MasIE 2013 Paper

Last month, Dr. Stella Sylaiou presented a co-authored paper with title ‘Exploring the effect of diverse technologies incorporated in virtual museums on visitors’ perceived sense of presence’. The paper was presented at the International Workshop on Museums as Intelligent Environments (MasIE), in conjuction with the 9^th International Conference on Intelligent Environments - IE'13 in Athens, Greece.

The paper presented the preliminary results of a research project aimed at exploring the perceived sense of presence incorporated in diverse technologies used in Virtual Museums. The results of a double-phased statistical analysis were discussed, which investigated the technological conditions under which a Virtual Museum enhances the visitors’ experience of presence.

A draft version of the paper can be downloaded from here.

Locating the Brain's GPS

Using direct human brain recordings, a research team from Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA and Thomas Jefferson University has identified a new type of cell in the brain that helps people to keep track of their relative location while navigating an unfamiliar environment. The grid cell, which derives its name from the triangular grid pattern in which the cell activates during navigation, is distinct among brain cells because its activation represents multiple spatial locations. This behavior is how grid cells allow the brain to keep track of navigational cues such as how far you are from a starting point or your last turn. This type of navigation is called path integration. It is critical that this grid pattern is so consistent because it shows how people can keep track of their location even in new environments with inconsistent layouts researchers mentioned in Drexel's School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems. Researchers were able to discern these cells because they had the rare opportunity to study brain recordings of epilepsy patients with electrodes implanted deep inside their brains as part of their treatment. Their work is being published in the latest edition of Nature Neuroscience. 

During brain recording, the 14 study participants played a video game that challenged them to navigate from one point to another to retrieve objects and then recall how to get back to the places where each object was located. The participants used a joystick to ride a virtual bicycle across a wide-open terrain displayed on a laptop by their hospital beds. After participants made trial runs where each of the objects was visible in the distance, they were put back at the center of the map and the objects were made invisible until the bicycle was right in front of them. The researchers then asked the participants to travel to particular objects in different sequences. The team studied the relation between how the participants navigated in the video game and the activity of individual neurons. Each grid cell responds at multiple spatial locations that are arranged in the shape of a grid. This triangular grid pattern thus appears to be a brain pattern that plays a fundamental role in navigation. Without grid cells, it is likely that humans would frequently get lost or have to navigate based only on landmarks. Grid cells are thus critical for maintaining a sense of location in an environment.

More information:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130804144401.htm

Groovy Hologram

Applied physicists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have demonstrated that they can change the intensity, phase, and polarization of light rays using a hologram-like design decorated with nanoscale structures. As a proof of principle, the researchers have used it to create an unusual state of light called a radially polarized beam, which -- because it can be focused very tightly -- is important for applications like high-resolution lithography and for trapping and manipulating tiny particles like viruses.

This is the first time a single, simple device has been designed to control these three major properties of light at once. Using these novel nanostructured holograms, they have converted conventional, circularly polarized laser light into radially polarized beams at wavelengths spanning the technologically important visible and near-infrared light spectrum. Holograms find many applications in security, like the holographic panels on credit cards and passports, and new digital hologram-based data-storage methods are currently being designed to potentially replace current systems.

More information:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130820135030.htm

Robot for Older People

A highly customisable robot companion designed by EU-funded researchers to offer support to older people is currently being presented across Europe and could find its way into people's homes within two or three years, potentially greatly enhancing quality of life for older citizens and people with memory or mobility problems. The robot, a mobile wheeled semi-humanoid figure equipped with cameras, sensors, audio and a touch screen interface, can remind users to take their medicine, suggest they have their favourite drink or prompt them to go for a walk or visit friends if they haven't been out for a while. As part of a larger smart-home environment that can include smart clothing to monitor vital signs, the system can monitor user's health and safety, and alert emergency services if something is amiss. Across Europe, populations are growing older, and many people need care in some way. Care may be provided by professionals at home or in a care facility, but often the caregiver is the person's partner or another family member.

The median age across the European Union's current 28 Member States, which was around 41.2 years in 2011, is projected to rise to 47.6 years by 2060, while the number of people aged 65 and over will almost double to make up 29.5 % of the population, according to Eurostat's latest population projections. Meanwhile, the percentage of people aged 80 and above is expected to triple by 2060. With age-related illnesses also set to increase in line with that trend, more and more people across Europe will need care and assistance if they are to maintain their quality of life, stay healthy and avoid social exclusion. Developed over 33 months by a consortium of research institutes, universities and technology companies in seven European countries -- Finland, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom -- the companion robot helps address those issues. It is just one of several results of an EU-funded project titled 'An integrated intelligent home environment for the provision of health, nutrition and well-being services to older adults' (MOBISERV).

More information:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130816125631.htm

Next Step in Facial Imaging

A team of University clinicians and computer scientists can, for the first time, carry out facial movement research and transform the way patients needing facial surgery are diagnosed and monitored thanks to a new state-of-the-art 3D surface motion imaging system. Working alongside a leading company in the field, 3dMD, a team of University academics have developed the first commercial system capable of recording moving human images in 3D. 

Research into facial movement has important applications in patients whose facial movement is affected by conditions such as a cleft lip, neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease or someone who has experienced a stroke. Videos have generally been the preferred method for recording facial movements – unfortunately, they are only-two dimensional so when analysing how the face moves, important data is lost.

More information:

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/articles/next-step-in-facial-imaging-11584.html

Depth Using a Single Lens

Researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a way for photographers and microscopists to create a 3D image through a single lens, without moving the camera. The effect is the equivalent of seeing a stereo image with one eye closed. Researchers managed to infer the angle of the light at each pixel, rather than directly measuring it. The team's solution is to take two images from the same camera position but focused at different depths. The slight differences between these two images provide enough information for a computer to mathematically create a brand-new image as if the camera had been moved to one side.

By stitching these two images together into an animation, researchers provide a way for amateur photographers and microscopists alike to create the impression of a stereo image without the need for expensive hardware. They are calling their computational method ‘light-field moment imaging’—not to be confused with ‘light field cameras’, which achieve similar effects using high-end hardware rather than computational processing. Importantly, the technique offers a new and very accessible way to create 3D images of translucent materials, such as biological tissues. The new technology also suggests an alternative way to create 3D movies for the big screen.

More information:

http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2013/08/seeing-depth-through-single-lens

Mini Mona Lisa

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have ‘painted’ the Mona Lisa on a substrate surface approximately 30 microns in width – or one-third the width of a human hair. The team’s creation, the ‘Mini Lisa’, demonstrates a technique that could potentially be used to achieve nanomanufacturing of devices because the team was able to vary the surface concentration of molecules on such short-length scales. The image was created with an atomic force microscope and a process called ThermoChemical NanoLithography (TCNL).

Going pixel by pixel, researchers positioned a heated cantilever at the substrate surface to create a series of confined nanoscale chemical reactions. By varying only the heat at each location, researchers controlled the number of new molecules that were created. The greater the heat, the greater the local concentration. More heat produced the lighter shades of gray, as seen on the Mini Lisa’s forehead and hands. Less heat produced the darker shades in her dress and hair seen when the molecular canvas is visualized using fluorescent dye. Each pixel is spaced by 125 nanometers.

More information:

http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=226411

Quantum Boost for AI

Quantum computers of the future will have the potential to give artificial intelligence a major boost, a series of studies suggests. These computers, which encode information in 'fuzzy' quantum states that can be zero and one simultaneously, have the ability to someday solve problems, such as breaking encryption keys, that are beyond the reach of ‘classical’ computers. Algorithms developed so far for quantum computers have typically focused on problems such as breaking encryption keys or searching a list — tasks that normally require speed but not a lot of intelligence.

 

Researchers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have put a quantum twist on artificial intelligence. They developed a quantum version of 'machine learning', a type of artificial intelligence in which programs can learn from previous experience to become progressively better at finding patterns in data. Machine learning is popular in applications ranging from e-mail spam filters to online-shopping suggestions. The team’s invention would take advantage of quantum computations to speed up machine-learning tasks exponentially.

More information:

http://www.nature.com/news/quantum-boost-for-artificial-intelligence-1.13453