Syftet med det projekt som beskriv i denna uppsats är att undersökta möjligheterna med att implementera en chatbot i Siemens verksamhet. Fokuset för chatboten skulle vara att den på något sätt skulle implementeras som ett hjälpmedel för supportteknikerna på Siemens. Supportteknikerna arbetar dygnet runt med kundärenden som kommer in rörande deras maskiner. Därmed behöver supportteknikerna ibland hitta dokumentation och information kring dessa maskiner för att kunna ge rekommendationer till kund om hur det eventuella problemet ska lösas. I denna studie gjordes en litteraturundersökning kring chatbotar i allmänhet, tekniken kring chatbotar idag och hur en chatbot bör designas. Dessutom genomfördes en datainsamling i form av kontextuella intervjuer som sedan strukturerades till ett affinitetsdiagram. Detta affinitetsdiagram var i sin tur grunden för den persona och det kontextscenario som skapades. Affinitetsdiagrammet och de kontextuella intervjuerna beskrivs i mer detalj i arbetet skrivet av Linn Olsson (2019). Utifrån personan, kontextscenariot, affinitetsdiagrammet samt bakgrundslitteraturen skapades en uppsättning krav. Dessa var krav kring hur chatboten skulle se ut och fungera. Det som eftersöktes mest var något som kopplade samman alla system de använde sig av för att hitta information kring de olika maskinerna, samt en enklare sökfunktion för att hitta specifik dokumentation kring ett visst taggnamn. Kraven blev sedan poängsatta och prioriterade av supporttekniker på Siemens. De prioriterade kraven var utgångspunkten i designandet av en prototyp av en chatbot. Detta implementerades sedan i en interaktiv prototyp. Den prototyp som skapades är ett första utkast på hur en chatbot skulle kunna se ut för just uppgiften att hitta specifik information. Denna uppgift var som tidigare nämnts något de uttryckte sig vara i störst behov av. Detta förslag på användningsområde för en chatbot i Siemens system hade troligtvis underlättat supportteknikernas arbete i ganska stor grad. Det minskar tiden de lägger på att försöka hitta informationen så att de snabbare kan lösa kundärenden. Det här visar på att det finns möjligheter att implementera en chatbot i deras system. Dock krävs ytterligare undersökningar kring exakt vad för information supportteknikerna vill åt, samt hur det ska möjliggöras att de kan få tag på denna information, för att kunna implementera en chatbot. Dessutom skulle de behöva undersöka fler uppgifter som denna chatbot skulle vara användningsbar för. Detta för att chatboten får ett större användningsområde och kan på så vis få en större avgränsning från att likna en begränsad sökmotor. På så vis skulle detta vara ytterligare argument för att en chatbot bör implementeras.

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Ljud i spel är en essentiell del av den kompletta spelupplevelsen och vikten av att ha god förståelse för vilken typ av ljud som ska existera i spelvärlden är därför kritiskt för spelutvecklare. Främst för ljuddesigners, men även för hela spelutvecklingsteamet för att kunna mötas och tillsammans utveckla idéer som slutligen resulterar i spelet med en sammanhängande ljuddesign. Examensarbetet baseras på tidigare forskning om att visualisera och strukturera ljud, bland annat Murch konceptuella modell (Murch, 2005), IEZA-ramverket (Huiberts och van Tol, 2008) och den kombinerade modellen (Wilhelmsson och Wallén, 2011). Undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av en prototyp av ett program som sedan har testats genom intervjuer. Resultatet visar att det finns ett intresse att vidareutveckla ett verktyg som stöd för när man organisera och presenterar spelljud. Det mest rimliga framtida arbete av studien är att vidareutveckla ett produktionsvänligt verktyg för att strukturera och presentera spelljud. Sedan får verktyget testas i reella spelutvecklingsmiljöer i både kortare- och längre produktionscyklar, exempelvis i game jams eller inom större speltitlar.

Como uma das consequências do crescimento populacional que atualmente ocorre em escala mundial, e possível observar um aumento significante no número de pessoas mais velhas. Com a evolução da Internet, que oferece atualmente uma ampla variedade de serviços que ultrapassam os limites do entretenimento e da comunicação, os adultos de meia-idade e os idosos podem usufruir de vários benefícios, tais como: compras, bancos on-line, serviços governamentais e informações de forma geral, de modo a preservar sua autonomia e independência funcional na realização das suas tarefas diárias. Mas, apesar de todos os benefícios que podem ser obtidos por meio da Web, existe ainda grande resistência por parte dos adultos mais velhos em utilizá-la. Muitas pessoas, com o passar dos anos, passam a conviver com dificuldades sensoriais, motoras e principalmente com declínios da capacidade cognitiva, que podem comprometer o seu acesso a Web. A acessibilidade na Web se destina a garantir, principalmente, que haja meios para que pessoas com necessidades especiais possam utilizar a Web de forma natural e independente. Os adultos de meia-idade são usuários que, de modo geral, estão propensos a sofrer com os declínios de suas capacidades ao longo do tempo. Para enriquecer a experiência dos adultos de meia-idade e idosos com a Web e essencial considerar as necessidades de diferentes perfis de usuários, bem como suas necessidades visuais, de audição, motoras e cognitivas, as quais se tornam mais evidentes a partir dos 40 anos de idade. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi identificar recursos e mecanismos de usabilidade e acessibilidade que atendam as várias dificuldades encontradas por grande parte dos adultos mais velhos que buscam utilizar a Web, de modo que possam auxiliá-los a superarem os declínios provenientes do envelhecimento e os incentivem a continuar utilizando a Web como uma fonte de informação, comunicação e serviços. Muitos avanços ja foram obtidos com a utilização da tecnologia assistiva, que busca, por meio de equipamentos e softwares, dar apoio a vários tipos de deficiências apresentadas pelos usuários durante a sua interação com aplicativos e com a Web. Esforços também têm sido realizados por meio da criação de diretrizes e normas, como forma de incentivar programadores e autores de conteúdo a produzirem material para a Web que seja acessível. Nesta dissertação, defende-se a tese de que a melhoria da qualidade na experiência de uso da Web por parte dos adultos mais velhos também contribui para a usabilidade universal. Assim, é apresentada uma pesquisa que engloba revisão da literatura, observação em campo, aplicação de questionários, levantamento de diculdades com deficientes visuais, e testes com protótipos; os resultados mostram que a utilização de mecanismos de apoio a interação de adultos com mais idade com a Web promove também a melhoria da interação das pessoas mais jovens. Finalmente, pôde-se diagnosticar barreiras que ainda permanecem e quais mecanismos de apoio foram mais bem aceitos pelos adultos de meia-idade e idosos / The current worldwide population growth has been followed by a significant increase in the number of older people. The evolution of the internet has brought an increase in the variety of services that go beyond entertainment and communication. Older adults and elderly people can benet from many such services available on the internet, such as online shopping, banking, governmental services and many other sources of information, in order to preserve their autonomy and independence to undertake their daily activities. However, despite all the benefits brought by the use of the Web, many older adults still present some resistance to use websites. As a consequence of ageing, many older adults may start to present certain difficulties that can jeopardise the way they use the Web, such as sensory, motor, and especially cognitive difficulties. Web accessibility is concerned with providing means to enable people with special needs to use the Web in a natural and independent manner. Older adults tend to be aected with decline in their abilities with time. In order to enrich the experience of older adults and elderly people with the Web, it is essential that the needs of different user proles be taken into account, particularly concerning visual, auditory, motor and cognitive aspects that become more evident from 40 years of age. The goal of the present work is to identify usability and accessibility resources and mechanisms to address the difficulties encountered by large part of older adults that use the Web, in order to help them overcome difficulties associated with ageing and help them continue using the Web as a source of information, communication and services. Much advancement have been achieved with the use of assistive technology, which consists of equipment and software that supports several types of disabilities and provides aids to the use of computer applications and the Web. Many eorts have also been targeted at creating guidelines and standards to incentivise programmers and web authors to produce more accessible Web material. In this thesis, the work developed supports the argument that improvements in the quality of the experience in the use of the Web by older adults also contributes to enhancing universal usability. The research presented involves a literature review, eld observation of users, questionnaires with users, interviews with visually impaired users about their diculties in using websites, and tests with software prototypes. The results showed that the use of mechanisms to support the interaction of older adults with the Web also promotes improvements in the interaction of younger users. Finally, it was possible to diagnose barriers that still remain and which mechanisms had best acceptance by older adults and elderly users

A interação com aplicações Web está se tornando cada vez mais presente no dia-a-dia das pessoas, sendo útil para a disponibilização de recursos que permitem a realização de serviços, estudos ou entretenimento. Porém muitos dos recursos disponibilizados apresentam barreiras em relação à acessibilidade, impedindo que usuários finais, com algum tipo de deficiência, possam utilizá-los de forma eficiente. Como solução para esse problema, têm sido propostas diretrizes para o desenvolvimento de aplicações Web acessíveis. Entretanto, apesar da existência dessas diretrizes, o cenário atual ainda mostra que há dificuldades em relação ao desenvolvimento considerando requisitos de acessibilidade. Neste sentido, esta tese está calcada na criação de uma abordagem que permita o apoio efetivo a boas práticas para desenvolvimento Web, a partir da aproximação de tais diretrizes ao ambiente das equipes de desenvolvimento. Para tanto, são definidas atividades separadas em 3 eixos de preocupações: Treinamento em Acessibilidade, Gerência de Decisões e Desenvolvimento e Ferramental. Para validação da concepção inicial da proposta desta tese, estudos de caso são detalhados, demonstrando como o desenvolvimento Web pode ser beneficiado com melhor apoio ferramental, que incluem o uso de técnicas de modelagem e de padrões para geração de código acessível. São ainda verificados os benefícios da colaboração de experiências e treinamento da equipe de desenvolvimento, para tanto foi desenvolvida a ferramenta AccessibilityUtil. Posteriormente é descrita a abordagem e validada em um experimento controlado em que existiram grupos de participantes utilizando a abordagem e outros que não fizeram uso da mesma. Com isso, observou-se que, com a utilização da abordagem, houve melhor apoio a boas práticas de desenvolvimento em relação à aplicação de requisitos de acessibilidade, o que ocasiona em melhores resultados de qualidade para as aplicações Web. / The interaction with Web applications is becoming increasingly present daily, being useful to provide resources that allow the execution of services, education or entertainment. But many of the resources present barriers in relation to accessibility, hindering disabled users use them efficiently. As solution to this problem, guidelines to develop accessible Web applications have been proposed. However, despite the guidelines definition, the current scenario shows that there are difficulties related to the development considering accessibility requirements. Thus, this thesis focus on proposing an approach to support good practices for Web development, based on the use of these guidelines to the development team environment. Therefore, activities are defined on 3 layers: Accessibility Training, Decisions Management, and Development and Tooling. In order to validate the initial design of this thesis proposal, case studies were detailed, presenting how the Web development can be benefited through the tool support, including the use of modeling techniques and patterns for accessible code generation. Additionally, the benefits with the experience collaboration and training of the development team are also verified, to allow this the tool AccessibilityUtil was developed. After this, the approach is described and validated in a controlled experiment, where groups were defined with and without the approach use. As conclusion, we verified benefits using the approach, since that was identified a better support on development best practices regarding to the use of accessibility requirements, which results in a better quality for accessible Web applications

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology. / Department of Electromechanical Engineering

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are one of the complex, pervasive, and multifactorial neurodevelopmental conditions which affect one in 68 children. Scientific research has proven the efficiency of using technologies to improve communication and social skills of autistic children. The use of technological devices, such as mobile applications and multimedia, increase the interest of autistic children to learn while playing games. This thesis presents the re-engineering, extension, and evolution of an existing prototype Windows-based mobile application called Ying to become an Android mobile application which is augmented with facial and emotion recognition. This mobile app complements different approaches of traditional therapy, such as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Ying integrates different computer-assisted technologies, including speech recognition, audio and visual interaction, and mobile applications to enhance autistic children’s social behavior and verbal communication skills. An evaluation of the efficacy of using Ying has been conducted and its results are presented in the thesis. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Executive function (EF) comprises a series of interrelated cognitive and self-regulatory skills which are required in nearly every facet of everyday life, particularly in novel circumstances. EF skills begin developing from birth and continue to grow well into adulthood but are most crucial for children as they are associated with academic and life success as well as mental and physical health. There is now strong evidence that these skills can be trained through targeted intervention in a diverse range of approaches, such as computer games, physical activity, and social play settings. This thesis presents the process of the design and evaluation of an active EF-training game (BrainQuest) for smart-phones, in participation with end-users: a group of 11-12-year-old children from a local Primary School. The design process placed emphasis on creating an engaging user experience, a phenomenon which has eluded many serious games, by building upon motivational game design theory and satisfying end-user requirements. However, in the pursuit of promoting particular executive functions: working memory; inhibitory control; planning and strategizing, the design integrated aspects of a cognitive assessment while also utilizing a range of alternative approaches for training EF, including physical activity and social play. Following an iterative design process which included many single session prototype evaluations, a mixed methods evaluation was undertaken during a 5-week study with twenty-eight 11-12-year-old school children. The study gathered exploratory qualitative and quantitative evidence regarding the game’s potential benefits which was evaluated by triangulating a range of data sources: multi-observer observations notes, interviews with children and teachers, game performance data and logs, and cognitive assessment outcomes. The analysis describes the statistical relationships between game and executive function ability, before exploring user experiences and evidence of cognitive challenge during gameplay through a series of triangulated case studies and general whole-class observations. The analysis presents the game to be engaging and enjoyable throughout the study and, for most children, able to generate a sustainable challenge. Though there were initial difficulties in understanding the complex game rules and technology, the game became increasingly usable and learnable for the target user group and created opportunities for goal setting. It also encouraged feelings of pride and self-confidence as well as facilitating positive social interactions and requiring regulation of emotion, which are considered to be pathways to developing executive functions (Diamond, 2012). There was also promising initial evidence that the game’s variable difficulty level system was able to challenge executive functions: planning and strategizing, working memory, and inhibitory control. Most notably, the game appeared to support improvements in strategizing ability by demanding increasing strategic complexity in response to evolving and increasingly difficult task demands. Supporting BrainQuest’s cognitive challenge, several statistical relationships emerged between executive function ability and game performance measures. However, the game’s ability to significantly improve cognitive outcomes could not yet be concluded. Nevertheless, these findings have implications for both the future design and evaluation practices undertaken by cognitive training researchers. From a design perspective, less credence should be paid to simply gamifying cognitive assessments while greater emphasis should be placed on integration of formal game design and motivational theories. With regards to evaluation, researchers should understand the importance of establishing first whether CTGs can remain engaging over time as well as the feasibility of their challenge to cognitive functions.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare two visually opposite design techniques: skeuomorphic design, recognizable for its realistic presentation, and flat design, an abstract design option that has gained popularity in the last years. The two designs were compared using two generations of Internet users to find out what the preferences were for each generation. A knowledge gap was found in which design that would be the most beneficial to use for each generation. Methodology: To fulfill the purpose of the study, two methods were used; a literature study and an empirical study. The empirical study included experiments, interviews and questionnaires. The participants were contacted personally or via social media. All participants were in the age of 20-30 or 65+. Findings: Based on the collected literature and empirical evidence, it was concluded that the older generation of users might tend to prefer the skeuomorphic, realistic design online. Bright colors and a pedagogical style creates a good visual for elderly eyes and inexpert of using internet. The younger generation might tend to prefer the flat and abstract way of design online. A modern appeal with less clutter compared to the skeuomorphic style is considered beneficial. This opens up for further investigation. Implications: The empirical study included 20 people, who all participated in the experiment, interviews and answered questionnaires. The study groups consisted of 10 persons at the age span 20-30 years and 10 persons at the age span of 65+ years. Limitations: The study was only focused on two specific age groups with a small population found through convenient sampling. This means that in the future, the research could be conducted in a broader matter including more age groups and a larger population with a more specific sampling. The study's extent was affected by the time period in which it was executed. A longer period of time could have contributed to a more extensive study, perhaps with additional age groups and more participants in each group.

This thesis focuses on the design and evaluation of interactive music systems that enable non-experts to experience collaborative music-making in public set- tings, such as museums, galleries and festivals. Although there has been previous research into music systems for non-experts, there is very limited research on how participants engage with collaborative music environments in public set- tings. Informed by a detailed assessment of related research, an interactive, multi-person music system is developed, which serves as a vehicle to conduct practice-based research in real-world settings. A central focus of the design is supporting each player's individual sense of control, in order to examine how this relates to their overall playing experience. Drawing on approaches from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and interac- tive art research, a series of user studies is conducted in public settings such as art exhibitions and festivals. Taking into account that the user experience and social dynamics around such new forms of interaction are considerably in u- enced by the context of use, this systematic assessment in real-world contexts contributes to a richer understanding of how people interact and behave in such new creative spaces. This research makes a number of contributions to the elds of HCI, interactive art and New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME). It provides a set of de- sign implications to aid designers of future collaborative music systems. These are based on a number of empirical ndings that describe and explain aspects of audience behaviour, engagement and mutual interaction around public, in- teractive multi-person systems. It provides empirical evidence that there is a correlation between participants' perceived level of control and their sense of cre- ative participation and enjoyment. This thesis also develops and demonstrates the application of a mixed-method approach for studying technology-mediated collaborative creativity with live audiences.