evaluation of haptic virtual reality user interfaces for medical marking on 3D models

Three-dimensional (3D) visualization has been widely used in computer-aided medical diagnosis and planning. To interact with 3D models, current user interfaces in medical systems mainly rely on the traditional 2D interaction techniques by employing a mouse and a 2D display. There are promising haptic virtual reality (VR) interfaces which can enable intuitive and realistic 3D interaction by using VR equipment and haptic devices. However, the practical usability of the haptic VR interfaces in this medical field remains unexplored. In this study, we propose two haptic VR interfaces, a vibrotactile VR interface and a kinesthetic VR interface, for medical diagnosis and planning on volumetric medical images. The vibrotactile VR interface used a head-mounted VR display as the visual output channel and a VR controller with vibrotactile feedback as the manipulation tool. Similarly, the kinesthetic VR interface used a head-mounted VR display as the visual output channel and a kinesthetic force-feedback device as the manipulation tool. We evaluated these two VR interfaces in an experiment involving medical marking on 3D models, by comparing them with the present state-of-the-art 2D interface as the baseline. The results showed that the kinesthetic VR interface performed the best in terms of marking accuracy, whereas the vibrotactile VR interface performed the best in terms of task completion time. Overall, the participants preferred to use the kinesthetic VR interface for the medical task.

Suppose your bus broke down and nobody came

The absence of a human driver creates novel challenges for fully automated public transport. Passengers are likely to have different expectations, needs, or even fears when traveling without a driver in potentially dangerous situations. We present the results from two field studies in which we explored incident management in a driverless shuttle bus. We explored participant’s behavior and willingness to assist in solving problems in a variety of scenarios where the bus suddenly stops for technical reasons or a hypothesized situation of harassment. In a follow-up study, we focused on auditory remote assistance and investigated problem solving through the passengers. We found that diffusion of responsibility is an existent barrier, when passengers are involved in the resolving of potentially dangerous situations. It can be overcome, when incident-relevant instructions are designed explicitly, briefly, timely, distinguishable from regular on-trip information, and address auditory and visual sensory channels alike.

Visual duration bisection in profoundly deaf individuals.

BackgroundPrevious research has been designed to study the effect of hearing loss on supra-second duration estimation in the visual channel and position effect of visual abilities among deaf populations. The current study aimed to investigate the sub-second duration perception of different visual fields in profoundly deaf individuals.MethodsA total of 16 profoundly deaf undergraduates and 16 hearing undergraduates completed a visual duration bisection task in which participants made judgments about whether a series of probe durations that were linearly spaced from 200 ms to 800 ms at 100 ms intervals were more similar to a standard short duration (200 ms) or a standard long duration (800 ms). The probe stimuli were presented in the center, left, or right of the screen. A repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a between-participants factor of group and a within-participants factor of position, and a one-sample t-test were conducted.ResultsThe Weber ratio (WR) values of deaf participants were significantly higher than those of hearing participants, regardless of the presented positions of the visual stimulus. The bisection point (BP) value of deaf participants was significantly lower than 500 ms (average mean of 200/800 ms) and the BP value of hearing participants did not significantly differ from 500 ms, although the overall difference of BP values between the deaf group and hearing group did not reach significance. For deaf participants, the BP value in the center condition was significantly lower than 500 ms; however, the difference between the BP value in the left condition and 500 ms did not reach significance, indicating that their duration discrimination accuracy in the left visual field was better than that in the center visual field.ConclusionsHearing loss impaired visual sub-second duration perception, and deaf individuals showed a left visual field advantage of duration discrimination accuracy during the visual duration bisection task.

Will the Real Devil Speak Up?

Ventriloquism, Edison’s playback, and the sound film base their appeal to spectators primarily on the tension between the two-dimensional image and three-dimensional sound, between space and surface, as well as between body and voice. My focus is on the disembodied voice in cinema, the voice with no body attached. The meanings attached to the unaccommodated or unlocatable voices in various kinds of ventriloquism seem to produce just such a suspension. The opening of the connection between a voice and a body as its source reminds us of the voice as a partial object in the writings of Jacques Lacan, as well as Rick Altman’s model of ventriloquism, in which whoever controls sound in film is a ventriloquist who “uses” the body, manipulating it as if it were a puppet. This notion becomes fascinatingly complicated when applied to The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin). The Exorcist stages the battle between the forces of sound and image, body and voice, elevating it to a terrifying good-versus-evil theological level. This battle extends the diegetic narrative to become a battle between two actors (the voice actor and the actor seen on screen) trying to share one body, a split between two personalities. The film is an exceptional case study that allows us to examine the ways in which cinema contributes to and mediates the ventriloquial act, as well as the roles of the visual, aural, and tactile perceptual channels and their relation to each other in the cinematic experience, in particular in the horror genre.

Contrasting stripes are a widespread feature of group living in birds, mammals and fishes.

Grouping is a widespread form of predator defence, with individuals in groups often performing evasive collective movements in response to attack by predators. Individuals in these groups use behavioural rules to coordinate their movements, with visual cues about neighbours' positions and orientations often informing movement decisions. Although the exact visual cues individuals use to coordinate their movements with neighbours have not yet been decoded, some studies have suggested that stripes, lines, or other body patterns may act as conspicuous conveyors of movement information that could promote coordinated group movement, or promote dazzle camouflage, thereby confusing predators. We used phylogenetic logistic regressions to test whether the contrasting achromatic stripes present in four different taxa vulnerable to predation, including species within two orders of birds (Anseriformes and Charadriiformes), a suborder of Artiodactyla (the ruminants), and several orders of marine fishes (predominantly Perciformes) were associated with group living. Contrasting patterns were significantly more prevalent in social species, and tended to be absent in solitary species or species less vulnerable to predation. We suggest that stripes taking the form of light-coloured lines on dark backgrounds, or vice versa, provide a widespread mechanism across taxa that either serves to inform conspecifics of neighbours' movements, or to confuse predators, when moving in groups. Because detection and processing of patterns and of motion in the visual channel is essentially colour-blind, diverse animal taxa with widely different vision systems (including mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrachromats) appear to have converged on a similar use of achromatic patterns, as would be expected given signal-detection theory. This hypothesis would explain the convergent evolution of conspicuous achromatic patterns as an antipredator mechanism in numerous vertebrate species.