Computational weaving is an old form of HCI, where hand Jacquard machine weaving embodies rich interaction and digital computation. Low-cost Jacquard looms are becoming common in HCI, but they come with limitations due to technology standardization. Jacquard weaving looms are often customized to create different textile structures; in our case, 3D weaves. This research uses speculative itineration to investigate the iterative re-engineering of a low-cost computational Jacquard handloom. We rebuild and enhance an existing designed loom by co-constructing stories and conducting semi-structured interviews with novices and experts, allowing imaginaries to change the loom. Our findings reveal innovation potential across the spectrum of looms. Both novice and expert weavers seek looms that allow modification, driven by the potential for new weaving designs and design spaces of looms within digital craftsmanship. Itinerative co-constructive speculation allows for customized looms across skill levels, challenging prevailing paradigms where expertise level often dictates technology choice.

Collective stress is the stress within a group or an organization. It affects individuals’ well-being and group productivity. HCI research has started exploring collective stress visualization to facilitate group awareness and collective coping via testing prototypes in controlled settings. However, an in-depth understanding of users’ needs and envisaged scenarios based on their authentic experiences are still lacking. In this study, we utilized a participatory approach called co-constructing stories to investigate how a collective stress visualization would be used in office workers’ authentic workday routines. We constructed use case stories with a group of office workers separately based on their personal lived experiences, using a design probe called AffectiveGarden. Our results categorized six clusters of benefits for collective coping through visualization and their implications for future design practice.

Slow breathing guiding applications increasingly emerge, showing promise for helping knowledge workers to better cope with workaday stress. However, standard breathing guidance is non-interactive, with rigid paces. Despite their effects being proved, they could cause respiratory fatigue, or lack of training motivation, especially for novice users. To explore new design possibilities, we investigate using heart rate variability (HRV) data to mediate breathing guidance, which results in two HRV-enhanced guidance modes: (i) responsive breathing guidance and (ii) adaptive breathing guidance. These guidance modes are implemented on a soft haptic interface named “ViBreathe”. We conducted a user test (N = 24), and a one-week field deployment (N = 4) with knowledge workers, to understand the user experience of our design. The HRV-enhanced modes were generally experienced to reduce tiresome and improve engagement and comfort. And Vibreathe showed great potential for seamlessly weaving slow breathing practice into work routines. We thereby summarize related design insights and opportunities.

Social learning games can enhance students' learning engagement in the field of STEM. However, students do not always have the chance to experience social interactions during their learning activities. Augmented reality (AR) games have the ability to enable social interactions among students and allow them to interact with the virtual content while engaging in natural communication in the real world. However, little is still known on how to design social AR games for learning. In this paper, we presented a textbook-based AR social learning game for elementary school students to practice math together. We designed and developed the game concepts based on previous studies and co-design sessions and conducted a user study to explore how students would behave and interact with each other in the game. Our findings extend the understanding of students' social patterns in both collaboration and competition conditions under AR settings. Based on the findings, we propose design implications for designing AR social learning games in the future.

Mediated touch gestures are essential for delivering information in social networking. This study presents a method to create mediated touch gestures with vibrotactile stimuli for smart phones and explores the effectiveness of applying mediated touch gestures with vibrotactile stimuli when sending text and stickers in instant messaging applications. We developed a preliminary prototype to record vibration signals of touch gestures. The envelopes of the recorded signals are approximated by piecewise linear functions and then translated to MIDI parameters for generating vibrotactile stimuli. We applied mediated touch gestures in instant messaging applications as haptic icons. A user study showed that gesture traits and the contact time affected the sensation of haptic icons. The enhancement effect of touch gestures was influenced by the contact time.

This study in preterm infants was designed to characterize the prognostic potential of several features of heart rate variability (HRV), respiration, and (infant) motion for the predictive monitoring of late-onset sepsis (LOS). In a neonatal intensive care setting, the cardiorespiratory waveforms of infants with blood-culture positive LOS were analyzed to characterize the prognostic potential of 22 features for discriminating control from sepsis-state, using the Naïve Bayes algorithm. Historical data of the subjects acquired from a period sufficiently before the clinical suspicion of LOS was used as control state, whereas data from the 24 h preceding the clinical suspicion of LOS were used as sepsis state (test data). The overall prognostic potential of all features was quantified at three-hourly intervals for the period corresponding to test data by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve. For the 49 infants studied, features of HRV, respiration, and movement showed characteristic changes in the hours leading up to the clinical suspicion of sepsis, namely, an increased propensity toward pathological heart rate decelerations, increased respiratory instability, and a decrease in spontaneous infant activity, i.e., lethargy. While features characterizing HRV and respiration can be used to probe the state of the autonomic nervous system, those characterizing movement probe the state of the motor system-dysregulation of both reflects an increased likelihood of sepsis. By using readily interpretable features derived from cardiorespiratory monitoring, opportunities for pre-emptively identifying and treating LOS can be developed.

Augmented Reality is becoming an emerging trend in the development of play-and-learn experience and increasingly accessible to children. However, there is a lack of understanding of how to design AR games to effectively improve children's learning experience, especially with respect to the novel interaction and representation paradigms that AR affords. In this study, we describe the design and the implementation process of different interaction types (screen-touch and tangible interaction) and feedback mechanisms (non-diegetic feedback and diegetic feedback) in an AR math game for children aged 7 and 8. We report the insights based on our current prototypes and discuss the design implications for our future work.

The lack of real innovation is one of the problems the fashion system suffers from. But there is so much interesting mathematics available now, with such deep meanings, that it is a shame not to exploit it, or at least seriously try. We are interested in the aesthetic reasons, finding new forms and exploiting new types of algorithmic approaches, mixed with innovative mathematics and digital production tools.

This paper presents BioFidget, a biofeedback system that integrates physiological sensing and display into a smart fidget spinner for respiration training. We present a simple yet novel hardware design that transforms a fidget spinner into 1) a nonintrusive heart rate variability (HRV) sensor, 2) an electromechanical respiration sensor, and 3) an information display. The combination of these features enables users to engage in respiration training through designed tangible and embodied interactions, without requiring them to wear additional physiological sensors. The results of this empirical user study prove that the respiration training method reduces stress, and the proposed system meets the requirements of sensing validity and engagement with 32 participants in a practical setting.

Unwind is a musical biofeedback interface which combines nature sounds and sedative music into a form of New-Age music for relaxation exercises. The nature sounds respond to the user’s physiological data, functioning as an informative layer for biofeedback display. The sedative music aims to induce calmness and evoke positive emotions. UnWind incorporates the benefits of biofeedback and sedative music to facilitate deep breathing, moderate arousal, and promote mental relaxation. We evaluated Unwind in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment with music and biofeedback as independent factors. Forty young adults performed the relaxation exercise under one of the following conditions after experiencing a stressful task: Nature sounds only (NS), Nature sounds with music (NM), and Auditory biofeedback with nature sounds (NSBFB), and UnWind musical biofeedback (NMBFB). The results revealed a significant interaction effect between music and biofeedback on the improvement of heart rate variability. The combination of music and nature sounds also showed benefits in lowering arousal and reducing self-report anxiety. We conclude with a discussion of UnWind for biofeedback and the wider potential of blending nature sounds with music as a musical interface.

The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) application within the health- and wellbeing domain enables individuals to monitor their health. Acquired data can be used privately, contribute to clinical databases, or for research. The amount of health and wellbeing tracking devices introduces complexity in data aggregation and scattered overviews. Few services exist to aggregate health data. Current services raise privacy concerns. Consume is a service for aggregating authentication and authorisation for Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Consume aims at research and allows to add existing and custom APIs on-the-fly without restarting services.

Light is a common ambient medium to express additional information in a peripheral and calm way, but it is also an environmental stimulant to create atmosphere, evoke moods, and provide immersive experiences. Through the design of the DeLight system, we aim to establish a biofeedback-driven lighting environment that informs users about their stress level for intervention and assists them in biofeedback relaxation training. In this study, DeLight is interfaced with a heart rate variability biofeedback system with two modes for different purposes: stress intervention and relaxation assistance. We evaluated the prototype of DeLight in two user studies. The results of the first study show that DeLight has the potential for stress intervention; the HRV biofeedback through the changes of ambient light could improve a user’s awareness of stress and trigger behavioral conditioning, such as deep breathing. The results of the second study confirm that DeLight has potential as a new biofeedback interface for relaxation assistance; biofeedback through an immersive lighting environment can support physiological regulation as effectively as graphic biofeedback; it offers enhanced relaxation effects regarding both subjective experience and physiological arousal. These findings suggest that the biofeedback-driven ambient light can perform as persuasive technology in the domain of health self-management. The combination of decorative and informative aspects enables the lighting interface to offer the users a comfortable and relaxing condition for biofeedback-assisted relaxation training.

In today;s highly competitive environment, chronic stress is one of the main reasons for a health problem. To address this, biofeedback techniques have been used to assist in relaxation training and stress management. In this paper, we present "StressTree," a metaphorical visualization of heart rate variability (HRV) biofeedback system. StressTree aims to present HRV data in a more evocative, meaningful way in the context of stress management. The HRV biofeedback system consists of a heartbeat data acquisition unit, a data analysis unit, and a visualization unit. The feedback from interviews in the evaluation shows that StressTree could display different growth pattern during a stressful work or a relaxation training. The participants suggested that the biofeedback interaction through StressTree is explicit and engaging, and brings them a strong motivation to regulate their breathing pattern for a "healthy-looking" tree.

This paper presents the work-in-progress prototype of i-Ribbon---a wearable device designed to elicit values in the context of weight loss. Starting with an Obesity Awareness Ribbon, we introduced the i-Ribbon concept. For prototyping, we built a system that could extract user's personal health-related data through a mobile application and sent it to a wearable device. The functional prototype enabled us to implement different interaction strategies to elicit corresponding values. Base on the reflection on design and prototyping process, possibilities of future research were identified.

Awe is a powerful, visceral sensation described as a sudden chill or shudder accompanied by goosebumps. People feel awe in the face of extraordinary experiences: the sublimity of nature, the beauty of art and music, the adrenaline rush of fear. Awe is healthy, both physically and mentally. It can be shared by people who are witnessing the same phenomenon, but traditionally it cannot be communicated remotely across time or distance: to feel awe involves real time experience, and explaining the experience that gave rise to it does not always induce the feeling of awe itself. We want to make this sensation something that can be transmitted, and therefore present AWElectric, a wearable interface that can detect awe, enhance it, and create it in another person. Our shared goosebump design embeds inflatable biometric displays in 3D print fabric.The AudioTactile fabric transmits an awe-inducing sound frequency to the partner that physically manifests the tingles, chills, and goosebumps that awe provokes.

Calm technology has been stressed in designing the interaction with information, especially in ubiquitous computing, peripheral interaction and ambient display. Inspired by the research on calm technology and model-based sonification, we aim to build a model of nature soundscape for supporting calm information display. A three-layer structure is proposed for construction of the nature soundscape. The structure includes seven acoustic parameters. By setting each of seven acoustic parameters into three levels, seven groups of soundscape samples were created and evaluated in an experiment with 20 participants. Each participant was exposed to 21 soundscape samples to assess each sample regarding seven perceptual attributes through a rating scale. Based on the results, a perceptual model is proposed to link the acoustic parameters of individual nature sounds and the perceptual attributes of the nature soundscape. The developed model offers the designers and practitioners a new tool to utilize nature sounds in the design of the auditory display which could support the calm technology.

Heart Calligraphy is a biofeedback installation that creates abstract portraits of participants with their heartbeat data using a pen plotter. The real-time heart rate is mapped to the basic parameters of the pen's behaviors, namely speed, position, pressure and pen-down time. Due to the natural variability in heart rate, every portrait becomes personal and unique graphic, which reflects the natural biorhythm inside human body. The installation explores the role of the body as a channel through which physiology manifests itself in a form of beauty.

In this paper we describe the concept, design and implementation of LivingSurface, an interactive wall-like surface as a shape-changing display of biofeedback. The surface changes its shape responding to an individual's physiological data, reflecting the internal bodily processes. The surface design basically consists of two layers: the pattern layer (front layer) and the actuating layer (back layer). The first is a complex paper-based structure with repetitive incisions created by laser cutting. The actuating layer serves as a medium transforming the force from servomotors, vibration motors or fans into an action on the pattern layer. The cutout patterns are stimulated to vibrate, swing, bulge, or rotate which is used to display physiological information in dynamic physical form. This work has been exhibited on Milan Design Week 2015; we collected and analyzed the feedback from the visitors during the exhibition and discuss the possibilities of the proposed surfaces as a shape-changing interface of biofeedback or an ambient display of information.

This paper presents a study on the effects of using virtual worlds as medium for interaction with telepresence robots. The Prototype for Assisted Communication PAC4 is also introduced. This system connects virtual worlds with real robots, allowing virtual world users to access the robot capabilities in a telepresence scenario. A user experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of PAC4 on the feeling of social presence experienced by virtual world users.

This paper presents our approach to using semantic technologies to describe robot embodiments. We introduce a prototype implementation of RoboDB, a robot database based on semantic web technologies with the functionality necessary to store meaningful information about the robot's body structure. We present a heuristic evaluation of the user interface to the system, and discuss the possibilities of using the semantic information gathered in the database for applications like building a robot ontology, and the development of robot middleware systems.

Critically ill prematurely born babies admitted at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) have to be monitored constantly. The saturation of the peripheral oxygen (SPO2) is one of the crucial monitoring parameters on these babies. It is necessary that these fragile neonates feel most comfortable as possible during the monitoring. The current solutions for these SPO2 oximeters can be uncomfortable for use and hampers parent-child interaction. In this paper we propose an innovative solution for reflectance pulse oximeter based on Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) techniques that will lead into more comfortable use in a long term monitoring. Prototypes with the reflectance sensors embedded in soft foam and fabric materials are built to enhance a comfortable non-invasive yet reliable monitoring. These monitoring units give the opportunity of integration into a snuggle and mattress where the baby lays on most of the time. In this paper we report the integration of the prototype monitoring units into a snuggle. To evaluate the comfort as well as performance of the final prototype, we first conduct tests on adults. The prototype monitoring units are tested on various body locations of adult participants. Signal quality on different body locations is reported and questionnaires for comfort assessment are analyzed. Experiments on the premature babies will be carried out at NICU of Máxima Medical Centre (MMC) in Veldhoven, the Netherlands.

Blood oxygen saturation is one of the key parameters for health monitoring of premature infants at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a design of a wearable wireless blood saturation monitoring system. Reflectance pulse oxymeter based on Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) techniques are applied for enhancing the flexibility of measurements at different locations on the body of the neonates and the compatibility to be integrated into a non-invasive monitoring platform, such as a neonatal smart jacket. Prototypes with the reflectance sensors embedded in soft fabrics are built. The thickness of device is minimized to optimize comfort. To evaluate the performance of the prototype, experiments on the premature babies were carried out at NICU of Ma¿xima Medical Centre (MMC) in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. The results show that the heart rate and SpO2measured by the proposed design are corresponding to the readings of the standard monitor.

When we connect smart devices to one another we open up many new possibilities. One interesting possibility is to support high-level semantic interaction without requiring multiple steps on multiple devices. In this paper we investigate how ontologies, runtime task models, Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) models, and the blackboard architectural pattern may be used to enable semantic interaction for pervasive computing. An initial demonstrator was developed to visualize and manipulate semantic connections between devices in a smart home environment. The demonstrator provides a way for users to physically interact with devices on a high level of semantic abstraction without being bothered with the low-level details.

In envisioned smart environments, enabled by ubiquitous computing technologies, electronic objects will be able to interconnect and interoperate. How will users of such smart environments make sense of the connections that are made and the information that is exchanged? This Internet of Things could have a life of its own, exchanging digital concepts and values between its members, having an understanding of each other and communicating in their own language. In this paper we report on an ongoing research project in the context of smart home environments. We discuss possibilities to represent this digital world in the physical reality we live in, by providing handles to control and clues to understand, build conceptual models of connections that exist or can be made. This is achieved by making semantic abstractions of low-level events and presenting them to users at a higher level, in a simplified fashion. Furthermore, we used an ontology to describe the low-level events, and used reasoning to infer high-level meaningful information. Although we are in the preliminary stages of our research, we consider it worthwhile to share and illustrate our findings by presenting a demonstrator, that implements our ideas in a home entertainment scenario.

The possibility of improving speech recognition accuracy within human computer and robot interaction by having users interact in a constrained natural language or an artificial language has been explored. However, what has not been evaluated yet is the user acceptance of such forms of interaction. In this paper we discuss two separate but similar studies which were aimed at assessing the usability of constrained and artificial languages in contrast to natural languages. The interaction context was implemented in a game played between children and the iCat robot. We subjectively measured various variables related to gaming experience and interacting in the new languages. Our results reveal that there were no significant differences in the user experience across the two interaction mediums in comparison to natural languages.

During the stress of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), it is difficult to maintain the right rhythm and correct ratio of insufflations to chest compressions and to exert the compressions at a constant pressure. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate an integrated sensor system-the "Rhythm of Life Aid" (ROLA) to support medical staff during CPR of newborn infants. The design concept is based on interactive audio and visual feedback with consideration of functionalities and user friendliness. A prototype ROLA device is built, consisting of a transparent foil integrated with pressure sensor and electroluminescent foil actuators for indication of the exerted chest compression pressure, as well as an audio box to generate distinctive sounds as audio guidance for insufflations and compressions. To evaluate the performance of the ROLA device, a sensory mannequin and a dedicated software interface are implemented to give immediate feedback and record data for further processing. Tests of the ROLA prototype on the sensory mannequin by ten pairs of a doctor and a nurse at Máxima Medical Centre in Veldhoven, The Netherlands show that the use of ROLA device achieves a more constant rhythm and pressure of chest compressions during CPR of newborn infants.

We describe the development of a multi-agent platform and adequate games that aim to stimulate social behavior of autistic children. User tests with two games, one with emerging patterns and another with goals and dramatic elements were compared. The results show that most of the children recognized the dramatic elements, which makes us believe that by longer exposure and proper guidance autistic children might be tough social skills. Test results are described quantitatively and qualitatively.

Whereas formal specification and verification have shown value by improving reliability and trustworthiness of traditional industrial systems, we made a contribution by applying them to the field of distributed multimedia presentations in an ambient intelligence context. We investigate a mapping problem in which media needs are to be satisfied using given presentation resources. The goal of the investigation is to see whether Broy's stream-based component framework can be used to model media-related interfaces and constraints in an elegant way. The formalization will serve as a framework for the development of an automated mapper that can handle real media needs and real presentation resources. It combines the well-known notations of Z with an underlying concurrency theory. We show that not only verification issues can be handled such as bandwidth and delay constraints, but also architecture-level issues such as network structural media-type compatibilities

The combination of photo annotation tasks and with instant messaging fun offers great potentials to both end-users and researchers. In this paper, we first describe our prototype system that allows users to share and annotate digital photos over the Internet while they are chatting online. In addition to manual annotation, our system can extract information from conversations to generate extra annotations. The advantage of using our system is that the boring and tedious task of annotating photos is turned into an essential part of an attractive fun activity, viz. online chatting. Extracting meaningful information from instant messages is challenged by abbreviations, pronouns, jargon, ellipsis, grammatical errors, ambiguities and asynchrony, all of which frequently appear in message conversations. In the paper we provide a roadmap, i.e. a systematic analysis of linguistic aspects of automated interpretation of message conversations.

In this paper we report on the development of a language which is especially tailored to the specification and simulation of microprocessor operations and parallel instructions. The approach is rigorous, and it combines the naturalness and readability of the traditional pseudocode with the formality and rigour of instruction specifications in the programming language C (but without the disadvantages of the latter). The underlying semantic model has been formalized by the equations of an appropriate denotational semantic model. The specifications can be used for a variety of purposes, such as the generation of a data book and other on-line documentation, the generation of a simulator that allows functional testing of programs even before the hardware has been designed and implemented, and the generation of a test suite to perform functional tests of a given design or real chip.

In this paper we introduce a typed λ-calculus in which computer networks can be formalized and directed at situations where the services available on the network are stationary, while the information can flow freely. For this calculus, an analogue of the ‘propositions-as-types ’interpretation of constructive type theory holds with respect to information push and pull in computer networks: in the calculus a type represents a task that the user wants to carry out, while a term inhabiting this type represents a procedure that will yield the desired result. Under this interpretation, techniques for theorem proving can be used for finding a procedure to achieve a certain task on the network. Techniques for type checking can be used for checking a complex network program before running it. Reductions on terms can be used for finding alternative procedures to achieve a certain task. Terms constructed in this abstract calculus can be ‘compiled ’to procedures which are executable on the actual network. We show this for a simple Unix network.

An organization that develops large, software intensive systems with a long lifetime will encounter major changes in the market requirements, the software development environment, including its platform, and the target platform. In order to meet the challenges associated with these changes, software development has to undergo major changes as well. Especially when these systems are successful, and hence become an asset, particular care shall be taken to maintain this legacy; large systems with a long lifetime tend to become very complex and difficult to understand. Software architecture plays a vital role in the development of large software systems. For the purpose of maintenance, an up-to-date explicit description of the software architecture of a system supports understanding and comprehension of it, amongst other things. However, many large complex systems do not have an up-to-date documented softwarearchitecture. Particularly in cases where these systems have a long lifetime, the (natural) turnover of personnel will make it very likely that many employees contributing to previous generations of the system are no longer available. A need to ‘recover’ the software architecture of the system may become prevalent, facilitating the understanding of the system, providing ways to improve its maintainability and quality and to control architectural changes. This paper gives an overview of an on-going effort to improve the maintainability and quality of a legacy system, and describes the recent introduction of support at the architectural level for program understanding and complexity control. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper reports on our experience with a relational approach to support the analysis of existing software architectures. The analysis options provide for visualization and view calculation. The approach has been applied for reverse engineering. It is also possible to check concrete designs against architecture-related rules. The paper surveys the theory, the tools and some of the applications developed so far. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The mechanism of Landin-style stream input/output (I/O) makes it possible to write functional programs, which behave as reactive systems when executed with lazy evaluation. Functional programming languages like Gofer are attractive for programming the data transformations of a reactive system. But although the I/O behaviour can be programmed in such languages too, the functional paradigm lacks the capabilities for specification and reasoning which are needed to analyse the communication behaviour of the program and its environment. We propose to use the Algebra of Communicating Processes (ACPet) for that purpose. The present paper attempts to bridge the gap between the functional and the process-oriented worlds. The term rewriting system of the functional language, the operational semantics of the I/O mechanism and the process equations of a program are described and their relationships are analysed. We abstract from the details of the particular programming language by using an intermediate concept of ‘abstract functional program’.