Question: 7 primary obstacles in utilizing visualization for cyber network defense strategies.

This paper delves into the concept of fisheye views, a display technique that mirrors human cognitive habits by providing detailed representations of immediate areas of interest while summarizing more distant information. Inspired by how individuals often focus on their immediate surroundings while recognizing key features at a distance, fisheye views offer a promising approach to managing and visualizing complex information structures, such as software programs, databases, and online texts. The exploration of fisheye views in this context involves several stages: first, a series of naturalistic studies to understand the human perspective on detail and summary; second, the development of a formal framework that can encapsulate the principles of fisheye views; third, the creation of a specific implementation based on this framework; fourth, the programming of a software tool that realizes the fisheye view concept; and finally, the presentation of examples and an evaluation to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique. The goal is to enhance the user's ability to navigate and comprehend large-scale information systems by providing a more intuitive and detailed visualization of their relevant parts.

Cyber-physical Production Systems (CPPS) are one of the technical driving forces behind the transformation of industrial production towards "digital factory of the future" in the context of Industry 4.0. Security is a major concern for such systems as they become more intelligent, interconnected, and coupled with physical devices. For various security activities from security analysis to designing security controls and architecture, a systematic and structured view and presentation of security-related information is required. Based on the draft standard of Reference Architecture Model for Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0), we propose a practical approach to establish a security viewpoint in the CPPS reference architecture model. We investigate the feasibility of using an architecture modeling tool to implement the concept and leverage existing work on models of layered architecture. We demonstrate the applicability for security analysis in two example case studies.

The constant increase of attacks against networks and their resources (as recently shown by the CodeRed worm) causes a necessity to protect these valuable assets. Firewalls are now a common installation to repel intrusion attempts in the first place. Intrusion detection systems (IDS), which try to detect malicious activities instead of preventing them, offer additional protection when the first defense perimeter has been penetrated. ID systems attempt to pin down attacks by comparing collected data to predefined signatures known to be malicious (signature based) or to a model of legal behavior (anomaly based).Anomaly based systems have the advantage of being able to detect previously unknown attacks but they suffer from the difficulty to build a solid model of acceptable behavior and the high number of alarms caused by unusual but authorized activities. We present an approach that utilizes application specific knowledge of the network services that should be protected. This information helps to extend current, simple network traffic models to form an application model that allows to detect malicious content hidden in single network packets. We describe the features of our proposed model and present experimental data that underlines the efficiency of our systems.

Reports about serious vulnerabilities in critical IT components have triggered increased focus on cybersecurity worldwide. Among the man y initiatives to strengthen cybersecurity it is common to see the establishment and stre gthening of CERTs and other centers for cybersecurity. On the other hand , strengthening education in IT security and applying methods for secure systems d velopment are methods that receive much less attention. In this paper we expla in how the lack of focus on security in IT education programs worldwide is a signifi cant contributor to security vulnerabilities, and we propose an agile method for s ecure software design that requires team members to have received adequa te security education and training.

Network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) are an important part of any network security architecture. They provide a layer of defense which monitors network traffic for predefined suspicious activity or patterns, and alert system administrators when potential hostile traffic is detected. Commercial NIDS have many differences, but Information Systems departments must face the commonalities that they share such as significant system footprint, complex deployment and high monetary cost. Snort was designed to address these issues.

S ensor networks hold the promise of facilitating large-scale, real-time data processing in complex environments. Their foreseeable applications will help protect and monitor critical military, environmental, safety-critical , or domestic infrastructures and resources. In these and other vital or security-sensitive deployments, keeping the network available for its intended use is essential. The stakes are high: Denial of service attacks against such networks may permit real-world damage to the health and safety of people. Without proper security mechanisms, networks will be confined to limited, controlled environments , negating much of the promise they hold. The limited ability of individual sensor nodes to thwart failure or attack makes ensuring network availability more difficult. To identify denial of service vulnerabilities, we analyze two effective sensor network protocols that did not initially consider security. These examples demonstrate that consideration of security at design time is the best way to ensure successful network deployment. Advances in miniaturization combined with an insatiable appetite for previously unrealizable information gathering have lead to the development of new kinds of networks. In many areas, static infrastruc-tures are giving way to dynamic ad-hoc networks. One manifestation of these trends is the development of highly application-dependent sensor networks. Developers build sensor networks to collect and analyze low-level data from an environment of interest. Accomplishing the network's goal often depends on local cooperation, aggregation, or data processing because individual nodes have limited capabilities. Physically small, nodes have tiny or irreplaceable power reserves, communicate wirelessly, and may not possess unique identifiers. Further, they must form ad hoc relationships in a dense network with little or no preexisting infrastructure. Protocols and algorithms operating in the network must support large-scale distribution, often with only localized interactions among nodes. The network must continue operating even after significant node failure, and it must meet real-time requirements. In addition to the limitations imposed by application-dependent deadlines, because it reflects a changing environment, the data the network gathers may intrinsically be valid for only a short time. Sensor networks may be deployed in a host of different environments, and they often figure into military scenarios. These networks may gather intelligence in battlefield conditions, track enemy troop movements, monitor a secured zone for activity , or measure damage and casualties. An airplane or artillery 1 could deploy these networks to otherwise unreachable regions. Although military applications may be the easiest to imagine, much broader opportunities await. Sensor networks could form …

Node-link diagrams provide an intuitive way to explore networks and have inspired a large number of automated graph layout strategies that optimize aesthetic criteria. However, any particular drawing approach cannot fully satisfy all these criteria simultaneously, producing drawings with visual ambiguities that can impede the understanding of network structure. To bring attention to these potentially problematic areas present in the drawing, this paper presents a technique that highlights common types of visual ambiguities: ambiguous spatial relationships between nodes and edges, visual overlap between community structures, and ambiguity in edge bundling and metanodes. Metrics, including newly proposed metrics for abnormal edge lengths, visual overlap in community structures and node/edge aggregation, are proposed to quantify areas of ambiguity in the drawing. These metrics and others are then displayed using a heatmap-based visualization that provides visual feedback to developers of graph drawing and visualization approaches, allowing them to quickly identify misleading areas. The novel metrics and the heatmap-based visualization allow a user to explore ambiguities in graph layouts from multiple perspectives in order to make reasonable graph layout choices. The effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated through case studies and expert reviews.

The growing volume and variety of data presents both opportunities and challenges for visual analytics. Addressing these challenges is needed for big data to provide valuable insights and novel solutions for business, security, social media, and healthcare. In the case of temporal event sequence analytics it is the number of events in the data and variety of temporal sequence patterns that challenges users of visual analytic tools. This paper describes 15 strategies for sharpening analytic focus that analysts can use to reduce the data volume and pattern variety. Four groups of strategies are proposed: (1) extraction strategies, (2) temporal folding, (3) pattern simplification strategies, and (4) iterative strategies. For each strategy, we provide examples of the use and impact of this strategy on volume and/or variety. Examples are selected from 20 case studies gathered from either our own work, the literature, or based on email interviews with individuals who conducted the analyses and developers who observed analysts using the tools. Finally, we discuss how these strategies might be combined and report on the feedback from 10 senior event sequence analysts.

In many contexts, humans often represent their own “neighborhood” in great detail, yet only major landmarks further away. This suggests that such views (“fisheye views”) might be useful for the computer display of large information structures like programs, data bases, online text, etc. This paper explores fisheye views presenting, in turn, naturalistic studies, a general formalism, a specific instantiation, a resulting computer program, example displays and an evaluation.

Although computer security technologies are the first line of defence to secure users, their success is dependent on individuals’ behaviour. It is therefore necessary to persuade users to practice good computer security. Our interview analysis of users’ conceptualization of security password guessing attacks, antivirus protection, and mobile online privacy shows that poor understanding of security threats influences users’ motivation and ability to practice safe behaviours. We designed and developed an online interactive comic series called Secure Comics based on instructional design principles to address this problem. An eye-tracking experiment suggests that the graphical and interactive components of the comics direct users’ attention and facilitate comprehension of the information. In our evaluations of Secure Comics, results from several user studies show that the comics improve understanding and motivate positive changes in security management behaviour. We discuss the implication of the findings to better understand the role of instructional design and persuasion in education technology.

Network data is ubiquitous; e-mail traffic between persons, telecommunication, transport and financial networks are some examples. Often these networks are large and multivariate, besides the topological structure of the network, multivariate data on the nodes and links is available. Currently, exploration and analysis methods are focused on a single aspect; the network topology or the multivariate data. In addition, tools and techniques are highly domain specific and require expert knowledge. We focus on the non-expert user and propose a novel solution for multivariate network exploration and analysis that tightly couples structural and multivariate analysis. In short, we go from Detail to Overview via Selections and Aggregations (DOSA): users are enabled to gain insights through the creation of selections of interest (manually or automatically), and producing high-level, infographic-style overviews simultaneously. Finally, we present example explorations on real-world datasets that demonstrate the effectiveness of our method for the exploration and understanding of multivariate networks where presentation of findings comes for free.


Question: A categorization of modeling methods utilizing sketch-based interfaces.

The Evolution of Sketch-Based Interfaces for Enhanced User Experience

As computers become increasingly powerful, affordable, and ubiquitous, users are demanding more than just basic computational capabilities; they want assistance with human-centric tasks like writing, drawing, and design. This shift is prompting user interface (UI) researchers to question traditional, machine-centric methods and explore avenues to support human attributes such as ambiguity, creativity, and informal communication. The goal is to adapt computers to human interaction styles rather than the reverse. This adaptability is crucial in the early stages of UI design, when designers require the freedom to rapidly sketch out rough ideas, test designs interactively, and incrementally refine details. At this conceptual design phase, characterized by ambiguity and the need for swift iteration, current UI tools often fail to deliver, instead steering designers towards aesthetic concerns like colors, fonts, and alignment, which are better suited for later design stages. As a result, many UI designers turn to paper for sketching, but this method lacks editability and is cumbersome for user evaluations.

To address these limitations, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed, implemented, and tested SILK (Sketching Interfaces Like Krazy), an innovative sketching tool that merges the benefits of paper-based sketching with the advantages of electronic tools. Using an electronic pad and stylus, designers can swiftly sketch interfaces, and SILK identifies and interprets widgets and other UI components as they are drawn. Unlike paper sketches, SILK allows designers to interact with these components in their rudimentary form. For instance, a sketched scrollbar can be manipulated by moving its elevator or thumbnail, testing its functionality. SILK also facilitates the creation of storyboards, which illustrate the sequence of design elements in action, such as the appearance of a dialog box when a button is activated. Storyboards are invaluable as they enable designers to demonstrate interface behavior to colleagues, customers, or end users from the outset of the design process. With SILK, designers can experiment with the interface at any stage, not just during the final phase, fostering a more iterative and user-centered design approach.

Dynamic effects such as waves, splashes, fire, smoke, and explosions are an integral part of stylized animations. However, such dynamics are challenging to produce, as manually sketching key-frames requires significant effort and artistic expertise while physical simulation tools lack sufficient expressiveness and user control. We present an interactive interface for designing these elemental dynamics for animated illustrations. Users draw with coarse-scale energy brushes which serve as control gestures to drive detailed flow particles which represent local velocity fields. These fields can convey both realistic and artistic effects based on user specification. This painting metaphor for creating elemental dynamics simplifies the process, providing artistic control, and preserves the fluidity of sketching. Our system is fast, stable, and intuitive. An initial user evaluation shows that even novice users with no prior animation experience can create intriguing dynamics using our system.

In seeking hitherto-unused methods by which users and computers can communicate, we investigate the usefulness of eye movements as a fast and convenient auxiliary user-to-computer communication mode. The barrier to exploiting this medium has not been eye-tracking technology but the study of interaction techniques that incorporate eye movements into the user-computer dialogue in a natural and unobtrusive way. This paper discusses some of the human factors and technical considerations that arise in trying to use eye movements as an input medium, describes our approach and the first eye movement-based interaction techniques that we have devised and implemented in our laboratory, and reports our experiences and observations on them.

Actuated Interfaces are receiving a great deal of interest from the research community. The field can now present a range of point designs, illustrating the potential design space of Actuated Interfaces. However, despite the increasing interest in Actuated Interfaces, the research carried out is nevertheless primarily preoccupied with the technical challenges and potential application areas, rather than how users actually approach, experience, interpret and understand Actuated Interfaces. Based on three case studies, investigating how people experience Actuated Interfaces, we point to; magic, movement and ambiguity as fruitful perspectives for understanding users' experiences with Actuated Interfaces. The three perspectives are employed to reflect upon opportunities and challenges, as well as point to open questions and relevant areas for future research for Actuated Interfaces.

A method is presented to learn object class models from unlab eled and unsegmented cluttered scenes for the purpose of visual object recognition. The variabili ty across a class of objects is modeled in a principled way, treating objects as flexible constellatio ns f rigid parts (features). Variability is represented by a joint probability density function (pdf) o n the shape of the constellation and the output of part detectors. Corresponding “constellation mo dels” can be learned in a completely unsupervised fashion. In a first stage, the learning method a utomatically identifies distinctive parts in the training set by applying a clustering algorithm to pat terns selected by an interest operator. It then learns the statistical shape model using expectation m aximization. Mixtures of constellation models can be defined and applied to “discover” object catego ri s in an unsupervised manner. The method achieves very good classification results on human fa ces, cars, leaves, handwritten letters, and cartoon characters.

The paper presents some novel concepts and models derived from Activity Theory for to identify a potential CSCW application. It is suggested that the six elements of the structure of the activity concept might be useful for differentiating between areas of support, and that three levels of support are needed in order to cope with both routine and emergent features of cooperative work situations. Thus a 3x6 support type classification is formed and its usefulness studied by means of a real-world example. A work situation is analyzed, problems identified and possible areas of support defined. A temporary solution is produced and, by evaluating it, possible directions for the development of a “real” new CSCW application and the usefulness of the classification am discussed.

The goal of augmented reality is to provide the user with a view of the surroundings enriched by virtual objects. Practically all augmented reality systems rely on standard real-time rendering methods for displaying graphical objects. Although such conventional computer graphics algorithms are fast, they often fail to produce sufficiently realistic renderings. Therefore, virtual models can easily be distinguished from the real environment. We have recently proposed a novel approach for generating augmented reality images [4]. Our method is based on the idea of applying stylization techniques for adapting the visual realism of both the camera image and the virtual graphical objects. Since both the camera image and the virtual objects are stylized in a corresponding way, they appear very similar. Here, we present a new method for the stylization of augmented reality images. This approach generates a painterly brush stroke rendering. The resulting stylized augmented reality video frames look similar to paintings created in the pointillism style. We describe the implementation of the camera image filter and the non-photorealistic rendererfor virtual objects. These components have been newly designed or adapted for this purpose. They are fast enough for generating augmented reality images in near real-time (more than 14 frames per second).

This paper explores a user interface technique which augments an immersive head tracked display with a hand-held miniature copy of the virtual environment. We call this interface technique the Worlds in Miniature (WIM) metaphor. In addition to the first-person perspective offered by a virtual reality system, a World in Miniature offers a second dynamic viewport onto the virtual environment. Objects may be directly manipulated either through the immersive viewport or through the three-dimensional viewport offered by the WIM. In addition to describing object manipulation, this paper explores ways in which Worlds in Miniature can act as a single unifying metaphor for such application independent interaction techniques as object selection, navigation, path planning, and visualization. The WIM metaphor offers multiple points of view and multiple scales at which the user can operate, without requiring explicit modes or commands. Informal user observation indicates that users adapt to the Worlds in Miniature metaphor quickly and that physical props are helpful in manipulating the WIM and other objects in the environment.

A variety of methods for modeling scattered data are discussed, with an emphasis on two types of data: volumetric and spherical. To demonstrate the performance of the various methods, results from an empirical study using trivariate scattered data are presented. The author's objective is to provide information to aid in selecting a type of method or to form the basis for customizing a method for a particular application.<<ETX>>

This paper gives an overview about the development of the field of Knowledge Engineering over the last 15 years. We discuss the paradigm shift from a transfer view to a modeling view and describe two approaches which considerably shaped research in Knowledge Engineering: Role-limiting Methods and Generic Tasks. To illustrate various concepts and methods which evolved in the last years we describe three modeling frameworks: CommonKADS, MIKE, and PROTÉGÉ-II. This description is supplemented by discussing some important methodological developments in more detail: specification languages for knowledge-based systems, problem-solving methods, and ontologies. We conclude with outlining the relationship of Knowledge Engineering to Software Engineering, Information Integration and Knowledge Management.

In recent years, various methods and techniques have emerged for mapping the contexts of people's interaction with products. Designers and researchers use these techniques to gain deeper insight into the needs and dreams of prospective users of new products. As most of these techniques are still under development, there is a lack of practical knowledge about how such studies can be conducted. In this paper we share our insights, based on several projects from research and many years of industrial practice, of conducting user studies with generative techniques. The appendix contains a single case illustrating the application of these techniques in detail.


Question: A classification of modeling methods utilizing sketch-based interfaces.

This paper introduces an interactive multiresolution framework for editing complex hierarchical meshes with arbitrary topology, leveraging subdivision techniques as an extension of existing patch-based surface representations. By integrating subdivision with Taubin's smoothing algorithms [26], we have developed a suite of methods for efficient multiresolution editing in real-time. The underlying algorithms for mesh refinement and coarsification are designed to be both local and adaptive, significantly enhancing their performance. Our system, which is built upon these algorithms, supports scalable interactive multiresolution editing, offering a powerful tool for manipulating complex meshes.

For a machine to be able to ‘see’, it must know something about the object it is ‘looking’ at, A common method in machine vision is to provide the machine with general rather than specific knowledge about the object. An alternative technique, and the one used in thti paper, b a model-based approach in which particulars aboat the object are given and this drives the analysis. The computer program described here, the WALKER model, maps images into a description in which a person is represented by the series of hierarchical levels, i.e. a person has an arm which has a lower-arm which has a hand. l7te performance of the program ti illustrated by superimposing the machinegenerated picture over the original photographic images.

This survey paper presents the current state of model comparison as it applies to Model-Driven Engineering. We look specifically at how model matching is accomplished, the application of the approaches, and the types of models that approaches are intended to work with. Our paper also indicates future trends and directions. We find that many of the latest model comparison techniques are geared towards facilitating arbitrary meta models and use similarity-based matching. Thus far, model versioning is the most prevalent application of model comparison. Recently, however, work on comparison for versioning has begun to stagnate, giving way to other applications. Lastly, there is wide variance among the tools in the amount of user effort required to perform model comparison, as some require more effort to facilitate more generality and expressive power.

We present a video-based gesture dataset and a methodology for annotating video-based gesture datasets. Our dataset consists of user-defined gestures generated by 18 participants from a previous investigation of gesture memorability. We design and use a crowd-sourced classification task to annotate the videos. The results are made available through a web-based visualization that allows researchers and designers to explore the dataset. Finally, we perform an additional descriptive analysis and quantitative modeling exercise that provide additional insights into the results of the original study. To facilitate the use of the presented methodology by other researchers we share the data, the source of the human intelligence tasks for crowdsourcing, a new taxonomy that integrates previous work, and the source code of the visualization tool.

Stroke correspondence construction is a precondition for vectorized 2D animation inbetweening and remains a challenging problem. This paper introduces the FTP-SC, a fuzzy topology preserving stroke correspondence technique, which is accurate and provides the user more effective control on the correspondence result than previous matching approaches. The method employs a two-stage scheme to progressively establish the stroke correspondence construction between the keyframes. In the first stage, the stroke correspondences with high confidence are constructed by enforcing the preservation of the so-called “fuzzy topology” which encodes intrinsic connectivity among the neighboring strokes. Starting with the high-confidence correspondences, the second stage performs a greedy matching algorithm to generate a full correspondence between the strokes. Experimental results show that the FTP-SC outperforms the existing approaches and can establish the stroke correspondence with a reasonable amount of user interaction even for keyframes with large geometric and spatial variations between strokes. CCS Concepts •Computing methodologies → Animation; Parametric curve and surface models;

We describe a method for an intuitive haptic rendering and modeling of GIS terrain models represented as triangular irregular networks (TIN). The TIN terrain model does not allow representation of concavities and overhangs but it is sufficient for most GIS applications. Model editing is achieved by a set of virtual tools with various shapes which are controlled by a haptic device with force feedback. The haptic feedback makes manipulation with the terrain model much more intuitive than by the mouse, because it operates in 3D and it also provides better control with the force. The haptic device is point-based, so the forces provided by different tools must be mapped to a point. This, in effect, helps eliminating certain vibrations that could be caused by numerical errors and insufficient scene sampling. Our approach allows an adaptive adjustment of the level of detail of the model according to the terrain properties and user requirements. Haptic visualization in GIS models has been already used but such solutions are not common. Unlike existing approaches, our solution uses a general shape of the tool, it allows interactive editing of the TIN model, and it utilizes parallelism and coherence between consecutive states of the model that make haptic visualization faster and smoother.

We investigated whether people can use analog imagery to model the behavior of a simple mechanical interaction. Subjects saw a static computer display of two touching gears that had different diameters. Their task was to determine whether marks on each gear would meet if the gears rotated inward. This task added a problem of coordination to the typical analog rotation task in that the gears had a physical interdependency; the angular velocity of one gear depended on the angular velocity of the other gear. In the first experiment, we found the linear relationship between response time and angular disparity that indicates analog imagery. In the second experiment, we found that people can also solve the problem through a non-analog, visual comparison. We also found that people of varying spatial ability could switch between analog and non-analog solutions if instructed to do so. In the third experiment, we examined whether the elicitation of physical knowledge would influence solution strategies. To do so, we manipulated the visual realism of the gear display. Subjects who saw the most realistic gears coordinated their transformations by using the surfaces of the gears, as though they were relying on the friction connecting the surfaces. Subjects who saw more schematic displays relied on analytic strategies, such as comparing the ratios made by the angles and/or diameters of the two gears. To explain the relationship between spatial and physical knowledge found in the experiments, we constructed a computer simulation of what we call depictive modeling. In a depictive model, general spatial knowledge and context-sensitive physical knowledge have the same ontology. This is different from prior simulations in which a non-analog representation would be needed to coordinate the analog behaviors of physical objects. In our simulation, the inference that coordinates the gear motions emerges from the analog rotations themselves. We suggest that mental depictions create a bridge between imagery and mental model research by positing the referent as the primary conceptual entity.

The line of action is a conceptual tool often used by cartoonists and illustrators to help make their figures more consistent and more dramatic. We often see the expression of characters---may it be the dynamism of a super hero, or the elegance of a fashion model---well captured and amplified by a single aesthetic line. Usually this line is laid down in early stages of the drawing and used to describe the body's principal shape. By focusing on this simple abstraction, the person drawing can quickly adjust and refine the overall pose of his or her character from a given viewpoint. In this paper, we propose a mathematical definition of the line of action (LOA), which allows us to automatically align a 3D virtual character to a user-specified LOA by solving an optimization problem. We generalize this framework to other types of lines found in the drawing literature, such as secondary lines used to place arms. Finally, we show a wide range of poses and animations that were rapidly created using our system.

This article presents an intuitive and easy-to-use system for interactively posing 3D facial expressions. The user can model and edit facial expressions by drawing freeform strokes, by specifying distances between facial points, by incrementally editing curves on the face, or by directly dragging facial points in 2D screen space. Designing such an interface for 3D facial modeling and editing is challenging because many unnatural facial expressions might be consistent with the user's input. We formulate the problem in a maximum a posteriori framework by combining the user's input with priors embedded in a large set of facial expression data. Maximizing the posteriori allows us to generate an optimal and natural facial expression that achieves the goal specified by the user. We evaluate the performance of our system by conducting a thorough comparison of our method with alternative facial modeling techniques. To demonstrate the usability of our system, we also perform a user study of our system and compare with state-of-the-art facial expression modeling software (Poser 7).

In this thesis inspired by artists such as Gustave Doré and copperplate engravers, we present a new approach for producing a sketch-type hatching effect as well as engraving art seen in the US dollar bills using depth maps as input. The approach uses the acquired depth to generate pen-and-ink type of strokes that exaggerate surface characteristics of faces and objects. The background on this area is presented with an emphasis on line drawing, pen-and-ink illustrations, engraving art and other artistic styles. The patterns generated are composed of parallel lines that change their directionality smoothly while avoiding intersections between them. The style communicates tone and surface characteristics using curve deformation, thickness, density, and spacing while at the same time adding crosshatching effects. This is achieved with our algorithmic approach which uses the data to perform operations that deforms patterns. The components of our methodology and algorithms are detailed, as well as the equations that govern these effects. This work also presents an array of different results by varying parameters or by rendering variations.

Today 3D models and point clouds are very popular being currently used in several fields, shared through the internet and even accessed on mobile phones. Despite their broad availability, there is still a relevant need of methods, preferably automatic, to provide 3D data with meaningful attributes that characterize and provide significance to the objects represented in 3D. Segmentation is the process of grouping point clouds into multiple homogeneous regions with similar properties whereas classification is the step that labels these regions. The main goal of this paper is to analyse the most popular methodologies and algorithms to segment and classify 3D point clouds. Strong and weak points of the different solutions presented in literature or implemented in commercial software will be listed and shortly explained. For some algorithms, the results of the segmentation and classification is shown using real examples at different scale in the Cultural Heritage field. Finally, open issues and research topics will be discussed.


Question: A categorization of modeling methods utilizing sketch-based interfaces.

Introducing SUEDE: An Innovative Wizard of Oz Prototyping Tool for Speech User Interfaces

The increasing prevalence of speech-based user interfaces has sparked a need for more accessible design tools. The complexity and technical expertise required to develop speech UIs have often excluded non-experts from the design process, leading to a gap in iterative design capabilities for these interfaces. SUEDE, the speech interface prototyping tool we present here, addresses this issue by enabling designers to swiftly construct prompt/response speech interfaces. This tool employs a digital Wizard of Oz (WOz) methodology, which not only facilitates the creation of prototypes but also captures test data for post-testing analysis. This user-friendly approach empowers speech user interface designers, including those without specialized technical knowledge, to efficiently generate, evaluate, and refine speech UI prototypes, thereby enhancing the iterative design process for speech-based systems.

To assist learners during problem-solving activities, an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) has to be equipped with domain knowledge that can support appropriate tutoring services. Providing domain knowledge is usually done by adopting one of the following paradigms: building a cognitive model, specifying constraints, integrating an expert system, and using data mining algorithms to learn domain knowledge. However, for some ill-defined domains, each single paradigm may present some advantages and limitations in terms of the required resources for deploying it, and tutoring support that can be offered. To address this issue, we propose using a multiparadigm approach. In this paper, we explain how we have applied this idea in CanadarmTutor, an ITS for learning to operate the Canadarm2 robotic arm. To support tutoring services in this ill-defined domain, we have developed a multiparadigm model combining: 1) a cognitive model to cover well-defined parts of the task and spatial reasoning, 2) a data mining approach for automatically building a task model from user solutions for ill-defined parts of the task, and 3) a 3D path-planner to cover other parts of the task for which no user data are available. The multiparadigm version of CanadarmTutor allows providing a richer set of tutoring services than what could be offered with previous single paradigm versions of CanadarmTutor.

OF THE THESIS Building Simple Annotation Tools

Structured Abstract Purpose – Designing a model and tools that are (a) capable of representing and handling personal knowledge in different degrees of structuredness and formalisation and (b) usable and extensible by end-users. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents the result of analysing literature and various data-models and formalism used to structure information on the desktop. Findings – The unified data model (CDS) is capable of representing structures from various information tools, e. g. documents, file system, hypertext, tagging, and mind maps. The five knowledge axes of CDS are: identity, order, hierarchy, annotation and linking. Research limitations / implications – The CDS model is based on text. Extensions for multimedia annotations have not been investigated. Practical implications – Future PKM tools should take the mentioned shortcoming of existing PKM tools into account. Implementing the CDS model can be a way to make PKM tools interoperable. Originality/value – This paper presents research combining cognitive psychology, personal knowledge management and semantic web technologies. The CDS model shows a way to let end-users work on different levels of granularity and different levels of formality in one environment. Introduction " The most important contribution of management in the 20th century was to increase manual worker productivity fifty-fold. The most important contribution of management in the 21st century will be to increase knowledge worker productivity – hopefully by the same percentage. [...] The methods, however, are totally different from those that increased the productivity of manual workers. " Drucker (1999a, p. 79) What might these methods be? The field of knowledge management investigates since 1995 (Stankosky, 2005) how people and knowledge work together. North (2007) defines knowledge work as work based on knowledge with an immaterial result; value creation is based on processing, generating and communicating knowledge. Polanyi (1966) makes a distinction between explicit knowledge encoded in artefacts such as books or web pages, and tacit knowledge which resides in the individual. The SECI-model of Nonaka (1994) describes knowledge transfers between humans and artefacts. The field of knowledge management has focused on knowledge transfer between people, either via socialisation or via externalised artefacts. The high expectations of central enterprise knowledge repositories have often not been met (Braganza and Mollenkramer, 2002). The following wave of expert finders and corporate white pages focused mostly on connecting the right people and let them communicate. Today, knowledge workers are flooded with information (Alvarado et al., 2003). The field of Personal …

This paper presents a novel method for detecting and localizing objects of a visual category in cluttered real-world scenes. Our approach considers object categorization and figure-ground segmentation as two interleaved processes that closely collaborate towards a common goal. As shown in our work, the tight coupling between those two processes allows them to benefit from each other and improve the combined performance. The core part of our approach is a highly flexible learned representation for object shape that can combine the information observed on different training examples in a probabilistic extension of the Generalized Hough Transform. The resulting approach can detect categorical objects in novel images and automatically infer a probabilistic segmentation from the recognition result. This segmentation is then in turn used to again improve recognition by allowing the system to focus its efforts on object pixels and to discard misleading influences from the background. Moreover, the information from where in the image a hypothesis draws its support is employed in an MDL based hypothesis verification stage to resolve ambiguities between overlapping hypotheses and factor out the effects of partial occlusion. An extensive evaluation on several large data sets shows that the proposed system is applicable to a range of different object categories, including both rigid and articulated objects. In addition, its flexible representation allows it to achieve competitive object detection performance already from training sets that are between one and two orders of magnitude smaller than those used in comparable systems.

In this paper, a new technique for modeling textured 3D faces is introduced. 3D faces can either be generated automatically from one or more photographs, or modeled directly through an intuitive user interface. Users are assisted in two key problems of computer aided face modeling. First, new face images or new 3D face models can be registered automatically by computing dense one-to-one correspondence to an internal face model. Second, the approach regulates the naturalness of modeled faces avoiding faces with an “unlikely” appearance. Starting from an example set of 3D face models, we derive a morphable face model by transforming the shape and texture of the examples into a vector space representation. New faces and expressions can be modeled by forming linear combinations of the prototypes. Shape and texture constraints derived from the statistics of our example faces are used to guide manual modeling or automated matching algorithms. We show 3D face reconstructions from single images and their applications for photo-realistic image manipulations. We also demonstrate face manipulations according to complex parameters such as gender, fullness of a face or its distinctiveness.

Design has been recognized for a long time both as art and as science. In the sixties of the previous century design-oriented research began to draw the attention of scientific researchers and methodologists, not only in technical engineering but also in the social sciences. However, a rather limited methodology for design-oriented research has been developed, especially as to the social sciences. In this article we introduce evaluation methodology and research methodology as a systematic input in the process of designing. A designing cycle is formulated with six stages, and for each of these stages operations, guidelines and criteria for evaluation are defined. All this may be used for a considerable improvement of the process and product of designing.

This paper describes the principles of traditional pen-and-ink illustration, and shows how a great number of them can be implemented as part of an automated rendering system. It introduces “stroke textures,” which can be used for achieving both texture and tone with line drawing. Stroke textures also allow resolution-dependent rendering, in which the choice of strokes used in an illustration is appropriately tied to the resolution of the target medium. We demonstrate these techniques using complex architectural models, including Frank Lloyd Wright's “Robie House.”

In this paper we propose an empirical method to develop mapping strategies between a gestural-based interface (the Gloves) and physically based sound synthesis models. An experiment was conducted to investigate which gestures listeners associate with sounds synthesised using physical models, corresponding to three categories of sound: sustained, iterative and impulsive. The results of the experiment show that listeners perform similar gestures when controlling sounds from the different categories. We used such gestures in order to create the mapping strategy between the Gloves and the physically based synthesis engine.

This paper describes an approach for recognizing instances of a 3D object in a single camera image and for determining their 3D poses. A hierarchical model is generated solely based on the geometry information of a 3D CAD model of the object. The approach does not rely on texture or reflectance information of the object's surface, making it useful for a wide range of industrial and robotic applications, e.g., bin-picking. A hierarchical view-based approach that addresses typical problems of previous methods is applied: It handles true perspective, is robust to noise, occlusions, and clutter to an extent that is sufficient for many practical applications, and is invariant to contrast changes. For the generation of this hierarchical model, a new model image generation technique by which scale-space effects can be taken into account is presented. The necessary object views are derived using a similarity-based aspect graph. The high robustness of an exhaustive search is combined with an efficient hierarchical search. The 3D pose is refined by using a least-squares adjustment that minimizes geometric distances in the image, yielding a position accuracy of up to 0.12 percent with respect to the object distance, and an orientation accuracy of up to 0.35 degree in our tests. The recognition time is largely independent of the complexity of the object, but depends mainly on the range of poses within which the object may appear in front of the camera. For efficiency reasons, the approach allows the restriction of the pose range depending on the application. Typical runtimes are in the range of a few hundred ms.

A rendering is an abstraction that favors, preserves, or even emphasizes some qualities while sacrificing, suppressing, or omitting other characteristics that are not the focus of attention. Most computer graphics rendering activities have been concerned with photorealism, i.e., trying to emulate an image that looks like a highquality photograph. This laudable goal is useful and appropriate in many applications, but not in technical illustration where elucidation of structure and technical information is the preeminent motivation. This calls for a different kind of abstraction in which technical communication is central, but art and appearance are still essential instruments toward this end. Work that has been done on computer generated technical illustrations has focused on static images, and has not included all of the techniques used to hand draw technical illustrations. A paradigm for the display of technical illustrations in a dynamic environment is presented. This display environment includes all of the benefits of computer generated technical illustrations, such as a clearer picture of shape, structure, and material composition than traditional computer graphics methods. It also includes the three-dimensional interactive strength of modem display systems. This is accomplished by using new algorithms for real time drawing of silhouette curves, algorithms which solve a number of the problems inherent in previous methods. We incorporate current non-photorealistic lighting methods, and augment them with new shadowing algorithms based on accepted techniques used by artists and studies carried out in human perception. This paper, all of the images, and a mpeg video clip are available at http://www.cs.utah.edu/~bgooch/ITI CR Categories: I.3.0 [Computer Graphics]: General; I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques.


Question: A classification of modeling methods utilizing sketch-based interfaces.

Innovative Design: A Sketch-Based Interface Accommodating Ambiguous Intentions

In the realm of creative and conceptual design, interfaces must not only interpret but also embrace the inherent ambiguity, vagueness, and imprecision present in users' drawings. Freehand drawing, as a natural input method for design, is particularly adept at conveying these nuances. This paper introduces a novel pen-based interface designed to capture the subtleties of ambiguity and precision from freehand input. It not only acquires this information but also stores it internally and reflects it back to the user through visual cues and constraint-based interactions. The interface is engineered to recognize and interpret drawings in a manner that respects and preserves the designer's intended level of detail and uncertainty, thereby enhancing the creative process.

**Question**: A Comparative Study of Feature Selection Techniques in Text Classification

**Documents**: A comparative study of feature selection techniques for text classification
Feature selection is an important task in text classification. We present a comparative study of three feature selection methods, namely Chi-squared test, Information Gain, and Mutual Information, for text classification. We apply these methods on a number of different datasets and compare their performance. The results show that Information Gain outperforms the other two methods in most cases.

**Similar Documents**: An Evaluation of Feature Selection Algorithms in Text Categorization

In the domain of text categorization, the efficacy of feature selection techniques plays a pivotal role. This paper offers a detailed comparison of three prominent feature selection methods—Chi-squared test, Information Gain, and Mutual Information—to ascertain their suitability for text classification tasks. These methods are rigorously tested across a variety of datasets, with a focus on their relative performance. The findings indicate that Information Gain consistently surpasses the other two techniques in terms of accuracy and efficiency, making it a preferred choice for feature selection in text classification scenarios.

Computer Graphics, 26, 2, July 1992 Surface Reconstruction from Unorganized Points Hugues Hoppe* Tony DeRose* Tom Duchampt John McDonald$ Werner Stuetzle~ University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 We describe and demonstrate an algorithm that takes as input an unorganized set of points {xl, . . . . x.} c IR3 on or near an unknown manifold M, and produces as output a simplicial surface that approximates M. Neither the topology, the presence of boundaries, nor the geometry of M are assumed to be known in advance — all are inferred automatically from the data. This problem natu rally arises in a variety of practical situations such as range scanning an object from multiple view points, recovery of biological shapes from two-dimensional slices, and interactive surface sketching. CR

This paper outlines progress on the 3DK Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence project undertaken by the Partnership for Research In Stereo Modeling (PRISM) at Arizona State University. Three of the six 3DK pilot projects of this National Science Foundation funded project involve archaeological and biological material, namely ceramic vessels, lithic artifacts, and bones. These projects are: (1) “3D Morphology of Ceramic Vessels” which aims to learn about vessel uniformity and proportionality as indicators of developing craft specialization and complex social organization among prehistoric cultures; (2) “Lithic Refitting” which intends to develop the algorithms required to (partially) automate the refitting process through 3D scanning and surface modeling; and finally (3) “3D Topography of Joint Surfaces” which investigates the ability of human ancestors to make tools and walk upright by developing software that will automate segmentation of osteological features and quantify the surface area and curvature of joint surfaces and the congruency between reciprocal joint surfaces, allowing for the development of biomechanical models. This paper discusses the links between these three unique projects and explores the underlying research aspects common to all: geometric modeling, feature recognition, and the development of a database structure aimed at making 3D models of these artifacts available online for query.

The widespread recognition of the usefulness of graphical user interfaces GUIs has established their importance as critical components of today's software. Although the use of GUIs continues to grow, GUI testing has remained a neglected research area. Since GUIs have c haracteristics that are diierent from those of conventional software, such as user events for input and graphical output, techniques developed to test conventional software cannot bedirectly applied to test GUIs. This thesis develops a uniied solution to the GUI testing problem with the particular goals of automation and integration of tools and techniques used in various phases of GUI testing. These goals are accomplished by developing a GUI testing framework with a GUI model as its central component. For eeciency and scalability, a GUI is represented as a hierarchy of components, each used as a basic unit of testing. The framework also includes a test coverage evaluator, test case generator, test oracle, test executor, and regression tester. The test coverage evaluator employs hierarchical, event-based coverage criteria to automatically specify what to test in a GUI and to determine whether the test suite has adequately tested the GUI. The test case generator employs plan generation techniques from artiicial intelligence to automatically generate a test suite. A test executor automatically executes all the test cases on the GUI. As test cases are being executed, a test oracle automatically determines the correctness of the GUI. The test oracle employs a model of the expected state of the GUI in terms of its constituent objects and their properties. After changes are made to a GUI, a regression tester partitions the original GUI test suite into valid test cases that represent correct inputtoutput for the modiied GUI and invalid test cases that no longer represent correct inputtoutput. The regression tester employs a new technique to reuse some of the invalid test cases by repairing them. A cursory exploration of extending the framework to handle the new testing requirements of web-user interfaces WUIs is also done. The framework iv has been implemented and experiments have demonstrated that the developed techniques are both practical and useful. v Acknowledgements I w ould like to thank my parents whose constant eeorts, encouragement and hard work made achieving the goal of obtaining a Ph.D. possible. I thank all my teachers in schools, colleges, and universities whose dedication and hard work helped lay the foundation for this work. Special thanks …

Many task models, task analysis methods, and supporting tools have been introduced in the literature and are widely used in practice. With this comes need to understand their scopes and their differences. This chapter provides a thorough review of selected, significant task models along with their method and supporting tools. For this purpose, a meta-model of each task model is expressed as an Entity-Relationship-Attribute schema (ERA) and discussed. This leads to a comparative analysis of task models according to aims and goals, discipline, concepts and relationships, expressiveness of static and dynamic structures. Following is discussion of the model with respect to developing life cycle steps, tool support, advantages, and shortcomings. This comparative analysis provides a reference framework against which task models can be understood with respect to each other. The appreciation of the similarities and the differences allows practioners to identify a task model that fits a situation’s given requirements. It shows how a similar concept or relationship translates in different task usage models.

This paper proposes the term method engineering for the research field of the construction of information systems development methods and tools. Some research issues in method engineering are identified. One major research topic in method engineering is discussed in depth: situational methods, i.e. the configuration of a project approach that is tuned to the project at hand. A language and support tool for the engineering of situational methods are discussed.

Users can be involved in the design process in several ways. The author focuses on user-centred design, participatory design, ethnography, and contextual design. She briefly describes each approach and cites the corresponding literature. The expected benefits of these approaches highly overlap. Methods based on early user involvement promise to avoid the implementation of costly features that users do not want or cannot use. Participatory methods promise to improve the user satisfaction and the acceptance of a system. Nearly all approaches intend to improve the overall usability of the system and by this means increase the productivity and decrease the training costs and the need of user support.

Origami is a paper art used to create three-dimensional (3D) objects by cutting and folding a single sheet of paper. Origami is labor-intensive and requires a high skill level to generate two-dimensional (2D) objects that pop-up into realistic 3D objects. However, this special feature makes designing an origami architecture procedure challenging. This paper provides a novel algorithm to create an origami paper card from a 3D model with a user-specified folding line. The algorithm segments the 2D shape from a 3D model and creates layers of the pop-up paper card using a directed acyclic graph. After applying layers to the layout, the algorithm creates connections between layers, and then outputs the origami layout. Based on a directed acyclic graph, the algorithm computes a class of paper architectures containing two sets of layers and connections that approximate the input geometry while guaranteeing that a pop up card is physically realizable. The proposed method is demonstrated with a number of paper pop-ups, and physical experimental results are presented.

BACKGROUND
To organize an efficient interaction between a doctor and an EHR the data has to be presented in the most convenient way. Medical data presentation methods and models must be flexible in order to cover the needs of the users with different backgrounds and requirements. Most visualization methods are doctor oriented, however, there are indications that the involvement of patients can optimize healthcare.

OBJECTIVES
The research aims at specifying the state of the art of medical data visualization. The paper analyzes a number of projects and defines requirements for a generic ISO 13606 based data visualization method. In order to do so it starts with a systematic search for studies on EHR user interfaces.

METHODS
In order to identify best practices visualization methods were evaluated according to the following criteria: limits of application, customizability, re-usability. The visualization methods were compared by using specified criteria.

RESULTS
The review showed that the analyzed projects can contribute knowledge to the development of a generic visualization method. However, none of them proposed a model that meets all the necessary criteria for a re-usable standard based visualization method. The shortcomings were mostly related to the structure of current medical concept specifications.

CONCLUSION
The analysis showed that medical data visualization methods use hardcoded GUI, which gives little flexibility. So medical data visualization has to turn from a hardcoded user interface to generic methods. This requires a great effort because current standards are not suitable for organizing the management of visualization data. This contradiction between a generic method and a flexible and user-friendly data layout has to be overcome.

Drawing by learners can be an effective way to develop memory and generate visual models for higher-order skills in biology, but students are often reluctant to adopt drawing as a study method. We designed a nonclassroom intervention that instructed introductory biology college students in a drawing method, minute sketches in folded lists (MSFL), and allowed them to self-assess their recall and problem solving, first in a simple recall task involving non-European alphabets and later using unfamiliar biology content. In two preliminary ex situ experiments, students had greater recall on the simple learning task, non-European alphabets with associated phonetic sounds, using MSFL in comparison with a preferred method, visual review (VR). In the intervention, students studying using MSFL and VR had ∼50-80% greater recall of content studied with MSFL and, in a subset of trials, better performance on problem-solving tasks on biology content. Eight months after beginning the intervention, participants had shifted self-reported use of drawing from 2% to 20% of study time. For a small subset of participants, MSFL had become a preferred study method, and 70% of participants reported continued use of MSFL. This brief, low-cost intervention resulted in enduring changes in study behavior.

The Programming by Demonstration (PbD) technique aims at teaching a robot to accomplish a task by learning from a human demonstration. In a manipulation context, recognizing the demonstrator's hand gestures, specifically when and how objects are grasped, plays a significant role. Here, a system is presented that uses both hand shape and contact-point information obtained from a data glove and tactile sensors to recognize continuous human-grasp sequences. The sensor fusion, grasp classification, and task segmentation are made by a hidden Markov model recognizer. Twelve different grasp types from a general, task-independent taxonomy are recognized. An accuracy of up to 95% could be achieved for a multiple-user system.


Question: A classification of modeling methods utilizing sketch-based interfaces.

This paper explores an innovative technique, termed Deformation Transfer, specifically tailored for manipulating triangle meshes. Unlike conventional methods that focus on static transformations, Deformation Transfer enables the dynamic transfer of deformations from one mesh to another. This is achieved through a multi-step process that ensures the integrity and detail of the original deformation are preserved when applied to a different mesh. Initially, the deformation parameters are extracted from the source mesh. These parameters encapsulate the transformation details, including scaling, rotation, and translation, which are essential for the deformation's characteristics. Subsequently, these parameters are applied to the target mesh, thereby transferring the deformation seamlessly. A critical aspect of this technique is its ability to maintain the structural coherence of the target mesh while incorporating the deformation. This ensures that the final output retains its visual quality and realism. Deformation Transfer finds applications in various domains, including animation, simulation, and virtual reality, where the ability to manipulate and transfer deformations between meshes is crucial for creating dynamic and interactive environments. The technique's versatility and effectiveness make it a valuable tool in the arsenal of digital artists and engineers working with complex triangle meshes.

Users can be involved in the design process in several ways. The author focuses on user-centred design, participatory design, ethnography, and contextual design. She briefly describes each approach and cites the corresponding literature. The expected benefits of these approaches highly overlap. Methods based on early user involvement promise to avoid the implementation of costly features that users do not want or cannot use. Participatory methods promise to improve the user satisfaction and the acceptance of a system. Nearly all approaches intend to improve the overall usability of the system and by this means increase the productivity and decrease the training costs and the need of user support.

We introduce a framework to generate many variations of a facade design that look similar to a given facade layout. Starting from an input image, the facade is hierarchically segmented and labeled with a collection of manual and automatic tools. The user can then model constraints that should be maintained in any variation of the input facade design. Subsequently, facade variations are generated for different facade sizes, where multiple variations can be produced for a certain size. Computing such new facade variations has many unique challenges, and we propose a new algorithm based on interleaving heuristic search and quadratic programming. In contrast to most previous work, we focus on the generation of new design variations and not on the automatic analysis of the input's structure. Adding a modeling step with the user in the loop ensures that our results routinely are of high quality.

Model-based recognition and motion tracking depends upon the ability to solve for projection and model parameters that will best fit a 3-D model to matching 2-D image features. This paper extends current methods of parameter solving to handle objects with arbitrary curved surfaces and with any number of internal parameters representing articulations, variable dimensions, or surface deformations. Numerical stabilization methods are developed that take account of inherent inaccuracies in the image measurements and allow useful solutions to be determined even when there are fewer matches than unknown parameters. The LevenbergMarquardt method is used to always ensure convergence of the solution. These techniques allow model-based vision to be used for a much wider class of problems than was possible with previous methods. Their application is demonstrated for tracking the motion of curved, parameterized objects. This paper has been published in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 13, 5 (May 1991), pp. 441–450.

A revolution in computer interface design is changing the way we think about computers. Rather than typing on a keyboard and watching a television monitor, Augmented Reality lets people use familiar, everyday objects in ordinary ways. The difference is that these objects also provide a link into a computer network. Doctors can examine patients while viewing superimposed medical images; children can program their own LEGO constructions; construction engineers can use ordinary paper engineering drawings to communicate with distant colleagues. Rather than immersing people in an artificially-created virtual world, the goal is to augment objects in the physical world by enhancing them with a wealth of digital information and communication capabilities.

This paper describes a hierarchical estimation framework for the computation of diverse representations of motion information. The key features of the resulting framework (or family of algorithms) a,re a global model that constrains the overall structure of the motion estimated, a local rnodel that is used in the estimation process, and a coa,rse-fine refinement strategy. Four specific motion models: affine flow, planar surface flow, rigid body motion, and general optical flow, are described along with their application to specific examPles.

In applied visualization research, artifacts are shaped by a series of small design decisions, many of which are evaluated quickly and informally via methods that often go unreported and unverified. Such design decisions are influenced not only by visualization theory, but also by the people and context of the research. While existing applied visualization models support a level of reliability throughout the design process, they fail to explicitly account for the influence of the research context in shaping the resulting design artifacts. In this work, we look to action design research (ADR) for insight into addressing this issue. In particular, ADR offers a framework along with a set of guiding principles for navigating and capitalizing on the disruptive, subjective, human-centered nature of applied design work, while aiming to ensure reliability of the process and design, and emphasizing opportunities for conducting research. We explore the utility of ADR in increasing the reliability of applied visualization design research by: describing ADR in the language and constructs developed within the visualization community; comparing ADR to existing visualization methodologies; and analyzing a recent design study retrospectively through the lens of ADR's framework and principles.

We present Virtual Notepad, a collection of interface tools that allows the user to take notes, annotate documents and input text using a pen, while still immersed in virtual environments (VEs). Using a spatially-tracked, pressure-sensitive graphics tablet, pen and handwriting recognition software, Virtual Notepad explores handwriting as a new modality for interaction in immersive VEs. This paper reports details of the Virtual Notepad interface and interaction techniques, discusses implementation and design issues, reports the results of initial evaluation and overviews possible applications of virtual handwriting.

This paper describes a mapping system that acquires 3D object models of man-made indoor environments such as kitchens. The system segments and geometrically reconstructs cabinets with doors, tables, drawers, and shelves, objects that are important for robots retrieving and manipulating objects in these environments. The system also acquires models of objects of daily use such glasses, plates, and ingredients. The models enable the recognition of the objects in cluttered scenes and the classification of newly encountered objects. Key technical contributions include (1) a robust, accurate, and efficient algorithm for constructing complete object models from 3D point clouds constituting partial object views, (2) feature-based recognition procedures for cabinets, tables, and other task-relevant furniture objects, and (3) automatic inference of object instance and class signatures for objects of daily use that enable robots to reliably recognize the objects in cluttered and real task contexts. We present results from the sensor-based mapping of a real kitchen.

Recognizing object classes and their 3D viewpoints is an important problem in computer vision. Based on a part-based probabilistic representation [31], we propose a new 3D object class model that is capable of recognizing unseen views by pose estimation and synthesis. We achieve this by using a dense, multiview representation of the viewing sphere parameterized by a triangular mesh of viewpoints. Each triangle of viewpoints can be morphed to synthesize new viewpoints. By incorporating 3D geometrical constraints, our model establishes explicit correspondences among object parts across viewpoints. We propose an incremental learning algorithm to train the generative model. A cellphone video clip of an object is first used to initialize model learning. Then the model is updated by a set of unsorted training images without viewpoint labels. We demonstrate the robustness of our model on object detection, viewpoint classification and synthesis tasks. Our model performs superiorly to and on par with state-of-the-art algorithms on the Savarese et al. 2007 and PASCAL datasets in object detection. It outperforms all previous work in viewpoint classification and offers promising results in viewpoint synthesis.

Design has been recognized for a long time both as art and as science. In the sixties of the previous century design-oriented research began to draw the attention of scientific researchers and methodologists, not only in technical engineering but also in the social sciences. However, a rather limited methodology for design-oriented research has been developed, especially as to the social sciences. In this article we introduce evaluation methodology and research methodology as a systematic input in the process of designing. A designing cycle is formulated with six stages, and for each of these stages operations, guidelines and criteria for evaluation are defined. All this may be used for a considerable improvement of the process and product of designing.


Question: Does mindfulness meditation improve attention? A randomized controlled study.

This study investigates the impact of an 8-week mindfulness meditation program on brain and immune function, exploring the underlying biological changes linked to reported improvements in mental and physical health. Employing a randomized, controlled design, we examined the effects of mindfulness meditation on brain electrical activity and immune response in a group of healthy employees.

A total of 25 participants were enrolled in the mindfulness meditation group, undergoing brain electrical activity assessments before, immediately after, and 4 months following the 8-week program. A wait-list control group, consisting of 16 individuals, was also assessed at the same intervals. Upon completion of the program, all participants were administered an influenza vaccine.

Our findings reveal a notable increase in left-sided anterior brain activation in the meditation group compared to the control group. This pattern of activation has been previously associated with positive emotional states. Moreover, we observed a significant rise in antibody titers to the influenza vaccine among the meditators relative to the control group. Importantly, the degree of increase in left-sided activation was found to correlate with the magnitude of antibody titer elevation in response to the vaccine.

These results provide evidence that a brief mindfulness meditation course can induce measurable changes in brain and immune function. They suggest that meditation may have the potential to enhance brain and immune function in a beneficial manner, highlighting the necessity for further research to corroborate these findings and explore their broader implications.

Mind wandering (i.e. engaging in cognitions unrelated to the current demands of the external environment) reflects the cyclic activity of two core processes: the capacity to disengage attention from perception (known as perceptual decoupling) and the ability to take explicit note of the current contents of consciousness (known as meta-awareness). Research on perceptual decoupling demonstrates that mental events that arise without any external precedent (known as stimulus independent thoughts) often interfere with the online processing of sensory information. Findings regarding meta-awareness reveal that the mind is only intermittently aware of engaging in mind wandering. These basic aspects of mind wandering are considered with respect to the activity of the default network, the role of executive processes, the contributions of meta-awareness and the functionality of mind wandering.

Two experiments were designed to examine the effects of attentional demands on the electroencephalogram during cognitive and emotional tasks. We found an interaction of task with hemisphere as well as more overall parietal alpha for tasks not requiring attention to the environment, such as mental arithmetic, than for those requiring such attention. Differential hemispheric activation for beta was found most strongly in the temporal areas for emotionally positive or negative tasks and in the parietal areas for cognitive tasks.

Portable media devices are ubiquitous and their use has become a core component of many people’s daily experience, but to what effect? In this paper, the authors review research on the ways in which media use and multitasking relate to distraction, distractibility and impulsivity. They review recent research on the effects of media multitasking on driving, walking, work, and academic performance. The authors discuss earlier research concerning the nature of media’s impact on attention and review cognitive and neuropsychological findings on the effects of divided attention. Research provides clear evidence that mobile media use is distracting, with consequences for safety, efficiency and learning. Greater use of media is correlated with higher levels of trait impulsivity and distractibility, but the direction of causality has not been established. Individuals may become more skilled at media multitasking over time, but intervention is currently required to improve the safe and effective use of mobile media. DOI: 10.4018/ijcbpl.2012070102 16 International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 2(3), 15-29, July-September 2012 Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. and neuropsychological research on the effects of divided attention. Finally, we explore how high levels of media multitasking might alter our general responses to experience in ways that are marked by changes in distractibility and impulsivity. THE DISTRACTING EFFECTS OF MULTITASKING WITH MOBILE MEDIA


Question: Can mindfulness meditation improve attention? A randomized controlled trial investigation.

This study explores the relationship between mindfulness meditation and attentional focus, alongside its impact on emotional well-being, through a cross-sectional analysis. Unlike previous research that may have lacked a control group or relied on self-reported measures, this study employs a rigorous design to examine the potential benefits of meditation on attention and affect. Participants from various levels of meditation experience were included to provide a comprehensive understanding of the effects of mindfulness practice. The results indicate that regular mindfulness meditation can indeed enhance attentional capabilities, as evidenced by improved performance on attention-related tasks. Moreover, the study reveals a positive correlation between meditation practice and emotional regulation, suggesting that mindfulness may not only sharpen attention but also contribute to better emotional health. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence supporting the use of mindfulness meditation as a tool for enhancing cognitive functions and emotional resilience.


Question: Can mindfulness meditation improve attention? A randomized controlled trial investigation.

Enhancing Cognitive Control: A Comparative Analysis of Attention Training and Mindfulness Practices

Cognitive control and focused attention are pivotal components of human adaptability and performance. Recent research has highlighted the potential of various training methods to enhance these cognitive abilities in individuals of all ages. Studies have shown that computer-based attention training exercises can significantly improve attention span in both children and adults. Similarly, randomized controlled trials of mindfulness meditation, exposure to natural environments, and integrative body-mind training (IBMT) have reported enhancements in attention and self-regulatory skills.

This paper delves into the similarities and differences between attention training and attention state training, specifically focusing on their methodologies, underlying neural mechanisms, and resultant behavioral effects. By comparing these various techniques, we aim to identify practical strategies for boosting attention and self-regulation. Whether through structured cognitive exercises or mindfulness practices, these methods offer promising avenues for improving cognitive control and overall mental well-being.

Recent research in attention has involved three networks of anatomical areas that carry out the functions of orienting, alerting and executive control (including conflict monitoring). There have been extensive cognitive and neuroimaging studies of these networks in adults. We developed an integrated Attention Network Test (ANT) to measure the efficiency of the three networks with adults. We have now adapted this test to study the development of these networks during childhood. The test is a child-friendly version of the flanker task with alerting and orienting cues. We studied the development of the attentional networks in a cross-sectional experiment with four age groups ranging from 6 through 9 (Experiment 1). In a second experiment, we compared children (age 10 years) and adult performance in both child and adults versions of the ANT. Reaction time and accuracy improved at each age interval and positive values were found for the average efficiency of each of the networks. Alertness showed evidence of change up to and beyond age 10, while conflict scores appear stable after age seven and orienting scores do not change in the age range studied. A final experiment with forty 7-year-old children suggested that children like adults showed independence between the three networks under some conditions.


Question: Can mindfulness meditation improve attention? A randomized controlled trial investigation.

This comprehensive review paper, authored by a collaborative group of clinicians and researchers based in Melbourne, delves into the foundational concepts, empirical evidence, and practical aspects of mindfulness-based psychotherapies. The primary objective is to provide an accessible overview for the general professional audience. The authors explore the empirical support for these therapies, the underlying principles that facilitate their effectiveness, and address practical considerations for practitioners interested in incorporating mindfulness-based techniques into their practice or referring patients to such therapies. Additionally, the paper discusses research-related factors pertinent to the study of mindfulness in therapeutic contexts.

To compile this review, the authors conducted a thorough search of databases such as PsycINFO and MEDLINE for studies on the impact of mindfulness interventions and the psychological and biological mechanisms that underpin the benefits of mindfulness practice. The paper also incorporates the collective clinical expertise of the author group.

The review reveals that mindfulness practices and principles have evolved from various contemplative and philosophical traditions, but can be effectively adapted and practiced independently of these origins. The recent popularity of mindfulness in therapeutic settings can be attributed to the publication of well-designed studies on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. This, combined with the historical integration of mindfulness in Western psychotherapies, has sparked growing interest among clinicians to learn and apply mindfulness techniques in their therapeutic work. The review underscores the critical need for accurate professional understanding of mindfulness and its applications in therapy.

The authors conclude that the theoretical and empirical literature on the therapeutic applications of mindfulness is rapidly expanding. Based on their review, they posit that the combination of robust conceptual frameworks and a growing body of empirical evidence supports the optimism that mindfulness-based approaches will prove to be valuable strategies in addressing a wide spectrum of mental and physical health issues. This optimism is bolstered by the potential of these approaches to offer effective care to patients with diverse health concerns.

Portable media devices are ubiquitous and their use has become a core component of many people’s daily experience, but to what effect? In this paper, the authors review research on the ways in which media use and multitasking relate to distraction, distractibility and impulsivity. They review recent research on the effects of media multitasking on driving, walking, work, and academic performance. The authors discuss earlier research concerning the nature of media’s impact on attention and review cognitive and neuropsychological findings on the effects of divided attention. Research provides clear evidence that mobile media use is distracting, with consequences for safety, efficiency and learning. Greater use of media is correlated with higher levels of trait impulsivity and distractibility, but the direction of causality has not been established. Individuals may become more skilled at media multitasking over time, but intervention is currently required to improve the safe and effective use of mobile media. DOI: 10.4018/ijcbpl.2012070102 16 International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 2(3), 15-29, July-September 2012 Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. and neuropsychological research on the effects of divided attention. Finally, we explore how high levels of media multitasking might alter our general responses to experience in ways that are marked by changes in distractibility and impulsivity. THE DISTRACTING EFFECTS OF MULTITASKING WITH MOBILE MEDIA

This study evaluated the impact of two interventions—a training program and stimulant medication—on working memory (WM) function in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Twenty-five children aged between 8 and 11 years participated in training that taxed WM skills to the limit for a minimum of 20 days, and completed other assessments of WM and IQ before and after training, and with and without prescribed drug treatment. While medication significantly improved visuo-spatial memory performance, training led to substantial gains in all components of WM across untrained tasks. Training gains associated with the central executive persisted over a 6month period. IQ scores were unaffected by either intervention. These findings indicate that the WM impairments in children with ADHD can be differentially ameliorated by training and by stimulant medication. Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Question: Can mindfulness meditation improve attention? A randomized controlled trial investigation.

This paper synthesizes the research on the neurobiological effects of meditation and its therapeutic impact on psychiatric conditions, exploring how meditation influences both body and brain functions. Meditation's primary objective is to diminish or eradicate distracting thoughts by cultivating a focused internal attention, which is believed to induce relaxation, reduce stress, enhance emotional stability, and sharpen concentration. Scientific data indicates that meditation leads to a decrease in stress-induced autonomic and endocrine responses, while neuroimaging research reveals enhanced activity in brain areas associated with emotional regulation and attention control. Clinical investigations provide some support for meditation's efficacy in treating disorders related to mood, anxiety, and attention. Although the collective evidence from neurobiological and clinical studies is encouraging, a deeper comprehension of the specific neurobiological mechanisms and clinical benefits of various meditation practices is essential before meditation can be effectively integrated into the treatment and prevention of mental health issues.

BACKGROUND
The current study seeks to investigate the mechanisms through which mindfulness is related to mental health in a clinical sample of adults by examining (1) whether specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies (rumination, reappraisal, worry, and nonacceptance) mediate associations between mindfulness and depression and anxiety, respectively, and (2) whether these emotion regulation strategies operate uniquely or transdiagnostically in relation to depression and anxiety.

METHODS
Participants were 187 adults seeking treatment at a mood and anxiety disorders clinic in Connecticut. Participants completed a battery of self-report measures that included assessments of depression and anxiety (Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire), and emotion regulation (Ruminative Response Scale, Penn State Worry Questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale).

RESULTS
Simple mediation analyses indicated that rumination and worry significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and anxiety symptoms, whereas rumination and reappraisal significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and depressive symptoms. Multiple mediation analyses showed that worry significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and anxiety symptoms and rumination and reappraisal significantly mediated associations between mindfulness and depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS
Findings suggest that mindfulness operates through distinct and common mechanisms depending on clinical context.

Performance on measures of working memory (WM) capacity predicts performance on a wide range of real-world cognitive tasks. I review the idea that WM capacity (a) is separable from short-term memory, (b) is an important component of general fluid intelligence, and (c) represents a domainfree limitation in ability to control attention. Studies show that individual differences in WM capacity are reflected in performance on antisaccade, Stroop, and dichotic-listening tasks. WM capacity, or executive attention, is most important under conditions in which interference leads to retrieval of response tendencies that conflict with the current task.

This paper is conceived as a guide that will describe the very well known Spatial Orienting paradigm, used to explore attentional processes in healthy individuals as well as in people suffering from psychiatric disorders and brain-damaged patients. The paradigm was developed in the late 1970s, and since then, it has been used in thousands of attentional studies. In this review, we attempt to describe, the paradigm for the naïf reader, and explain in detail when is it used, which variables are usually manipulated, how to interpret its results, and how can it be adapted to different populations and methodologies. The main goal of this review is to provide a practical guide to researchers who have never used the paradigm that will help them design their experiments, as a function of their theoretical and experimental needs. We also focus on how to adapt the paradigm to different technologies (such as event-related potentials, functional resonance imaging, or transcranial magnetic stimulation), and to different populations by presenting an example of its use in brain-damaged patients.