Agnieszka Landowska

Emotion recognition and its application in software engineering

In this paper a novel application of multimodal emotion recognition algorithms in software engineering is described. Several application scenarios are proposed concerning program usability testing and software process improvement. Also a set of emotional states relevant in that application area is identified. The multimodal emotion recognition method that integrates video and depth channels, physiological signals and input devices usage patterns is proposed and some preliminary results on learning set creation are described.

Emotion Recognition and Its Applications

This paper aims at illustrating diversity of possible emotion recognition applications. It provides concise review of affect recognition methods based on different inputs such as biometrics, video channel or behavioral data. It proposes a set of research scenarios of emotion recognition applications in the following domains: software engineering, website customization, education, and gaming. The scenarios show complexity and problems of applying affective computing in different domains. Analysis of the scenarios allows drawing some conclusions on challenges of automatic recognition that have to be addressed by further research.

Comparison of selected off-the-shelf solutions for emotion recognition based on facial expressions

The paper concerns accuracy of emotion recognition from facial expressions. As there are a couple of ready off-the-shelf solutions available in the market today, this study aims at practical evaluation of selected solutions in order to provide some insight into what potential buyers might expect. Two solutions were compared: FaceReader by Noldus and Xpress Engine by QuantumLab. The performed evaluation revealed that the recognition accuracies differ for photo and video input data and therefore solutions should be matched to the specificity of the application domain.

Affective reactions to playing digital games

The paper presents a study of emotional states during a gameplay. An experiment of two-player Tetris game is reported, followed by the analysis of the results - self-reported emotional states as well as physiological signals measurements interpretation. The study reveals the diversity of emotional reactions and concludes, that a representative players emotional model is hard to define. Instead, an adaptive approach to emotion recognition and individualized classifiers seem to be a better solution for affect-aware digital games.

System supporting behavioral therapy for children with autism

In this paper, a system supporting behavioral therapy for autistic children is presented. The system consists of sensors network, base station and a brooch indicating persons emotional states. The system can be used to measure values of physiological parameters that are associated with changes in the emotional state. In the future, it can be useful to inform the autistic child and the therapist about the emotional state of the interlocutor objectively, on the basis of performed measurements. The selected physiological parameters were chosen during the experiment which was designed and conducted by authors. In this experiment, a group of volunteers under controlled conditions was exposed to a stressful situation caused by the picture or sound. For each of the volunteers, a set of physiological parameters, was recorded, including: skin conductance, heart rate, peripheral temperature, respiration rate and electromyography. The bio-statistical analysis allowed us to discern the proper physiological parameters that are most associated to changes due to emotional state of a patient, such as: skin conductance, temperatures and respiration rate. This allowed us to design electronic sensors network for supporting behavioral therapy for children with autism.

Model of Distributed Learning Objects Repository for a Heterogenic Internet Environment.

In this article, an extension of the existing structure of learning objects is described. The solution addresses the problem of the access and discovery of educational resources in the distributed Internet environment. An overview of e-learning standards, reference models, and problems with educational resources delivery is presented. The paper describes a new concept of learning component that is created by applying object-oriented paradigms to learning objects. The proposed transformation adds an interface to a learning object to create unified and platform-independent data access. The Web services are proposed for the implementation of the learning components, which enables interoperability in heterogenic environments. An outline of the system, that uses learning components and Web services in e-learning, is presented. The model can be applied in the organization of learning objects distributed repositories.

The role and construction of educational agents in distance learning environments

An educational agent is an intelligent and autonomous part of a learning environment introduced in order to assist a student or a teacher in the completion of their tasks. An agent can also autonomously perform tasks related with the management of learning resources or the achievement of internal educational goals. This paper presents the definition and classification of educational agents together with their tasks and roles in the educational process. In distance learning environment, agents can improve the motivation and concentration of the students and, consequently, they can improve the effectiveness of the educational process. Agent characteristics and architecture required to achieve educational goals are also described. The paper presents also a prototypical implementation of an educational agent (called the WAS agent) that is developed as a part of our research.

Emotion monitor - concept, construction and lessons learned

This paper concerns the design and physical construction of an emotion monitor stand for tracking human emotions in Human-Computer Interaction using multi-modal approach. The concept of the stand using cameras, behavioral analysis tools and a set of physiological sensors such as galvanic skin response, blood-volume pulse, temperature, breath and electromyography is presented and followed by details of Emotion Monitor construction at Gdansk University of Technology. Some experiments are reported that were already held at the stand, providing observations on reliability, accuracy and value the stand might provide in human-systems interaction evaluation. The lessons learned at this particular stand might be interesting for the other researchers aiming at emotion monitoring in human-systems interaction.

Automatic recognition of males and females among web browser users based on behavioural patterns of peripherals usage

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer the question whether it is possible to recognise the gender of a web browser user on the basis of keystroke dynamics and mouse movements. Design/methodology/approach An experiment was organised in order to track mouse and keyboard usage using a special web browser plug-in. After collecting the data, a number of parameters describing the users’ keystrokes, mouse movements and clicks were calculated for each data sample. Then several machine learning methods were used to verify the stated research question. Findings The experiment showed that it is possible to recognise males and females on the basis of behavioural characteristics with an accuracy exceeding 70 per cent. The best results were obtained while using Bayesian networks. Research limitations/implications The first limitation of the study was the restricted contextual information, i.e. neither the type of web page browsed nor the user activity was taken into account. Another is the narrow scope of the respondent group. Future work should focus on gathering data from more users covering a wider age range and should consider the context. Practical implications Automatic gender recognition could be used in profiling a user to create personalised websites or as an additional feature in automatic identification for security reasons. It might be also considered as a confirmation of declared gender in web-based surveys. Social implications As not all users perceive personalised ads and websites as beneficial, this application requires the analysis of a user perspective to provide value to the consumer without privacy violation. Originality/value Behavioural characteristics, such as mouse movements and keystroke dynamics, have already been used for user authentication and emotion recognition, but applying these data to gender recognition is an original idea.

Evaluation Criteria for Affect-Annotated Databases

In this paper a set of comprehensive evaluation criteria for affect-annotated databases is proposed. These criteria can be used for evaluation of the quality of a database on the stage of its creation as well as for evaluation and comparison of existing databases. The usefulness of these criteria is demonstrated on several databases selected from affect computing domain. The databases contain different kind of data: video or still images presenting facial expressions, speech recordings and affect-annotated words.