Seiji Inokuchi

The mental workload of a ship's navigator using heart rate variability

A human navigator attempts to handle the ship for safe navigation by judging navigational information on own ship’s condition, targets and current‐wind effects. He/she has the responsibility of human lives and the economic values to judge. The human navigator maintains high mental workload during the navigational watch keeping. Therefore, we need to develop a support system to reduce the mental workload with human‐system cooperation based on the navigator’s KANSEI, and we must research an index to assess the mental workload for the first step, as the research on the KANSEI of ship’s navigator is not yet available in the world. In addition we depend on the professional’s experience for the assessment. The purpose of this paper is to find characteristics of the mental workload using heart rate variability. The experiment is carried out in six types of sea area on the west side of Japan. The subject is the chief officer of a training ship at Kobe University.

Modeling and visualization for a pearl-quality evaluation simulator

Visual simulation using CG and VR has attracted wide attention in the machine vision field. This paper proposes a method of modeling and visualizing pearls that will be the central technique of a pearl-quality evaluation simulator. Pearls manifest a very specific optical phenomenon that is not dependent on the direction of the light source. To investigate this feature, we propose a physical model, called an illuminant model for multilayer film interference considering the multiple reflection in spherical bodies. The rendering algorithm has been configured from such representations of physical characteristics as interference, mirroring, and texture, which correspond, respectively, to the sense of depth, brightness, and grain that are the main evaluation factors obtained from psychological experiments. Further, portions of photos of real pearls and the images generated by the present method were evaluated based on a scale of psychological evaluations of pearl-like quality demonstrating, thereby, that not merely the generated images as a whole, but the respective parts of images can present such a pearl-like quality.

Non-verbal mapping between sound and color-mapping derived from colored hearing synesthetes and its applications

This paper presents an attempt at ‘non-verbal mapping’ between music and images. We use physical parameters of key, height and timbre as sound, and hue, brightness and chroma as color, to clarify their direct correspondence. First we derive a mapping rule between sound and color from those with such special abilities as ‘colored hearing’. Next we apply the mapping to everyday people using a paired comparison test and key identification training, and we find similar phenomena to colored hearing among everyday people. The experimental result shows a possibility that they also have potential of ability of sound and color mapping.

An object recognition through continuous spectral images

A new color image acquisition system which can measure continuous spectral pixel data in order to apply continuous spectral images to object recognition. For segmentation of continuous spectral image, object contours can be detected by checking the correlation coefficient between neighboring pixels. Also the continuous spectral images can be used as reference image when selecting the most suitable imaging sensor, such as a gray scale camera, a RGB camera or a spectral camera with narrow band-pass filter. When investigating features in spectral distribution, object recognition should be simplified for color objects.

Analysis and synthesis of latin dance using motion capture data

This paper presents an analysis of natural movement in Latin dance and a synthesis of dance motions making use of the outcome. The isolation movement of shoulders and hips in Latin dance was extracted quantitatively, and a dance animation with different isolation levels was synthesized, using a motion graph editor.

Implementation of a pearl visual simulator based on blurring and interference

Visual simulation using computer graphics has attracted wide attention in many fields. We propose a method of modeling and visualizing pearls to implement a pearl visual simulator. Pearls manifest a very specific optical phenomenon. To investigate this feature, we propose an optical model of blurring and pearl interference. The experimental results show that the physics-based modeling of internal blurring in the multilayer of a pearl and the partial coherent interference model are effective for high-quality pearl visualization.

A basic study on measurement of experience using an unconscious response to the artificially created visual environment

The purpose of this paper is to find characteristics of the body and physiological response to visual simulation of rolling from the standpoint of our thinking. There is a difference of unconscious response to the ships environment between the human navigator and inexperienced persons, and we measured the subjects center of gravity, R-R interval and nasal temperature to evaluate our thinking.

Subjective age estimation system using facial images

We propose a relative estimation method for subjective age, imaged by ourselves, using peoples’ facial images and their chronological (real) age. We experimented with a rating scale for facial images which stimulated subjects. The subject evaluated an image as looking older than themselves with a range of responses. Finding an approximation curve of this range, the zero crossing point in the approximation curve is defined as the subjective age. The experimental result shows that the subjective age tends to be found in negative direction (tendency to estimate oneself as younger than actual). Besides, there are other trends between gender, between age groups, and between the different expressions such as ordinary and smiling.

The body sway of human navigator in ship's bridge simulator

In order for the navigator to handle the ship for safe navigation, he/she judges the navigational information through the five senses. Here, we think that visual information is the most important because it is said to occupy eighty percent of the whole information. We research on the relationship between the visual environment and its influence on the ships bridge simulator. It is used to train and educate the handling of ships as well as the handling of some navigational instruments. The purpose of this paper is to find characteristics of the body sway of the navigators and inexperienced persons for rolling created through the picture of ships bridge simulator not physically or mechanically. The four kinds of visual field (210/spl deg/, 150/spl deg/, 90/spl deg/, and 30/spl deg/) are also carried out. The results show that the characteristic of body sway is different among navigators, inexperienced persons and seasick subjects, and the body sway tunes with the period of rolling while subjects feel the true rolling.

Virtual performer: an environment for interactive multimedeia art

This paper describes the overview of the Virtual Performer which is designed to compose and perform interactive multimedia arts with it. The Virtual Performer consists of sensory facilities, presentation facilities and authoring facilities. The sensory facilities consist of various transducers units Its plug-in style offers users the free and optimal set up of sensors. The presentation facilities are MIDI, digital sound processing, CG generation and interactive Video controls. The authoring facilities offer two ways to design scenarios. One is to write recognition-action rules. The other is normal sequencing technique. It is mainly used to switch the scene and the former is mainly used to model the world of each scene. This paper shows some ongoing activities to produce multimedia art with the virtual Performer.