Jun HU :: HU, Jun

Eye contact is crucial in social interactions, linking with sincerity and friendliness. However, blind people cannot see and make eye contact when they communicate with sighted people. It influences the involvement of blind people in blind-sighted conversations. Based on this context, we implemented Social glasses with an eye-tracking system, aiming to improve the communication quality between blind and sighted people in face-to-face conversations. Social glasses attempts to simulate the appropriate gaze for blind people, especially establishing the “eye contact” in blind-sighted conversations. To evaluate the impact of the interactive gaze displayed on the Social glasses, we performed dyadic conversation tests under four experimental conditions (No Gaze, Constant Gaze, Random Gaze, and Interactive Gaze) for 40 participants. Quantitative results showed that the Interactive gaze has a positive impact on improving the communication quality between blind and sighted people, which were consistent with a qualitative analysis of the participants’ comments.

Chao Wang, Jacques Terken, Jun Hu, and Matthias Rauterberg

Driving is a social activity: Drivers need to coordinate and cooperate with each other to share the infrastructure. The relationship between drivers influences their driving behavior and experience. Lights, horn and speed are the most frequently used means to exchange information, limiting both the range and the bandwidth of the connectivity and leading to isolation, loneliness, and competition. We present “iSticker” and “MusicHound”, two concepts that aim to establish a connection by presenting similarity information between drivers. The two concepts were prototyped and evaluated with users in a driving simulator. The results showed that iSticker and MusicHound enhance drivers’ social closeness with each other and belongingness during the journey.

FBP by Tess Ernest

The goal of this project is to create a service for artists that helps to enlarge their audience. This will be done by making it easy to explore new artists by using Explortists. Explortists are cards linked to an Augmented Reality application. The cards should make listeners more aware of the artist and stimulate sharing music. Outcomes of user-tests confirmed the willingness to explore via the cards. It also shows that using newer technology for the applications, makes the features clear, fun and valuable. Stakeholders such as artists, record labels and venue get profit out of the concept. They can implement personal branding and make a revenue out of using the cards.

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See Me Roar: an AR Game to Improve Children’s
Perception of Relatedness and Learning Motivation in Elementary Math Education

M12 project by Xiaoyu Yu

Today’s primary school teachers may find it hard to motivate their students into traditional learning activities, especially with subjects which students may find difficult and are subsequently not willing to spend much time on, such as mathematics. Educational games with Augmented Reality (AR) technology could provide a great potential for learning and are increasingly available among primary school students. However, there is a lack of understanding on how to improve student’s learning motivation through the AR educational games. In the present study, the researcher first used the method of co-design with children to shape and develop the concept of an AR game for children to practice their math skills in the social learning environment. Then, the researcher conducted a user test with four 8-12-year-old students to explore which game elements (collaboration vs. competition) in the AR game could improve their perception of relatedness and motivation based on Self-determination Theory. The results show that the collaboration version could lead to a higher perception of relatedness and more learning motivation.

PhD Thesis by Xinwei Wang

“Comics are a storytelling medium. There are several practices which revolve around this medium: “the industry that produces comics, the community that embraces them, the content which they represent, and the avenues in which they appear [@Cohn2005]”. For over a hundred years, comics were presented on paper-based carriers such as magazines and books. With the development of new technologies, the comics industry has the opportunity to embrace a new carrier – the digital environment in electronic devices.”

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Excellent B2 project work by Noa van den Brink, Teun van Acker and Renate Voss

The municipality of Eindhoven is always working on innovation and are working with new IoT technologies and sensors in public spaces, based on gathering and analyzing people’s data to improve the quality of life in the city.

At Stratumseind, there is such a sensor network which gathers data to solve issues in daily lives like safety. As local government, Eindhoven has to ensure that use of technology and data in the public space is visible, transparent, open, secure and respects the privacy of individuals and communities, which means that it is anonymous at all time. It is known that in Eindhoven a number of IoT / sensor networks in the public space work independently and are used by different parties and stakeholders. However, not everyone is aware of this sensor network and it has become clear that visualization and interaction with IoT in public spaces is a challenge. Especially, now privacy has become on of the main hot topics in the rapid digitizing world, think about The General Data Protection Regulation which is introduced in the EU in May 2018, (local) governments are looking for ways to implement new technologies in a transparent and democratic way. Therefore, as a leading municipality, Eindhoven wants to make it known and clear to everyone where the measuring equipment is located, what is measured and by whom, to ensure the public interest and stimulate innovation with the use of new technologies. …

Gaze has important social meanings in face-to-face communication. A sighted person often uses various eye gestures to convey nonverbal information that a blind conversation partner cannot access and respond. In many examples, the eyes of blind people seem unattractive, and often with deformities, which make the eye appearances less appealing to sighted people. These factors influence the smooth communication between blind and sighted people.

Our research is to simulate the gaze for blind people, aiming at improving the quality of face-to-face communication between blind and sighted people. In this dissertation, the purpose of simulating the gaze includes two aspects: to assist blind people to perceive the gaze from the sighted and to simulate the appropriate gaze for blind people as a visual reaction.

See more at
http://www.mindthestep.nl/lightsit.html

Although the ‘new way of working’ has many advantages, the more intelligent use of time, space and resources often results in (even) less exercise and more stress. The solution? A cushion filled with sensors that discreetly register your breathing patterns and a light strip integrated in the monitor stand. In other words: LightSit. Have you sat without moving for too long? The block of light that repeatedly moves from left to right supports stretching exercises for your back. Suffering from stress? The alternating bright and dim light invites you to concentrate on your breathing. Information is power! 

PhD Thesis by Bin Yu

Mainly provoked by increasing stress-related health problems and driven by recent technological advances in human-computer interaction (HCI), the ubiquitous physiologically-relevant information will potentially transform the role of biofeedback from clinical treatment to a readily available tool for personal stress management. The primary motivation for this thesis is to bring biofeedback
techniques closer to everyday use so that the average people can harness it more intuitively, effortlessly and comfortably.

PhD thesis by Wan Jou She

Previous bereavement-related literature indicated that around one out of ten (9.8%) bereaved individuals could suffer from a more severe and protracted grief, entitled Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder (PCBD) in the DSM-V, or Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) in ICD-11. To precisely differentiate the prolonged grievers from the normal grievers, a minimum six months is required, and to offer psychotherapeutic intervention to normal grievers indifferently could instead hamper their natural coping mechanism. The fact conicts with the fact that the severely maladapted grievers might need psychotherapeutic support in a more timely manner, and might even benefit from earlier intervention. This dilemma indicates that there is a need for a screening method in the first six months of bereavement.

Based on the above discussion, the objective of the thesis is to develop a screening method for prolonged grief disorder that is empirically tested and can be embedded in an internet-based
application.