ad:mt Research Seminars

Esben Bala Skouboe

MODOS

Date: Wednesday 8 June 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, 4.411

Abstract

Esben will introduce the ideas and concepts behind the MODOS control solution. The MODOS solution is a room control solution for spaces with special needs. It connects and controls all room hardware combined with a cloud service which makes the system easy to update and service remotely. In MODOS we work close together with musicians and photographers in order to give our customers the best possible content. We respect digital art and celebrate content as we believe that no system is better than its content. In the presentation he will talk from different scientific perspectives following the axiom: “Design has now scale”. The presentation will take a practical point of departure in the MODOS Birth Room and discuss the solution from architectural, industrial and technological domains.

Bio

Esben Bala Skouboe is an educated civil engineer in Architecture & Design from Aalborg University, Denmark. Esben has investigated a broad range of theoretical, conceptual as well as practical tools; such as sensor technology, architectural lighting, architectural soundscape, complex geometries and the process of realizing non-standard architectural forms, exemplified in the winning proposal for the pavilion project: Nora, displayed at the 10th Architectural Biennale in Venice 2006. Esben has been founder and leader of the studio Electrotexture Lab. since 2007, presenting experimental art and architectural work such a; Acoustic Pavilion, Red Pavilion, Danzer Light, and the project series Perceptual Ecologeis, all projects realized together with a network of artists, musicians, researchers, programmers and architects. Esbens work has been published at international conferences, in magazines and in book chapters he has developed formal international research collaborations with Jane Burry from SIAL/RMIT in Melbourne, where his conducted part of the Phd. Studies. Esben has consulted architectural offices in performative urban strategies, interior design and responsive architectural lighting design. As clients is Gemmo, Philipe Beesley Architects, Adept, 3XN, Architect Nord, Utzon Center etc. The office has received funds and rewards from Akademiske Arkitekter, Det Obelske Familie fond, Statens kunstråd (The national council of Art) & The Partness Foundation. In 2015 Esben designed the Future Delivery room in Herning and today he lead the development in MODOS, see more on www.modos.dk.

Salvatore Livatino

School of Engineering and Technology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK

Date: Monday 30 May 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, 3.529

Abstract

Stereoscopic 3D Visualization provides users with higher depth impression of observed scenarios, with consequences in terms of sense of presence, remote environment comprehension and accurate teleintervention of robots and medical devices. New AR/VR technologies including Mobile VR Headsets, 360 degree cameras and the possibility for a more natural HCI, enhance these capabilities. The presentation will introduces some basics concepts and will overview few projects developed at the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.

Bio

Salvatore Livatino received the M.Sc. degree in computer science from the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, in 1993 and the Ph.D. degree in computer science and engineering from Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark, in 2003. He worked for 12 years at Aalborg University, first as Research Fellow, then as an Assistant Professor, and finally as an Associate Professor. From 1993 to 1997, he was a Researcher with the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa; in 1995, with the University of Leeds, Leeds, U.K.; in 1996, with INRIA Grenoble, France; and in 2001, with The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, U.K. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, U.K. His teaching experience has mostly been within problem-based learning
and multidisciplinary education. He is the author of several journal and conference papers, and has contributed to many European projects and U.K. grants. His research interests include 3-D visualization and computer graphics, stereoscopic-3D viewing, virtual and augmented reality, immersive computer games, telerobotics, and telemedicine.

Nicolai Steinø

Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University

Date: Wednesday 18 May 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, Room 3.329

Abstract

When architects and planners speak of density, they speak of two different things. As architects are concerned with buildings, they think of density as density of buildings, expressed as floor area ratio (FAR). Planners however, are concerned with inhabitants and thus with density of people, expressed as population density.

While some people have large dwellings and are often not at home, other people have small dwellings and spend most of their time at home. Therefore, building more houses does not necessarily increase the population density. It is therefore relevant to develop a measure for use density – how intensively buildings are used by people.

This presentation introduces the concept of use density and how it can be used to analyse and compare the intensity of use of different types of buildings. A new measure, the Nic index, is developed as an expression of the total amount of time spent by the total amount of people in a specific space in the course of a typical week. The findings of a small pilot survey applying the Nic index to dwellings is presented and discussed.

Bio

On its way…

Hendrik Purwins

Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University Copenhagen

Date: Wednesday 27 April 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, Room 3.329

Abstract

I. We present a system that learns the rhythmical structure of percussion sequences from an audio example in an unsupervised manner, providing a representation that can be used for the generation of stylistically similar and musically interesting variations. The procedure consists of segmentation and symbolization (feature extraction, clustering, sequence structure analysis, temporal alignment). In a top-down manner, an entropy-based regularity measure determines the number of clusters into which the samples are grouped. A variant of that system that adjusts the number of (timbre) clusters instantaneously to the audio input. A sequence learning algorithm adapts its structure to a dynamically changing clustering tree. The prediction of the entire system is evaluated using the adjusted Rand Index, yielding good results.

II. In a multi-streamed oddball experiment, we had participants shift selective attention to one out of three different instruments in music audio clips. Contrasting attended versus unattended instruments, ERP analysis shows subject- and instrument-specific responses including P300 and early auditory components. The attended instrument can be classified online with a mean accuracy of 91% across 11 participants. This is a proof of concept that attention paid to a particular instrument in polyphonic music can be inferred from ongoing EEG, a finding that is potentially relevant for both brain-computer interface and music research.

Bio

Hendrik Purwins is Assistant Professor at Audio Analysis Lab and Sound and Music Computing Group, Aalborg Universitet København, Denmark. He obtained his Ph.D. from Berlin Institute of Technology (EE/CS), with a scholarship from the ”Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes”. He studied mathematics at Bonn and Münster University (diploma in pure mathematics). He has been lecturer at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, researcher at Berlin Brain Computer Interface, visiting scholar at IRCAM, Paris, CCRMA, Stanford, and McGill University, Montreal. He has written more than 70 scientific papers and has won 13 research grants/prizes. His interests comprise statistical, unsupervised models for machine listening, music generation, sound resynthesis, and failure prediction in semi-conductor manufacturing, and big data in e-health. Starting playing the violin at age of 7, he also studied music at Cologne Music Academy, Münster University and Berlin University of the Arts.

Olivier Lartillot

Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University

Date: Wednesday 11 May 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, Room 4.315

Abstract

The aim of this research is to extract all repetitions of motifs in music, through a search for repeated substrings. One particular challenge is to describe the pattern repetition exhaustively but in a most compact way. We introduce a new method for online closed pattern mining and address the important issue, quite common in music, where a pattern repeats many times successively. This method is generalised to the search for heterogeneous patterns in multidimensional strings, with musical transformations, and in polyphony where multiple notes appear at the same time. More generally, the analysis of music is modelled as a network of interdependent modules.

Bio

Olivier Lartillot is member of the Music Informatics and Cognition Group. He is a researcher in computational music analysis, in both domains of audio and score analysis. As an Academy of Finland research fellow, he designed Matlab software for music analysis (MIRtoolbox) as well as for music therapy improvisation analysis. He participates to the European project Learning to Create.

Rasmus Stenholt

Novo Nordisk

Date: Wednesday 6 April 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, Room 3.429 (broadcast via VC to Acm15 C1/2.1.005 in Copenhagen and B108 in Esbjerg)

Abstract

The research and development process happening in the pharmaceutical industry are both similar to and very different from the same processes in the world of academia. Based on my experiences so far from working in a very large development organization, in Novo Nordisk, I will try to give some perspectives on how research and development is handled on an industrial scale, in an extremely heavily regulated area of business: development of compounds and devices for treatment of various diseases. I will also try to provide an impression of the roles that statisticians and programmers play in this process.

Bio

Rasmus Stenholt is a lead statistical programmer at Novo Nordisk, the world’s leading producer of diabetes treatments. In this job, he works primarily on data analyses based on results of clinical trials to produce new obesity treatments. Before joining Novo Nordisk, he worked for more than 10 years at Aalborg University within the areas of computer graphics and virtual reality. He holds a master of science and a Ph.D. degree, also from Aalborg University.

Anders Jørgensen

Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University

Date: Wednesday 23 March 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, Room 3.463 (broadcast via VC to ACM15 C1-2.1.025 in Copenhagen and B108 in Esbjerg)

Abstract

All over the world the consumption of poultry meat is increasing. To maintain a high standard and secure a healthy produce, every bird is inspected visually for bruises and diseases. This becomes increasingly more difficult as production speeds push beyond 12,000 birds per hour. The solution is of course computer vision.
In this talk I will present the challenges of this task and my ideas for a solution. Your ideas are welcome. I will also talk about how it is to be an industrial PhD and how this might be different from a regular PhD.

Bio

Anders Jørgensen is currently working as an industrial PhD at AAU in collaboration with IHFood. Since he finished his master degree in Computer Vision in 2011, he has worked with image processing and image acquisition, and with the challenges of using it in real world scenarios.

Justin Christensen

Department of Music, Aalborg University

Date: Wednesday 16 March 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, Room 4.315 (broadcast via VC to Acm15 C1/2.1.005 in Copenhagen and B108 in Esbjerg)

Abstract

In my research I often follow ideas of embodied music cognition (Varela et al., 1991) to examine the dynamic interactions between minds, bodies and environment. Many currently believe that the dynamic interactions between mind, body, and environment can best be examined by qualitative research, preferring to describe listening practices as individualised black boxes. I will present ideas on integrating quantitative and qualitative research methods, drawing on ideas from embodied cognition and animal ethology, as well as examples from my research on musical entrainment and musical emotions that will hopefully present a different viewpoint. In this way, I hope to present some of the dynamic patterns present in music listening practices.

Bio

Justin Christensen is a Post-Doctoral researcher, who has previously earned his PhD in music composition in the UK with Michael Finnissy. Combining his research interests in Music Psychology, Critical Theory, Reception Theory, and Enactive Cognitive Theory, Justin’s postdoctoral research focuses on the role of entrainment as part of an immersive event.

 

Date: 26 November
Time: 12.45-14.00
Place: RDB14 3.429

Wearable Computing has a wide range of applications and forms. We focus on vibrotactile communication as a way to communicate effectively with less cognitive load on the wearer—leaving eyes, ears and hands-free for other activities. We research and implement the development of vibrotactile patterns that emulate human touch with an aim to assist the wearer in order that the vibrotactile sensations become as if a part of the persons own autonomous nervous system. We have worked with sensitivity ranges for vibrotactile responses and purposefully work with a broad demographic—in terms of age and variety and breadth of experience. We situate the experimentation in urban spaces with a view to enhancing mobility, responsiveness and interaction possibilities in future mediated public environments.

Our current focus addresses a range of vibrotactile patterns in a wearable computing vest to communicate three states: calming and relaxation; activation; and navigation or information prompts—such as full body turning or warning to slow down or stop. To this end, we have developed the vibroacoustic Humming Wall that reacts to human touch—knock, swipe etc.—and conveys sensations both at the wall and to the vest and responds to and displays the heart beat and breath rate of the vest wearer.

We invite you to come and discuss the design and system processes and ecologies, challenges and core research questions and issues with us in an informal colloquium setting.

Date: 29 October
Time: 12.45-14.00
Place: RDB14 3.429

Computer vision is the digital version of human vision, where the eyes are replaced by a camera and the brain is replaced by algorithms implemented in software. The research field of computer vision is about developing and implementing such algorithms. The ambition is not only to replicate the abilities of human visual perception, but also going beyond human capabilities for example by seeing in the dark or measuring the actual distance to an object. One subfield of computer vision is Visual Analysis of People, where the focus is on automatic camera-based analysis of people and their whereabouts. The Visual Analysis of People (VAP) Lab focuses on the following research questions within this subfield:

• Is there anybody out there? Covering areas such as people detecting, counting  and tracking

• Who are they? Covering areas such as biometrics and recognition of individuals

• What are they doing? Covering areas such as pose estimation, action recognition and social signal processing

In this presentation the VAP Lab will give an overview over current research activities in the group as well as details of specific projects.