Supported independence on Mars: Design and evaluation of model-based ePartner support for astronauts on Mars

For manned missions to Mars, one of the challenges is to maintain safety in the complex and dynamic space environment. Communication to Mars will suffer from significant delays, potentially endangering a mission if assistance is needed immediately; therefore a high level of independence from ground control is necessary to be able to cope with...

3D Audio for Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) is an effective method to treat anxiety disorders and comes with many advantages over exposure in vivo, the latter being exposure in real-life. VRET is done by exposing patients gradually with their fear by using immersive virtual environments (VEs). Most attention in VRET research goes to visuals and less...

Semi-hidden target recognition in gated viewer images fused with traditional thermal IR images

Nowadays, for the defense and security community, it is of prior importance to classify threats that are merged in a background while at the same time understanding the context of the entire scene. Traditional TV and Infra-Red (IR) cameras allow for an easy context understanding by providing valuable background and scenery information....

Real Time Eye Blink Detection using a Configurable Processor

This thesis describes the approach to create a real time eye blink detector using a new perception processor. Tried is to describe how the processor works and to find out possible fields of application. Supposed strength of the processor is it's speed combined with the possibility of changing the configuration at run time. Since the current...

Addressing Patient Motivation In Virtual Reality Based Neurocognitive Rehabilitation

Cognitive rehabilitation exercises are typically not designed to be motivating. The use of virtual reality and gaming technology can help with increasing the patient’s motivation and adherence. A physically active gaming experience leads to an increased adherence and affective attitude and an increased incentive to engage with healthy behavior....

Dynamic Routing using Ant-Based Control

Currently most car drivers use static routing algorithms based on the shortest distance between start and end position. But the shortest route is different from the fastest route in time. Because existing routing algorithms lack the ability to react to dynamic changes in the road network, drivers are not optimally routed. In this thesis we...

An Intelligent Group Decision Support System for Urban Tourists: Development and evaluation of a group recommendation mechanism

A new Group Decision Support System (GDSS) has been developed that simplifies and improves group decision-making for travel consumers. Prior studies have shown that various irrational factors influence a group decision-making process. Moreover there is a lack of structured information that supports the decision process. Presently, different...

Collaboration, usability and learning of traditional vs. Stylus input for Brazilian Dutch Children

The present study was aimed at comparing traditional input using keyboard and mouse to the direct stylus input for 9 to 11 years old children in a Brazilian (N=48) and a Dutch (N=48) primary school. The ultimate goal was to improve child education with the aid of computers. A structured experiment was designed and performed to empirically...

Speech-based automatic closed caption alignment

In the Netherlands, four million people watch television programs with closed captions because they are hearing impaired or non-native speakers. Closed captions contain Dutch speech transcriptions and non-speech sound descriptions and are displayed as subtitles. Due to government obligation, the number of television programs that must be closed...

Virtual reconstruction of hidden paintings based on XRF images

This thesis presents a method that uses the chemical information visualized by XRF images to reconstruct hidden compositions: paintings that are buried beneath a surface painting. The method uses techniques from the fields of image processing and pattern recognition, as well as an example image submitted by an art expert.