Siew Wan Fong

Human Pacman: a mobile, wide-area entertainment system based on physical, social, and ubiquitous computing

Human Pacman is a novel interactive entertainment system that ventures to embed the natural physical world seamlessly with a fantasy virtual playground by capitalizing on mobile computing, wireless LAN, ubiquitous computing, and motion-tracking technologies. Our human Pacman research is a physical role-playing augmented-reality computer fantasy together with real human–social and mobile gaming. It emphasizes collaboration and competition between players in a wide outdoor physical area which allows natural wide-area human–physical movements. Pacmen and Ghosts are now real human players in the real world, experiencing mixed computer graphics fantasy–reality provided by using the wearable computers. Virtual cookies and actual tangible physical objects are incorporated into the game play to provide novel experiences of seamless transitions between real and virtual worlds. We believe human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction, and ubiquitous computing.

Human Pacman: A Mobile Entertainment System with Ubiquitous Computing and Tangible Interaction over a Wide Outdoor Area

Human Pacman is an interactive role-playing game that envisions to bring the computer gaming experience to a new level of emotional and sensory gratification by setting the real world as a playground. This is a physical fantasy game integrated with human-social and mobile-gaming that emphasizes on collaboration and competition between players. By setting the game in a wide outdoor area, natural human-physical movements have become an integral part of the game. Pacmen and Ghosts are now human players in the real world experiencing mixed reality visualization from the wearable computers on them. Virtual cookies and actual physical objects are incorporated to provide novel experiences of seamless transitions between real and virtual worlds and tangible human computer interface respectively. We believe Human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction, and ubiquitous computing.

Interaction of microbubbles with high intensity pulsed ultrasound

High intensity pulsed ultrasound, interacting with microbubble contrast agents, is potentially useful for drug delivery, cancer treatment, and tissue ablation, among other applications. To establish the fundamental understanding on the interaction of a microbubble (in an infinite volume of water) with an ultrasound pressure field, a numerical study is performed using the boundary element method. The response of the bubble, in terms of its shape at different times, the maximum bubble radius obtained, the oscillation time, the jet velocity, and its translational movement, is studied. The effect of ultrasound intensity and initial bubble size is examined as well. One important outcome is the determination of the conditions under which a clear jet will be formed in a microbubble in its interaction with a specific sound wave. The high speed jet is crucial for the aforementioned intended applications.

Human Pacman: a mobile wide-area entertainment system based on physical, social, and ubiquitous computing

Human Pacman is a novel mixed reality interactive entertainment system that ventures to embed the natural physical world seamlessly with a fantasy virtual playground by capitalizing on infrastructure provided by wearable computer, mixed reality, and ubiquitous computing research. We have progressed from the old days of 2D arcade Pacman on screens, with incremental development, to the popular 3D game home console Pacman, and the recent mobile online Pacman. Finally with our research system Human Pacman, we have a physical role-playing computer fantasy together with real human-social and mobile-gaming that emphasizes on collaboration and competition between players in a wide outdoor area that allows natural wide-area human-physical movements. Pacmen and Ghosts are now human players in the real world experiencing computer graphics fantasy-reality by using the wearable computers on them. Virtual cookies and actual tangible physical objects are incorporated into the game play to provide unique experiences of seamless transitions between real and virtual worlds. We believe Human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction, and ubiquitous computing.

Human pacman: a wide area socio-physical interactive entertainment system in mixed reality

Human Pacman is a novel mixed reality interactive entertainment system that ventures to embed the natural physical world seamlessly with a fantasy virtual playground by capitalizing on infrastructure provided by wearable computer, mixed reality, and ubiquitous computing research. We have progressed from the old days of 2D arcade Pacman on screens, with incremental development, to the popular 3D game home console Pacman, and the recent mobile online Pacman. Finally with our research system Human Pacman, we have a physical role-playing computer fantasy together with real human-social and mobile-gaming that emphasizes on collaboration and competition between players in a wide outdoor area that allows natural wide-area human-physical movements. Pacmen and Ghosts are now human players in the real world experiencing computer graphics fantasy-reality by using the wearable computers on them. Virtual cookies and actual tangible physical objects are incorporated into the game play to provide unique experiences of seamless transitions between real and virtual worlds. We believe Human Pacman is pioneering a new form of gaming that anchors on physicality, mobility, social interaction,and ubiquitous computing.

BEHAVIOR OF OSCILLATING BUBBLES NEAR ELASTIC MEMBRANES: AN EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL STUDY

Experimental observations and numerical simulations (based on the boundary element method) concerning an oscillating bubble near a flexible (thin) membrane are presented in this paper. The bubbles are created using an underwater electrical spark discharge. It is shown that the presence of a membrane can have a profound influence on the behavior of a bubble.

Delivery of antibacterial‐nanoparticles into dentinal tubules with high intensity focused ultrasound

High‐Intensity‐Focused‐Ultrasound (HIFU) when applied clinically often result in the formation of cavitation bubbles in the nearby fluid or tissue which collapse with high‐speed jets and can be utilized for particle delivery. Bacteria residing in anatomical complexities and dentinal tubules resist conventional disinfection procedures during root canal treatment. This study aims is to evaluate the efficacy of jet flow produced by collapsing cavitations to push antibacterial nanoparticles into the areas inaccessible to conventional treatment. Eight dentin blocks of 8x3x1.5mm3 were prepared from the root region of freshly extracted single rooted tooth samples and divided into two groups: (1) Control and (2) Nanoparticles. The samples were placed in sterile deionized water and nanoparticles suspension (1mg/ml) for groups 1 and 2 respectively. HIFU at 27 kHz for two minutes was employed. The samples were then sectioned to expose the dentinal tubules and viewed under field emission scanning electron microscopy ...

Acoustic bubble simulations for biomedical applications using boundary element method (BEM)

High intensity soundwaves, such as shockwaves and HIFU, are widely used in biomedical applications, for example, extracorporeal shockwaves lithotripsy (ESWL) and HIFU prostate cancer treatment. The high pressure in the tissue and nearby fluid often causes formation of cavitation bubbles. Our previous simulation results via BEM approach show complex bubble ultrasound interactions: in certain cases a jet is formed directed away from the nearby tissue while in others, towards it [Fong et al., Ultrasound Biol. Med., 32(6), 925–942, 2006]. In the present work, pulsed ultrasound microbubble interaction is studied using the same code to provide further understanding to the jetting behavior of the bubbles near (different) biomaterial surface which is critical to the success of tissue ablation and the minimization of auxiliary damages. Separately, we have also simulated shockwave bubble interaction using the BEM code with excellent concurrence to other compressible numerical schemes such as arbitrary Lagrangian‐Eu...