Hideaki Kanai

Integration of knowledge management process into digital library system: A theoretical perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework of an integrated digital library (DL) system based on knowledge management (KM) process.Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on viewpoints, review of existing concepts and frameworks of DL and KM, and the result of an interview of nine DL practitioners world‐wide. The respondents are purposively selected from the participants” lists of two international conferences held in 2008. The interview is conducted through e‐mail using a short, structured and open‐ended questionnaire.Findings – The study finds some significant overlaps between DL and KM and argues that a generic KM process of acquisition, organization, storage and retrieval, and dissemination of knowledge with receiving feedbacks can suitably be fitted in DL. Thus an integrated DL system can be consisted of digital resources, technological infrastructure, experience and expertise, DL services and a KM process. The integration of KM can add value to developing a kn...

A support system for finding lost objects using spotlight

We propose a support system for finding lost objects indoors. The system employs active RFID and ultrasonic position detection to detect the position of a lost object. The system illuminates the position by using Movinglight, which is normally employed in stage lighting. From an experiment, the way of notification by light is better than that by sound in some situations.

Notification of dangerous situation for elderly people using visual cues

There are various dangers that could lead to accidents in daily life at home. It is difficult for elderly people to realize these dangers beforehand. In this study, we focus on a method for enhancing the risk perception of elderly people. We have developed a system that enhances the awareness of dangerous situations. It performs the following functions: (1) it recognizes the behavior and situation of the elderly person, (2) it estimates the risk, and (3) when the risk is estimated to be high, it notifies the person of the risk by means of visual and audio cues. In this paper, we outline our system and report a user test that evaluates the notification function, particularly the use of visual cues in our experimental living environment. The result is that the visual cues are suitable for elderly rather than healthy people in the environment of a dark room. As a future work, we will investigate the effects of visual and audio cues as notifications of danger for elderly people.

A browsing system for a database using visualization of user preferences

This paper describes a browsing system for a database using visualization of user preferences. The system has the following features: the use of 3D thumbnail objects to represent their contents and properties; the use of some property views and multidimensional scaling (MDS) to lay out the objects in information space; and the use of an update mechanism to perform the adaptive visualization to changes in user preferences. In this environment, the user becomes aware that there are information sets which the user seems to be interested in, from objects in the information space, and stroll there.

Range-based algorithm for posture classification and fall-down detection in smart homecare system

Human posture classification is one of the most challenging issues in smart homecare system. To achieve high classification accuracy, we propose a new algorithm, called range-based algorithm. In this paper, a range means the distance between body parts. The ranges between body parts are investigated to classify the human posture and to detect a possible fall-down accident. Furthermore, we also proposed an adaptive posture window scheme to recognize the human posture in real-time even though human change the posture in different speed. The results reveal that our proposed can classify the human posture and detect fall-down with high accuracy and reliability.

Conceptual design of a virtual library for personal use

This paper proposes a concept of the Yawara personalized virtual library and its prototype design. The main purpose of the library is to provide a user with a personalized information set accessible through a user-friendly interface. In order to attain machine and operating system independence, the library is constructed by VRML and its WWW browsers and, as information sources, HTML data widely distributed on the Internet. The virtual librarian agent helps to find and acquire the data sets based on user behavior. The virtual librarian keeps the users personal characteristics, obtained from his/her reading history, and book characteristics. As the user working space, personal bookshelves are provided to work with the stored books. The system will be a powerful tool for intelligent work fully utilizing the Internet.

A Support System for Context Awareness in a Group Home Using Sound Cues

Objectives: In a group home, caregivers should be aware of the inhabitant’s real-time situation. The aim of our study is to facilitate the awareness of an inhabitant’s situation by means of enhanced sound cues. Methods: We propose an audio notification system that indicates the real-time situation of persons in a group home environment using sound cues instead of visual surveillance. The notification system comprises a prediction and a notification function. The prediction function estimates a person’s real-time situation using a Bayesian network and sensed information; the notification function informs recipients of the predicted situation and the confidence level of the prediction by means of sound cues. We use natural sounds as sound cues. Results: As a first step to examine our system in a group home, we conducted operation and performance tests of each unit under a simple test environment. The correct prediction of the subject’s situation is approximately 90%; further, it is shown that the sound cues should be selected according to their environmental dependence. Conclusions: The results show that the method is useful for monitoring persons. As future study, we will conduct a field test on an implemented system and improve it for practical use in a group home.

Stylus Knife for Paper-cutting: A System for Controlling a Knife

We introduce a Stylus Knife that has a blade attached to the tip of a touch pen. This device can measure pressure when an artist cuts paper. In the past, we determined that knife pressure is important for creating paper-cutting designs. Therefore, we developed a device on a tablet computer to measure pressure when the user cuts paper. In an experiment, to confirm the effectiveness of our device, we compared it with a general utility knife that had a pressure sensor. Our test procedure was as follows: 1) our subjects cut paper with utility knife, and 2) each subject performs paper cutting using each device. For our experiment, we used seven subjects in each of three groups: G1 (practice using the Stylus Knife), G2 (practice using only the utility knife), and G3 (practice using the utility knife with a textbook). We compared the changes between Steps 1 and 2 exhibited by each group. As a result, group G1was able to apply sufficient pressure for a line pattern, while the others cut a line pattern with insufficient pressure. We confirmed that the novice subjects were able to cut paper with appropriate pressure by using our knife.

Context-Aware Posture Analysis in a Workstation-Oriented Office Environment

Among current research trends, correction of the sitting posture is attracting growing attention. Most office workers suffer several health problems during their work. The two greatest causes of health problems in the office environment are simple things. The first is poor sitting posture. Sitting with poor posture in front of a computer for hours causes cumulative damage. The second is an inappropriate workstation environment. The workstation environment is related to good sitting posture. For example, if the desk is too low, the user has to lean forward to look at the display. To address this problem, we propose a sitting posture recognition system that can recognize both human posture and the context of the workstation environment. The proposed system has three components. First, skeleton tracking is used to create a sideways view of the human skeleton. The skeleton model in this research is used to measure the joint angles of the human body. Second, we detect information on objects using a proposed workstation environment tracking system. Three types of features are used to filter the objects from the depth image. Finally, we compare the overall information with a standard sitting posture in a model-matching component. Experimental studies showed that the system can provide the necessary information for analyzing the human posture. A physician or user can apply this information to achieve correct sitting posture or prevent health problems in the office using the provided results.

Impact of practice effect on each difficulty of cutting skill

In this paper, we aim to measure the cutting skill for creative paper cutting and increase practice effect. The practice effect changes according to the difficulty level of the cutting pattern and the skill level of the user. The cutting pattern of the picture consists of a straight line and a curved line, and we generalized the index of difficulty (ID) based on Steering law. One of cutting skills that shows the difference between novices and experts is time to cut. Besides, we developed a system consisting of a drawing display and a stylus with a knife to measured the cutting movement times (MT). The system measures MT according to the ID of the cutting pattern. We confirmed skill improvements by measuring changes in MT with various patterns. Additionally, we measured the reduction rate of MT to investigate the effectiveness of practice with various IDs. As a result, we confirmed the difference in practice efficacy according to each IDs.