Hasan Shahid Ferdous

Rotation and scale invariant posture recognition using Microsoft Kinect skeletal tracking feature

Human posture identification for motion controlling applications is becoming more of a challenge. We present a posture classification system using skeletal-tracking feature of Microsoft Kinect sensor. Posture recovery is carried out by detecting the human body joints, its position, and orientation at the same time. Angular representation of the skeleton data makes the system very robust and avoids problems related to human body occlusions and motion ambiguities. The implemented system is tested on a class of relatively common postures comprising hundreds of human pose instances by different people, where our classifier shows an average accuracy of 94.9%, 96.7% and 96.9% for linear, exponential and priority based matching systems respectively.

TableTalk: integrating personal devices and content for commensal experiences at the family dinner table

This paper joins the ubiquitous computing scholarship that investigates the use of technologies in collocated shared settings like family mealtime. Family mealtimes are an important site for fostering togetherness, sharing everyday experiences, and nurturing familial ties. While technologies, especially television and personal devices are often criticized for disrupting the social aspects of mealtimes, they are widely available and commonly used nevertheless. In this paper, we explore this tension and present a novel system TableTalk, which transforms personal devices into a communal shared display on the table to enrich mealtime interactions and experience. Our field study shows that TableTalk does not undermine togetherness, but supports familial expectations and experiences by stimulating conversation, reminiscing, bonding, education, and socializing. We discuss how technology that is sensitive to the needs of family interactions can augment the commensal experience and reflect on design choices and opportunities that contribute, rather than disrupt, family mealtimes.

Enhanced IEEE 802.11 by integrating multiuser dynamic OFDMA

In this paper, we discuss the problems associated with the present contention resolution mechanism of IEEE 802.11 DCF and present a new, dynamic and robust approach to improve it. Our new MAC, using OFDMA in the physical layer, can incorporate multiple concurrent transmissions or receptions in a dynamic manner and can adjust the collision probability based on the traffic load when nodes are endowed with a single half-duplex radio only. Simulation results show that our system improves throughput by up to 40 percent, reduces collision in control messages by up to 80 percent and reduces the average delay for data transmission by up to 20 percent.

Technology at Mealtime: Beyond the 'Ordinary'

In this research, we investigate the everyday interactions of familial uses of technology around mealtimes and explore how family members configure the dinner space and the technologies within it. We seek to understand how technologies are used and negotiated amongst family members and the influence of technologies on the content and context of their interactions. We aim to pay special attention to understand how our everyday technologies support our regular mealtimes as well as special occasions.

Pairing Technology and Meals: A Contextual Enquiry in the Family Household

Recent research about technology during mealtime has been mostly concerned with developing technology rather than creating a deeper understanding of the context of family mealtimes and associated practices. In this paper, we present a two-phase study discussing how the temporal, social, and food related features are intertwined with technology use during mealtimes. Our findings show how people differentiate technology usage during weekday meals, weekend meals, and among different meals of the day. We identify and analyse prototypical situations ranging from the use of arbitrary technologies while eating solitary, to idiosyncratic family norms and practices associated with shared technologies. We discuss the use of mealtime technology to create appropriate ambience for meals with guests and demonstrate how technology can be used to complement food in everyday meals and special occasions. Our findings make recommendation about the need for HCI research to recognize the contextual nature of technology usage during family mealtimes and to adopt appropriate design strategies.

Ad hoc operations of enhanced IEEE 802.11 with multiuser dynamic OFDMA under saturation load

In this paper, we discuss the challenges associated with integrating multiuser OFDMA in a single cell IEEE 802.11 based wireless ad hoc network and propose a new, dynamic and robust approach to improve it. Our new MAC, using OFDMA in the physical layer, can incorporate multiple concurrent transmissions or receptions in a dynamic manner and can adjust the collision probability based on the traffic load when nodes are endowed with a single half-duplex radio only. Simulation results show that for moderate number of users, our system improves throughput by up to 20%, decreases collision in control messages by up to 45% and reduces the average delay by up to 18%.

Developing the Concept of Money by Interactive Computer Games for Autistic Children

Autism is a general term used to describe a group of complex developmental brain disorders known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). It is a life-long disability that prevents people from understanding what they see, hear, and sense. This results in severe problems with social relationships, communications, and behavior. Autism is typically diagnosed between the ages of two and six, although variations of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) can sometimes be diagnosed earlier or later [1]. Children with learning disability such as autism who have serious impairments with social, emotional and communication skills require high degree of personalization in using the educational software developed for them. In this paper we present a personalized game based on digital story-telling concept that helps the children of age ranging from 9 to 14 years old with autism to understand the use of money. It also teaches the autistic children the social behavior appropriate while shopping. The game is developed on BYOB (Build Your Own Block, an advanced offshoot of the game engine Scratch).

Commensality and the Social Use of Technology during Family Mealtime

This article examines familial interactions, which are mediated through information and communication technologies, during domestic mealtimes. We seek to understand how technologies are used and negotiated among family members and the influence of technology on commensality. We conducted an observational study of six families. The findings showed how technologies are integrated into the mealtime activities. Our study identifies domestic circumstances where background technologies are raised to the foreground, visible devices are hidden, unwanted distractions become desired, and ordinary technologies are integrated into mealtime experiences. We identify four patterns of arrangement between technologies and family members during mealtimes, and we discuss how technologies contribute to mealtime satiety and commensality. Finally, we present implications of our findings and directions for technological advancements focusing on the social and celebratory nature of family mealtimes.

A Novel Approach for Constructing Emulator for Microsoft Kinect XBOX 360 Sensor in the .NET Platform

The Microsoft Kinect sensor has brought a new era of Natural User Interface (NUI) based gaming and the associated SDK has provided access to its powerful sensors, which can be utilized in many ways, especially in research purposes. We have already seen its use in robotics, developing assistive technologies, and augmented reality, aside from gaming. Thousands of people around the world are playing with its built-in multimodal sensors, but still a complete emulator for the Kinect sensor device is lacking, thus requiring a physical device to do any experiments with it. In this work, we have come forward with a novel design of an emulator for the Kinect sensor and its implementation in the .NET platform using the Microsoft Kinect SDK. We have demonstrated the applicability of our system through detailed software design, code descriptions to incorporate this emulator in users own code, and video demonstration of our proposed system.

Genetic Approach for a Flexible Cell Phone Keypad with Reduced Keystrokes and Key Jamming for Better Human Technology Interaction

Despite the ever-increasing popularity of mobile devices, text entry on such devices is becoming more of a challenge. Problems with traditional keypads primarily lie with placement of the letters alphabetically on the keys. This configuration, though very easy to remember, requires higher number of keystrokes and key jamming along with a limitation in flexibility of finger movement, as many frequent letters are not easily reachable by the thumb. Besides, users have to move their thumb extensively which also increases typing time and provides less comfort. in this paper, we have considered these issues and proposed a novel solution to the problems identified. The proposed solution focuses on both the structure of suitable human finger movements and ordering of the letters on the keys. We also took the basic Human Computer Interaction principles and general issues into consideration. Designs were found that have performance surpassing the traditional keypads, while maintaining better usability. Performance measurement through simulations of our proposed system have shown a rapid lessening of key jamming by up to 51.38 percent, improvements in flexibility of finger movement by up to 7.31 percent, number of keystrokes by up to 29.99 percent, and reduction of total distance while changing keys by up to 2.04 percent. In summary, this work represents an improved keypad layout for text entry on cell phones and other similar devices.