Building Better Performance Measures for Better Conversations to Provoke Change

Injury rates are a thing of the past: building better performance measures for better conversations to provoke change. The Oil & Gas industry has measured safety performance using Injury frequency rates for the last 40 years. Industry thinking is based on the premise that: if we do not have injuries then we are safe, and if we have injuries we...

Coastal zones and climate change: A sediment perspective on adaptation

Climate-change problems in coastal zones are predominantly perceived from a water perspective. However, in accordance with the temporal and spatial scales at which the effects of climate change occur, we propose that coastal zones have to be regarded as sedimentary systems, rather than mere delimitations of a water system. Long-term coastal...

A computer assistant for remote collaborative troubleshooting of domestic medical instruments

Patients suffering from chronic illness, such as diabetes, use various domestic instruments as part of their selfcare. For older adults, there is a need for assistance to use the instruments adequately and to solve technical failures. Following the eHealth concept, we designed a computer assistant for an older adult and a technical specialist,...

Face to face interaction with an intelligent virtual agent: The effect on learning tactical picture compilation

Learning a process control task, such as tactical picture compilation in the Navy, is difficult, because the students have to spend their limited cognitive resources both on the complex task itself and the act of learning. In addition to the resource limits, motivation can be reduced when learning progress is slow. Intelligent Virtual Agents may...

Cognitive abilities of functionally illiterate persons relevant to ICT use

The present study investigates the proficiency levels of functionally illiterate persons regarding a number of cognitive skills (language processing skills (reading, writing, listening), visual organizational and visual memory skills, mental spatial orientation, speed of cognitive processing, vigilance, divided attention and perceived self...

The futures of EU-based eGovernment: A scenario-based exploration

The future of eGovernment is very uncertain and requires to be approached by depicting different scenario in which a wide range of contextual factors, such as social, cultural, institutional and economic should be described. The scenarios in this paper are focused on 2020 and situated along two scenarioaxes which form the framework in which the...

Thunderstorms in my computer: The effect of visual dynamics and sound in a 3D environment

We assessed the effects of the addition of dynamic visual elements and sounds to a levee patroller training game on the appraisal of the environment and weather conditions, the engagement of the users and their performance. Results show that the combination of visual dynamics and sounds best conveys the impression of severe weather conditions...

Obstacle detection during day and night conditions using stereo vision

We have developed a stereo vision based obstacle detection (OD) system that can be used to detect obstacles in off-road terrain during both day and night conditions. In order to acquire enough depth estimates for reliable OD during low visibility conditions, we propose a stereo disparity (depth) estimation approach that uses fine-to-coarse...

Robot-mediated Active Rehabilitation (ACRE): A user trial

ACRE is a robotic training device for rehabilitation of the upper limbs. ACRE stimulates patients to train their affected arm more frequently and repetitively, via so called game based therapy. A prototype of ACRE (ACRE2) was tested in a user trial with patients who had recently suffered a stroke. Therapists concluded that the ACRE can be useful...

Aiding human reliance decision making using computational models of trust

This paper involves a human-agent system in which there is an operator charged with a pattern recognition task, using an automated decision aid. The objective is to make this human-agent system operate as effectively as possible. Effectiveness is gained by an increase of appropriate reliance on the operator and the aid. We studied whether it is...

Fast and true-to-life application of daytime colours to night-time imagery

We developed a fast and efficient method to derive and apply a natural colour mapping for night-time imagery from multi-band sensors. The colour mapping is derived from the combination of a multi-band image and a corresponding natural colour reference image. The mapping optimizes the match between the multi-band image and the reference image,...

Vision-based control of the Manus using SIFT

The rehabilitation robot Manus is an assistive device for severely motor handicapped users. The executing of all day living tasks with the Manus, can be very complex and a vision-based controller can simplify this. The lack of existing vision-based controlled systems, is the poor reliability of the computer vision in unstructured environments....

On the definition and relevance of context-awareness in Personal Networks

Personal Networks (PNs) enable users to be connected with their devices and services at any time and any place. Context-Awareness will further enrich PNs. This paper shows some examples, presents definitions of Context and Context-Awareness for PNs, and introduces a high-level architecture for Context-Awareness that is tailored to PNs.

Dichoptic fusion of thermal and intensified imagery

Subjects used the dichoptic combination of a monocular image intensifier (NVG) and a monocular uncooled microbolometer (LWIR) to detect and localise both visual targets and camouflaged thermal targets while moving through a dimly lit complex environment. The NVG imagery enabled the subjects to move freely through the environment with high...