Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:14:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Ferreira da Silva.pdf: 7424136 bytes, checksum: c8f94d79734caa8ca7c170313b6a4371 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-09 / This project aims to study the interfaces of biblical texts in digital media applications; it is considered that these projects take a hypermedia language. With the purpose of verifying what are the characteristics of communicational process present in devices and their interactions, that add in several languages the Bible textual content and other material of different nature. The research investigates the presence of the Bible in digital media, examining its characteristics in terms of hypermedia language on Web sites and applications used on mobile devices, such as, Tablet and Smartphone. The first part of the research carries out a Bible study in its historical course, starting from the oral tradition to the digital book, covering the interlacement that exists between the Scriptures and the historical evolution of the book and its transformations in roll formats and codex to digital media. The second part of this research focuses on the fine arts and the different media used in the biblical texts and where they were present in a pictorial form in Catholic Church history and are studied relations between the Catholic Church and the forms of communication of the Scriptures over the centuries from the papal documents and Dariva, Puntel and Zolin s researches are studied, in order to understand what is the position adopted by this institution in the face of changes in society, technological advances and, in particular, the Internet and its possibilities in spreading the Gospel. The third part of this research is devoted to the study of the Bible in hypermedia language and how these new media may extend the dissemination and understanding of the Scriptures in a refreshed and renewed way, using the features offered by this medium. In this stage sites and applications are analyzed, having in mind the potential of hypermedia language that combines features of hypertext (interactivity and usability) and multimedia (sound, texts, images and videos), based on Lucia Leão, Lucia Santaella, Pierre Lèvy e Julio César Freitas´s theories / Este projeto tem por objetivo estudar as interfaces de aplicativos de textos bíblicos em meios digitais; considera-se que esses projetos adotam uma linguagem hipermidiática. Com o propósito de verificar quais são as características dos processos comunicacionais presentes nos dispositivos e suas interações, que agregam em diversas linguagens o conteúdo textual da Bíblia e outros materiais de natureza diversa. A pesquisa investiga a presença da Bíblia nas mídias digitais, analisando suas características em termos de linguagem da hipermídia em sites da Internet e em aplicativos utilizados em dispositivos móveis, tais como, Tablet e Smartfone. A primeira parte da pesquisa realiza um estudo da Bíblia em seu percurso histórico, partindo da tradição oral até o livro digital, percorrendo o entrelaçamento que existe entre as Escrituras e a histórica evolução do livro e suas transformações nos formatos de rolo, códice até chegar às mídias digitais. A segunda parte desta pesquisa contempla as artes plásticas e os diferentes suportes utilizados em que os textos bíblicos se presentificaram de forma pictórica na história da Igreja Católica e são estudadas as relações entre a Igreja Católica e as formas de comunicação das Escrituras ao longo dos séculos, a partir dos documentos pontifícios e dos estudos de Dariva, Puntel, e Zolin, com o intuito de perceber os posicionamentos adotados por esta instituição diante da evolução da sociedade, dos avanços tecnológicos e em especial da Internet e de suas possibilidades na difusão do Evangelho. A terceira parte desta pesquisa se dedica ao estudo da Bíblia na linguagem hipermidiática e dos modos pelos quais essas novas mídias podem ampliar a difusão e a compreensão das Escrituras de forma atualizada e renovada, utilizando os recursos oferecidos por este meio. Nesta etapa são analisados sites e aplicativos, tendo em vista os potenciais da linguagem hipermidiática que reúne os recursos do hipertexto (interatividade e usabilidade) e da multimídia (sons, textos, imagens e vídeos), fundamentados na teoria de Lucia Leão, Lucia Santaella, Pierre Levy e Julio César Freitas

Existem atualmente diversas propostas para integração de dispositivos móveis em uma grade computacional, porém vários problemas são observados em tais ambientes. Esta dissertação mantém o foco em um problema, a restrição sobre a quantidade de energia despendida na execução das aplicações, ao utilizar esses dispositivos móveis como provedores de recursos em uma grade computacional que fornece processamento para aplicações paralelas. Para tanto, este trabalho propõe um método para estimar o consumo de energia das aplicações considerando que elas utilizam um determinado conjunto de operações as quais estão presentes na grande maioria das aplicações paralelas (operações matemáticas e alocação de memória). Com base no método proposto, dois dispositivos móveis foram estudados e foi criada uma representação do consumo de energia utilizando-se de métodos de regressão. Para validar os modelos, duas aplicações foram analisadas e o consumo de energia real foi comparado ao consumo estimado. O modelo criado apresentou resultados próximos ao medido, mostrando um aumento entre 6% e 14,24% em relação ao resultado medido. / Nowadays, there are different proposals to integrate mobile devices in a computational grid, although several problems are introduces. This dissertation focus on the energy limitation problem when using mobile devices to provide resources, such as processing power to run parallel applications. It also proposes a method to estimate energy consumption for a task that needs to be executed in this environment. To achieve this goal two mobile devices were used as a test case and a representation of its energy consumption was created running benchmarks and using regression techniques. To validate the model created, two applications were executed and had the measured values compared to the estimated ones. The estimation showed a raise between 6 and 14.24 percent.

Dispositivos móveis como smartphones e tablets são, atualmente, equipados com componentes de hardware que podem ser utilizados para a criação de soluções que auxiliam diversas atividades de pessoas com deficiência. Por exemplo, os sensores de um celular na mão de um usuário com deficiência motora podem ser utilizados para identificar movimentos da mão desse usuário e movimentar uma cadeira de rodas elétrica. Apesar de o uso de dispositivos móveis para fins de criação de soluções de acessibilidade ser explorado e documentado por muitos pesquisadores, verifica-se carência de infraestruturas que facilitem a criação de soluções para usuários com deficiência com base no uso dos recursos computacionais dos dispositivos móveis. Este trabalho apresenta um framework nativo para sistema operacional Android que provê bibliotecas para uso e integração dos diversos recursos desses dispositivos, como sensores, microfone e câmera, para auxiliar usuários com deficiência motora. O framework foi proposto com base em requisitos levantados por profissionais da área da saúde que trabalham no Centro Integrado de Reabilitação (CIR) pertencente ao Hospital Estadual de Ribeirão Preto (SP), e que reabilitam usuários com hemiparesia decorrente de Acidente Vascular Encefálico (AVE). Aplicações usando a infraestrutura proposta foram implementadas como provas de conceito que evidenciam a possibilidade de criação de soluções que usam e integram os principais componentes dos dispositivos móveis para auxiliar os usuários reabilitados. Apesar de o escopo de requisitos limitar-se a pessoas que tiveram AVE, testes realizados com desenvolvedores de software de diferentes níveis de experiência demonstraram que o framework agiliza a implementação de soluções diversas, inclusive para pessoas sem deficiência. O framework, que pode ser adaptado para diferentes sistemas operacionais, foi implementado para auxiliar a construção de aplicativos para o sistema operacional Android. / Nowadays, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are equipped with hardware components that can be used to create solutions that support various activities of people with disabilities. For example, the sensors of a mobile phone in the hand of a user with motor disability can be used to identify movements of that users hand and, then, to move an electric wheelchair. Although the use of mobile devices for the creation of accessibility solutions is deeply explored and documented by many researchers, there still is a lack of infrastructures to facilitate the creation of solutions for users with disabilities by relying on the use of the computational resources of mobile devices. This work presents an Android-native framework that provides libraries for the use and integration of the various resources of these devices, such as sensors, microphone and camera, to assist users with motor disabilities. The framework was proposed based on requirements raised by health professionals who work at a Rehabilitation Center that belongs to the State Hospital of Ribeirão Preto (SP, Brazil), where they rehabilitate users with hemiparesis due to stroke. Applications using the proposed infrastructure have been implemented as proofs of concept that demonstrate the possibility of creating solutions that use and integrate the main components of mobile devices in order to assist the rehabilitated users. Although the scope of requirements of our project is limited to people who have had stroke, tests performed with software developers of different levels of experience have shown that the framework speeds up the implementation of diverse solutions, including the ones for people without disabilities. The framework, which can be adapted for different operating systems, has been implemented to help build applications for the Android operating system.

Com o passar dos anos, o hábito da escuta musical passou por diversas transformações, comumente relacionadas a tendências sociais e inovações tecnológicas. No início do século XX, a relação homem-máquina-escuta se elevou a um novo patamar. No início do século XXI, o predomínio das mídias portáteis (aqui delimitadas a iPods, tablets e smartphones) promove novas transformações na prática da escuta musical, gerando consequências musicais e sociais consideráveis. Partindo do Walkman, um dos maiores ícones da portabilidade do século passado, esse trabalho analisa a sucessão das principais mídias e formatos - com seus respectivos impactos culturais - até alcançar a década de 2010, dominada pelo formato MP3 e já fundada em uma peculiar prática de escuta musical. Através de extensa pesquisa bibliográfica e audiovisual, este trabalho se dispõe a refletir sobre as principais transformações músico-sociais originadas a partir da utilização massiva das mídias portáteis (como meio predominante de prática da escuta musical urbana), tornando mais visível a relevância de estudos aprofundados na área / Throughout the years, musical listening habits have suffered many changings, usually related to social tendencies and technological improvements. In the beginning of the 20th century, the man - machine- listening relation achieved a new level. During the first decades of the 21th century, the ubiquity of portable media (defined in this work as iPods, tablets and smartphones) promotes new alterations in the listening habits, therefore social and musical impacts. Beginning from the Walkman, one of last century\'s most acclaimed icons of portability, this work analyses the sequence of the following main devices and formats - each one with its particular cultural impacts - until reaching the 2010s, a decade dominated by MP3 and based on a unique musical listening experience. This work intends to reflect, through extensive research and bibliographical discussion, the main musical and social reorganization originated by the massive use of these devices as the urban leading musical listening vehicle, increasing the visibility and the relevance of more detailed researches in this area.

Submitted by Kamila Costa (kamilavasconceloscosta@gmail.com) on 2015-06-18T19:47:28Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-Leonardo Lira Guimarães.pdf: 5378144 bytes, checksum: 17c3316e73590efa02a215df4d7e88b6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-07-06T15:14:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-Leonardo Lira Guimarães.pdf: 5378144 bytes, checksum: 17c3316e73590efa02a215df4d7e88b6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2015-07-06T15:21:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-Leonardo Lira Guimarães.pdf: 5378144 bytes, checksum: 17c3316e73590efa02a215df4d7e88b6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-07-06T15:21:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação-Leonardo Lira Guimarães.pdf: 5378144 bytes, checksum: 17c3316e73590efa02a215df4d7e88b6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-05-25 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Advances in wireless communication and computer hardware technologies have boosted the popularity of mobile devices. Increasingly, these devices gain new features of hardware (i.e., sensors and other gadgets) and software (e.g., facial, voice and gestures recognition) so that the human-computer interaction can occur more naturally. These features allowed a greater awareness of the environment and the conditions under which the users are, enabling the development of applications ever more proactive and sensitive. A context aware system can modify its behavior according to the inferred context of the environment. However, erroneous interpretations of the collected data may induce inappropriate and unwanted actions in applications. Although there is variety of inference techniques in the literature (e.g., rules, ontologies, that uses supervised and unsupervised learning), generally, they do not consider whether the inferences were indeed suitable to the user contexts. Furthermore, most of these techniques uses static inference models (i.e., they are unable to adjust themselves to changes in the environment conditions), which represents a limitation of these techniques when applied to the field of mobile applications. This work proposes a new context reasoning technique for mobile applications – called CoRe-RL – which uses reinforcement learning in order that the produced inferences could be ever more suitable to the user’s contexts. In this technique, learning occurs in an incremental manner and as the user interacts with the system, allowing the inference to be adjusted by the rewards (positive reinforcements) and punishments (negative reinforcements) associated to the inferred contexts. As the contexts are continuously being learned, the proposed technique also allows a flexible context management to the applications, which enables new contexts (labels) to be registered and learned over time. The operation of the technique is divided into two stages – classification and adaptation. The CoRe-RL uses a modified version of the K nearest neighbors in the classification stage. The learning (adaptation) stage is based on examples, but also makes adjustments on the models (features ranking) which weigh the most relevant xv features of each context in the classification stage. In order to validate and evaluate the proposed technique, it was developed, as a case study of this work, an application that implements all of the functionality and capabilities of CoRe-RL. Through this application, practical experiments for evaluating the classification and adaptation were executed in two specific scenarios: there was a single context in the first scenario; and in the second, there were three. Through the practical experiments, it was observed that, in accordance to the cutting threshold used, it is possible to obtain good performances in the classification even with a small base and with a slightly adjusted ranking. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the CoRe-RL improves its performance, converging to the optimal performance, in accordance to the occurrence of new interactions. / Os avanços das tecnologias de comunicação sem fio e de hardware impulsionaram a popularização do uso de dispositivos móveis. Cada vez mais, estes dispositivos ganham novos recursos de hardware (i.e., sensores e outros gadgets) e software (e.g., reconhecimento facial, de voz, gestos) a fim de que a interação humano-computador ocorra de forma mais natural. Esses recursos deram aos dispositivos móveis uma capacidade maior de percepção do ambiente e das condições nas quais os usuários se encontram, possibilitando o desenvolvimento de aplicações cada vez mais proativas e sensíveis ao contexto. Um sistema sensível ao contexto é capaz de modificar seu comportamento de acordo com os contextos inferidos do ambiente. Entretanto, interpretações errôneas dos dados coletados podem induzir ações inapropriadas e indesejadas nas aplicações. Embora exista uma variedade de técnicas de inferência na literatura (e.g., regras, ontologias, que utilizam aprendizagem supervisionada e não supervisionada), em geral, elas não consideram se as inferências foram de fato adequadas para os contextos do usuário. Além disso, a maioria dessas técnicas utiliza modelos estáticos de inferência (i.e., que não são capazes de se ajustar à mudanças nas condições do ambiente), o que representa uma limitação dessas técnicas quando aplicadas ao domínio das aplicações móveis. Neste trabalho, é proposta uma nova técnica de inferência de contexto para aplicações móveis – chamada de CoRe-RL – que utiliza aprendizagem por reforço a fim de que sejam produzidas inferências cada vez mais adequadas aos contextos do usuário. Nesta técnica, a aprendizagem ocorre de maneira incremental e conforme o usuário interage com o sistema, permitindo que a inferência seja ajustada por meio de recompensas (reforços positivos) e punições (reforços negativos) associadas aos contextos inferidos. Como os contextos estão continuamente sendo aprendidos, a técnica proposta também permite às aplicações um gerenciamento flexível de contextos, ou seja, é possível que novos contextos (rótulos) sejam cadastrados e aprendidos ao longo do tempo. O funcionamento da técnica é divido em duas etapas – classificação e adapxiii tação. O CoRe-RL utiliza o método dos K vizinhos mais próximos (modificado) na classificação. A aprendizagem (adaptação) é baseada em exemplos, mas também faz ajustes sobre os modelos (ranking de características) que ponderam as características mais relevantes de cada contexto, na etapa de classificação. Com o intuito de testar e avaliar o desempenho da técnica proposta, foi desenvolvido, como estudo de caso deste trabalho, um aplicativo que implementa todas as funcionalidades e recursos do CoRe-RL. Através deste aplicativo, foram realizados experimentos práticos de avaliação da classificação e adaptação, em dois cenários específicos: no primeiro cenário havia um único contexto; e no segundo haviam três. Por meio dos experimentos práticos, observou-se que, de acordo com o limiar de corte usado, é possível obter bons desempenhos na classificação mesmo com uma base pequena e com um ranking pouco ajustado. Além disso, demonstrou-se que o CoRe-RL melhora seu desempenho, convergindo para o desempenho ótimo, de acordo com a ocorrência das interações.

A proliferação de dispositivos móveis e de redes sem fio tem encorajado um crescente interesse em sistemas e serviços baseados na localização de dispositivos portáteis, especialmente em ambientes internos, como edifícios e residências. A localização de um dispositivo portátil é um parâmetro crítico em aplicações baseadas no contexto, as quais requerem grande precisão na estimativa de localização. Entretanto, projetar e desenvolver sistemas de localização em interiores, com crescente precisão na estimação e decrescente custo de instalação, é um problema desafiador. Uma abordagem bastante interessante para satisfazer os requisitos de baixo custo consiste em utilizar as infra-estruturas existentes de redes locais sem fio (WLAN) no padrão IEEE 802.11, que já estão instaladas em muitos ambientes. A maioria das abordagens para localização usando WLAN propostas na literatura é baseada em técnicas probabilísticas, que apresentam bom desempenho e estão cada vez mais populares. Estas técnicas usam um mapa com a informação da potência recebida do sinal (RSSI) juntamente com a freqüência de presença de sinal coletada de múltiplos pontos de acesso Wi-Fi, em diferentes localizações físicas no ambiente. Porém, a informação sobre freqüência de presença de sinal pode ser muito ruidosa devido à natureza imprevisível das falhas de transmissão, as quais podem ocorrer decorrentes de diversos fatores. Este trabalho propõe um novo sistema de localização Wi-Fi, o WBLS (Wireless Based Location System), que não considera a informação sobre freqüência de presença de sinal no processo de estimação, visando eliminar os ruídos a ela associados. O WBLS explora o fato da potência do sinal Wi-Fi variar com a localização e usa um HMM descrito em um grafo onde os nós representam as localizações e as arestas, as probabilidades de transição em função da topologia do ambiente e das velocidades esperadas de um pedestre portando um dispositivo móvel. Investiga-se em que situações a eliminação da informação sobre freqüência de presença de sinal devido a seus ruídos associados aumenta a exatidão da estimativa de localização, apesar do descarte da informação em si. Os experimentos realizados demonstram que a característica mais importante do WBLS é uma particular robustez ao lidar com desligamentos de pontos de acesso, os quais podem ocorrer sem nenhum aviso ou previsão em um ambiente onde pouco controle se tem sobre sua infra-estrutura. / The proliferation of mobile computing devices and wireless networks has fostered a growing interest in location-based systems and services for Portable Wireless Devices, specially in indoor environments. The location of a handheld device is a critical parameter in context-aware applications, which require high degree of accuracy of location estimation. However, designing and developing indoor location systems with increasing estimation accuracy and decreasing cost installation is a challenging problem. A very interesting approach to reach low-cost requirements consists in using the pre-existing IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (WLAN) infrastructure that is already installed in many places. Most of the WLAN indoor location approaches proposed in the literature are based on probabilistic techniques which show good performance and are becoming increasingly popular. Such approaches use a map of received signal strength information and signal presence frequency collected from multiple Wi-Fi access points at different physical locations in the environment. However, the signal presence frequency information can be very noisy due to the unpredictable nature of transmissions failures, which can be caused by several factors. This work proposes a new probabilistic-based Wi-Fi location system, WBLS (Wireless Based Location System), which doesn\'t take the signal presence frequency information into account in the estimation process, in an attempt to eliminate its associated noise. WBLS exploits the fact that Wi-Fi signal strength vary with location, and uses an HMM on a graph of location nodes whose transition probabilities are a function of the building\'s floor plan and expected speeds of a pedestrian holding a portable device. We investigate if eliminating signal presence frequency information due to its associated noise increases the accuracy of the location estimation, despite the amount of information about the signal presence that is discarded. Experiments show that the most important feature of WBLS is a particular robustness while dealing with access points shutdowns that may happen without any warning in an environment where there is little control over the infrastructure.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jefferson dos Santos.pdf: 9352405 bytes, checksum: 7833721059e2d89574d65185295960ff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-04 / Mobile devices have been claimed in recent years as essential accessories for the contemporary man. Hinting as ubiquitous and selling themselves as omnipotent, they constitute a significant portion of the electronic market and computational. Promising to replace the medium and long term personal computers, mobile devices are increasingly invested in features that transform them, sometimes in highly sophisticated equipment and for which the user has to be ready for an efficient use. While participating in a culture of rapid technological change and product obsolescence, mobile devices contribute to the formation of a culture of mobility and portability which tends to accelerate the process of merging the media in a convergence culture. Driven by marketing strategies, the current technological trend is touted as a central element of mobility and the consequent concomitant online connection, as currently conceived more cloud computing or sharing of information, content and interests. Taking this as a panorama skyline trends, this master's research focuses on a research on the concept of mobile devices, their fundamental characteristics as an instrument of the technological era, resource access and manipulation as user and producer, resulting in perspective prosumer set by Alvin Toffler and systematized by Negroponte in view of digital life. Displays the current landscape of numerous devices and their operating structures as well as their means and forms of use, such as human-machine and human prostheses as their coupling to cyberspace in support of everyday life, the laser increasingly fragmented and its growing use and incorporation of the language of games based on the methodology of interface design. From the methodological and technical scope presented applies the concepts developed in a case study of PUCSP, a cultural development of an application for the Android technology that was awarded the Nokia Development, showing its characteristics, stages of development and structuring their interfaces from the perspective of hypermedia language. Concludes in favor of the development work and research scholars who turn to the cultural needs of the population of large cities, in which access to information (within the criteria of mobility) is critical / Os dispositivos móveis tem se afirmado nos últimos anos como acessórios indispensáveis para o homem contemporâneo. Insinuando-se como omnipresentes e vendendo-se como onipotentes, eles constituem uma parcela significativa do mercado eletrônico e computacional. Prometendo substituir a médio e longo prazo os computadores pessoais, os dispositivos móveis são investidos de cada vez mais funcionalidades que os transformam, às vezes, em equipamentos altamente sofisticados e para os quais o usuário tem de ser preparar para uma um eficiente uso. Enquanto participante de uma cultura tecnológica de rápida transformação e obsolescência de produtos, os dispositivos móveis contribuem para a formação de uma cultura da mobilidade e portabilidade que tende a acelerar o processo da fusão das mídias em uma cultura da convergência. Direcionados por estratégias mercadológicas, a tendência tecnológica atual tem apontado como elemento central da mobilidade a consequente e concomitante conexão on-line, pensada mais atualmente como computação ou partilhamento em nuvem de informações, conteúdo e interesses. Tomando este panorama como um horizonte de tendências, a presente pesquisa de mestrado centra-se em uma investigação sobre o conceito dos dispositivos móveis, suas características fundamentais como instrumento da era tecnológica, recurso de acesso e manipulação como usuário e produtor, resultantes na perspectiva do prosumer definido por Alvin Toffler e sistematizado por Negroponte na perspectiva da vida digital. Apresenta o panorama atual dos inúmeros dispositivos e suas estruturas de funcionamento, bem como seus meios e formas de utilização, como a interação humano-máquina e o seu acoplamento como prótese humana para o ciberespaço, no apoio a vida cotidiana, no laser cada vez mais fragmentado e na sua crescente utilização e incorporação da linguagem dos games a partir da metodologia de design de interface. A partir do escopo metodológico e técnico apresentado, aplica os conceitos desenvolvidos em um estudo de caso da PUCSP, de um desenvolvimento de um aplicativo cultural para a tecnologia Android que recebeu o prêmio Celular Nokia de Desenvolvimento, mostrando suas características, etapas de desenvolvimento e estruturando as suas interfaces dentro da perspectiva da linguagem hipermídia. Conclui em favor do desenvolvimento de trabalhos e pesquisas acadêmicos que se voltem para as necessidades culturais da população de grandes metrópoles, na qual o acesso a informação (dentro dos critérios da mobilidade) é fundamental

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tania Filomena Knittel.pdf: 1725855 bytes, checksum: 44e3af055fef450588e4a448a3e063f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-11-03 / In the field of Education today, we must take into consideration the fact that our students were born in the age of the internet and technologic boom. Video games and computers, faster and more advanced than ever, are part of their routine. According to Marc Prensky (2010), who specialized in technology and education at Yale University, children today are born in a world characterized by technology and digital media, and thus would have their cognitive profile altered. The present study, titled The Use of Mobile Devices as Teaching and Learning Tools in Classrooms, has the goal of identifying possible applications of the use of mobile devices as learning artifacts, as well as analyzing challenges, perspectives and possibilities for both learners and educators. The theoretical framework used as foundation for the argumentation is the Activity Theory, which emphasizes the importance of student action during the learning process (MATTAR, 2013), has as main contributors Vygotsky, Luria, Leontiev and Engeström and as main concept the unity of human consciousness and activity. The methodology used was the study of multiple cases with both a qualitative and quantitative approach, with descriptive and interpretative investigation based on an exploratory perspective that allowed a diversified set of data collection tools: interviews, questionnaires and investigation of the different issues in the focus group. The research analyzed mobile devices as mediation devices for the development of skills and abilities in order to face future challenges such as: critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, creativity, and innovation skills in classroom activities. The participating subjects were students and teachers in a private school located in the Southern Zone (Zona Sul) of the city of São Paulo. Final considerations of the study evidence mobile devices as a reality in students day-to-day lives, furthermore, in order for them to be used in the classroom, planning is required to allow for resignification by students and teachers, who play a fundamental role as mediators. Research findings show limiting factors, among them distraction and reduced screen size. However, the wide variety of functionalities present in such devices, such as applications, games, books and films, in addition to facilitating real time data and information access, make the use of smartphones and tablets for educational purposes ever more appealing / Atualmente na Educação, deve-se levar em consideração que os alunos já nasceram sob o advento da Internet e do boom tecnológico. Videogames e computadores cada vez mais velozes e avanços tecnológicos fazem parte do cotidiano desses aprendizes. Para Marc Prensky (2010), especialista em Tecnologia e Educação pela Universidade de Yale, as crianças de hoje já nascem em um mundo caracterizado pelas tecnologias e mídias digitais e esse novo contexto veio a interferir no perfil cognitivo deles, modificando-o significativamente. O presente trabalho, intitulado A utilização de dispositivos móveis como ferramenta de ensino-aprendizagem em sala de aula , tem por objetivo não só identificar as possíveis aplicações do uso de tais artefatos como instrumentos de aprendizagem, mas também analisar os desafios e as perspectivas que se abrem a alternativas inovadoras tanto para os educandos quanto para os educadores. A sustentação da argumentação dar-se-á a partir da Teoria da Atividade, que enfatiza a importância da ação por parte do aluno durante o processo de aprendizagem (MATTAR, 2013), consoante propostas de Vygotsky, Luria, Leontiev e Engeström no que concerne ao conceito da unidade entre a consciência humana e a atividade. A metodologia utilizada na pesquisa privilegiou a abordagem qualitativa, de investigação exploratória, pelo estudo múltiplo de casos que tornou possível a recolha diversificada de dados: observações diretas e indiretas, entrevistas, questionários e discussões de diferentes questões oportunizadas no grupo focal, cujos participantes foram alunos e professores de uma escola particular, localizada na Zona Sul da cidade de São Paulo. As análises dos dispositivos móveis como artefatos de mediação para o desenvolvimento de habilidades e competências para enfrentar desafios futuros objetivaram a exploração de aspectos tais que pensamento crítico, solução de problemas, colaboração, comunicação, criatividade e inovação em atividades de sala de aula. Levando em conta que os dispositivos móveis são uma realidade e estão presentes no dia a dia, sugere-se a utilização desses recursos com planejamento, que venha a tornar possível a ressignificação do papel dos alunos e professores, que passam a mediadores. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam para fatores limitantes, dentre eles a distração e o tamanho reduzido da tela e, igualmente, destacam a grande variedade de funcionalidades presentes nos aparelhos - aplicativos, jogos, livros e filmes - recursos que proporcionam respostas em tempo real mediante a facilidade de acesso a dados e informações. Isso torna o uso de smartphones e tablets cada vez mais atraente para uso na Educação

While interaction with computers used to be dominated by mice and keyboards, new types of sensors now allow users to interact through touch, speech, or using their whole body in 3D space. These new interaction modalities are often referred to as "natural user interfaces" or "NUIs." While 2D NUIs have experienced major success on billions of mobile touch devices sold, 3D NUI systems have so far been unable to deliver a mobile form factor, mainly due to their use of cameras. The fact that cameras require a certain distance from the capture volume has prevented 3D NUI systems from reaching the flat form factor mobile users expect. In this dissertation, we address this issue by sensing 3D input using flat 2D sensors. The systems we present observe the input from 3D objects as 2D imprints upon physical contact. By sampling these imprints at very high resolutions, we obtain the objects' textures. In some cases, a texture uniquely identifies a biometric feature, such as the user's fingerprint. In other cases, an imprint stems from the user's clothing, such as when walking on multitouch floors. By analyzing from which part of the 3D object the 2D imprint results, we reconstruct the object's pose in 3D space. While our main contribution is a general approach to sensing 3D input on 2D sensors upon physical contact, we also demonstrate three applications of our approach. (1) We present high-accuracy touch devices that allow users to reliably touch targets that are a third of the size of those on current touch devices. We show that different users and 3D finger poses systematically affect touch sensing, which current devices perceive as random input noise. We introduce a model for touch that compensates for this systematic effect by deriving the 3D finger pose and the user's identity from each touch imprint. We then investigate this systematic effect in detail and explore how users conceptually touch targets. Our findings indicate that users aim by aligning visual features of their fingers with the target. We present a visual model for touch input that eliminates virtually all systematic effects on touch accuracy. (2) From each touch, we identify users biometrically by analyzing their fingerprints. Our prototype Fiberio integrates fingerprint scanning and a display into the same flat surface, solving a long-standing problem in human-computer interaction: secure authentication on touchscreens. Sensing 3D input and authenticating users upon touch allows Fiberio to implement a variety of applications that traditionally require the bulky setups of current 3D NUI systems. (3) To demonstrate the versatility of 3D reconstruction on larger touch surfaces, we present a high-resolution pressure-sensitive floor that resolves the texture of objects upon touch. Using the same principles as before, our system GravitySpace analyzes all imprints and identifies users based on their shoe soles, detects furniture, and enables accurate touch input using feet. By classifying all imprints, GravitySpace detects the users' body parts that are in contact with the floor and then reconstructs their 3D body poses using inverse kinematics. GravitySpace thus enables a range of applications for future 3D NUI systems based on a flat sensor, such as smart rooms in future homes. We conclude this dissertation by projecting into the future of mobile devices. Focusing on the mobility aspect of our work, we explore how NUI devices may one day augment users directly in the form of implanted devices. / Die Interaktion mit Computern war in den letzten vierzig Jahren stark von Tastatur und Maus geprägt. Neue Arten von Sensoren ermöglichen Computern nun, Eingaben durch Berührungs-, Sprach- oder 3D-Gestensensoren zu erkennen. Solch neuartige Formen der Interaktion werden häufig unter dem Begriff "natürliche Benutzungsschnittstellen" bzw. "NUIs" (englisch natural user interfaces) zusammengefasst. 2D-NUIs ist vor allem auf Mobilgeräten ein Durchbruch gelungen; über eine Milliarde solcher Geräte lassen sich durch Berührungseingaben bedienen. 3D-NUIs haben sich jedoch bisher nicht auf mobilen Plattformen durchsetzen können, da sie Nutzereingaben vorrangig mit Kameras aufzeichnen. Da Kameras Bilder jedoch erst ab einem gewissen Abstand auflösen können, eignen sie sich nicht als Sensor in einer mobilen Plattform. In dieser Arbeit lösen wir dieses Problem mit Hilfe von 2D-Sensoren, von deren Eingaben wir 3D-Informationen rekonstruieren. Unsere Prototypen zeichnen dabei die 2D-Abdrücke der Objekte, die den Sensor berühren, mit hoher Auflösung auf. Aus diesen Abdrücken leiten sie dann die Textur der Objekte ab. Anhand der Stelle der Objektoberfläche, die den Sensor berührt, rekonstruieren unsere Prototypen schließlich die 3D-Ausrichtung des jeweiligen Objektes. Neben unserem Hauptbeitrag der 3D-Rekonstruktion stellen wir drei Anwendungen unserer Methode vor. (1) Wir präsentieren Geräte, die Berührungseingaben dreimal genauer als existierende Geräte messen und damit Nutzern ermöglichen, dreimal kleinere Ziele zuverlässig mit dem Finger auszuwählen. Wir zeigen dabei, dass sowohl die Haltung des Fingers als auch der Benutzer selbst einen systematischen Einfluss auf die vom Sensor gemessene Position ausübt. Da existierende Geräte weder die Haltung des Fingers noch den Benutzer erkennen, nehmen sie solche Variationen als Eingabeungenauigkeit wahr. Wir stellen ein Modell für Berührungseingabe vor, das diese beiden Faktoren integriert, um damit die gemessenen Eingabepositionen zu präzisieren. Anschließend untersuchen wir, welches mentale Modell Nutzer beim Berühren kleiner Ziele mit dem Finger anwenden. Unsere Ergebnisse deuten auf ein visuelles Modell hin, demzufolge Benutzer Merkmale auf der Oberfläche ihres Fingers an einem Ziel ausrichten. Bei der Analyse von Berührungseingaben mit diesem Modell verschwinden nahezu alle zuvor von uns beobachteten systematischen Effekte. (2) Unsere Prototypen identifizieren Nutzer anhand der biometrischen Merkmale von Fingerabdrücken. Unser Prototyp Fiberio integriert dabei einen Fingerabdruckscanner und einen Bildschirm in die selbe Oberfläche und löst somit das seit Langem bestehende Problem der sicheren Authentifizierung auf Berührungsbildschirmen. Gemeinsam mit der 3D-Rekonstruktion von Eingaben ermöglicht diese Fähigkeit Fiberio, eine Reihe von Anwendungen zu implementieren, die bisher den sperrigen Aufbau aktueller 3D-NUI-Systeme voraussetzten. (3) Um die Flexibilität unserer Methode zu zeigen, implementieren wir sie auf einem großen, berührungsempfindlichen Fußboden, der Objekttexturen bei der Eingabe ebenfalls mit hoher Auflösung aufzeichnet. Ähnlich wie zuvor analysiert unser System GravitySpace diese Abdrücke, um Nutzer anhand ihrer Schuhsolen zu identifizieren, Möbelstücke auf dem Boden zu erkennen und Nutzern präzise Eingaben mittels ihrer Schuhe zu ermöglichen. Indem GravitySpace alle Abdrücke klassifiziert, erkennt das System die Körperteile der Benutzer, die sich in Kontakt mit dem Boden befinden. Aus der Anordnung dieser Kontakte schließt GravitySpace dann auf die Körperhaltungen aller Benutzer in 3D. GravitySpace hat daher das Potenzial, Anwendungen für zukünftige 3D-NUI-Systeme auf einer flachen Oberfläche zu implementieren, wie zum Beispiel in zukünftigen intelligenten Wohnungen. Wie schließen diese Arbeit mit einem Ausblick auf zukünftige interaktive Geräte. Dabei konzentrieren wir uns auf den Mobilitätsaspekt aktueller Entwicklungen und beleuchten, wie zukünftige mobile NUI-Geräte Nutzer in Form implantierter Geräte direkt unterstützen können.

Οι τεχνολογικές εξελίξεις των τελευταίων ετών, έχουν αναβαθμίσει τις κινητές συσκευές, από απλά κινητά τηλέφωνα σε συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού. Οι σύγχρονες κινητές συσκευές είναι πλέον εξοπλισμένες με φωτογραφικούς φακούς υψηλής ανάλυσης, δέκτη GPS, δέκτη WiFi (802.11 b/g/n), κυκλώματα NFC, δυνατότητες σύνδεσης στο διαδίκτυο μέσω δικτύων κινητής τηλεφωνίας (3G/4G), επιταχυνσιόμετρα, αισθητήρες καταγραφής καρδιακών παλμών κ.α. Οι αισθητήρες αυτοί, είναι σε θέση να συλλέγουν πληροφορίες για το πλαίσιο του χρήστη (user’s context), το οποίο συμπεριλαμβάνει πληροφορίες όπως η τοποθεσία του, η τρέχουσα μέρα και ώρα, ο προσανατολισμός της συσκευής, το αν ο χρήστης κινείται και με πόση ταχύτητα, την τρέχουσα δραστηριότητα του χρήστη (π.χ. ομιλία, πληκτρολόγηση κειμένου) κ.α. Επίσης, οι ίδιοι οι χρήστες αποθηκεύουν στις συσκευές όλο και περισσότερες προσωπικές πληροφορίες, όπως το ιστορικό της επικοινωνίας τους, σύντομα μηνύματα, φωτογραφίες, emails, μουσική και βίντεο, υπενθυμίσεις και γεγονότα στο ημερολόγιο κ.α. Ο συνδυασμός του πλαισίου του χρήστη με την κοινωνική πληροφορία του χρήστη, δημιουργούν ένα δυναμικά οριζόμενο πλαίσιο, το κοινωνικό κινητό πλαίσιο του χρήστη (user’s mobile social context). Σκοπός της διδακτορικής διατριβής, είναι η υποστήριξη του χρήστη για την ανάκτηση προσωπικών πληροφοριών από συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού, με αξιοποίηση του κινητού κοινωνικού πλαισίου. Στα πλαίσια της διδακτορικής διατριβής, ως περίπτωση χρήσης, μελετήθηκε η ανάκτηση επαφών από το χρήστη με σκοπό την επικοινωνία (κλήση, μήνυμα κ.λπ.). Παρόλα αυτά, η μεθοδολογία που ακολουθήθηκε μπορεί να εφαρμοστεί για την ανάκτηση οποιουδήποτε είδους προσωπικής πληροφορίας, όπως φωτογραφίες, βίντεο, μουσική κ.α. Συγκεκριμένα, αφού μελετήθηκαν πραγματικά δεδομένα χρήσης από δύο σύνολα δεδομένων, σχεδιάστηκε και υλοποιήθηκε ένας νέος αλγόριθμος για την πρόβλεψη της μελλοντικής επικοινωνίας του χρήστη συσκευών κινητού υπολογισμού. Στη συνέχεια, έγινε σύγκριση του συγκεκριμένου αλγορίθμου με υπάρχουσες προσεγγίσεις, οι οποίες αναφέρονται στη βιβλιογραφία. Κατόπιν, σχεδιάστηκε και υλοποιήθηκε σύστημα για συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού το οποίο ενσωματώνει τον προτεινόμενο αλγόριθμο. Παράλληλα, σχεδιάστηκαν, υλοποιήθηκαν και αξιολογήθηκαν, τόσο στο εργαστήριο όσο και με πειράματα πεδίου, υβριδικές προσαρμοστικές διεπαφές για την παρουσίαση των προτάσεων του αλγορίθμου και, γενικότερα, την υποστήριξη ανάκτησης προσωπικής πληροφορίας, όπως οι επαφές, σε συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού. Αναλυτικότερα, στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο, παρουσιάζεται η τρέχουσα κατάσταση στο πεδίο των συσκευών κινητού υπολογισμού, σε επίπεδο υλικού, σε επίπεδο δικτύων και σε επίπεδο λειτουργικών συστημάτων των συσκευών κινητού υπολογισμού. Επίσης, παρουσιάζεται συνοπτικά η έννοια του context και των context aware συστημάτων. Τέλος, γίνεται μια πρώτη καταγραφή των ερευνητικών θεμάτων της διδακτορικής διατριβής και παρουσιάζεται συνοπτικά η συνεισφορά της. Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο, γίνεται μια εκτενής παρουσίαση της τρέχουσας ερευνητικής δραστηριότητας στον τομέα της διδακτορικής διατριβής. Συγκεκριμένα, αναπτύσσονται οι έννοιες του context και των context-aware συστημάτων και στη συνέχεια γίνεται αναφορά στις έννοιες του mobile και social context. Κατόπιν, παρουσιάζονται μεθοδολογίες ανάκτησης και μοντελοποίησης του context, με έμφαση στο context των συσκευών κινητού και διάχυτου υπολογισμού. Στη συνέχεια, παρουσιάζονται χαρακτηριστικά παραδείγματα κινητών context aware συστημάτων, με έμφαση στα context aware συστήματα για τη διαχείριση προσωπικής πληροφορίας σε συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού και ειδικότερα στη διαχείριση των επαφών και της επικοινωνίας του χρήστη. Τέλος, παρουσιάζονται νέα είδη διεπαφών (adaptive interfaces), οι οποίες προσαρμόζονται στο τρέχον context της συσκευής κινητού υπολογισμού. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο, παρουσιάζεται το πρώτο μέρος του ερευνητικού έργου της παρούσας διδακτορική διατριβής. Συγκεκριμένα, παρουσιάζεται η μελέτη και υλοποίηση ενός αλγορίθμου για την ανάκτηση προσωπικής πληροφορίας από συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού. Ως περίπτωση χρήσης, εστιάσαμε στην ανάκτηση των επαφών. Αρχικά, παρουσιάστηκε ο τρόπος με τον οποίο επιλέξαμε να αναπαραστήσουμε το context του χρήστη. Στη συνέχεια, για να ερευνηθεί ποιες διαστάσεις του context είναι οι σημαντικότερες για την ανάκτηση επαφών, πραγματοποιήθηκε η ανάλυση δύο συνόλων δεδομένων, ενός που συλλέχθηκε στα πλαίσια της διδακτορικής διατριβής και ενός που παραχωρήθηκε από την εταιρία ΝΟΚΙΑ. Κατόπιν, παρουσιάζεται ο σχεδιασμός και η πειραματική αξιολόγηση του αλγορίθμου. Τέλος, παρουσιάζεται η σύγκριση του προτεινόμενου αλγορίθμου με αντίστοιχους αλγορίθμους και προσεγγίσεις της βιβλιογραφίας. Στο τέταρτο κεφάλαιο, παρουσιάζεται η υλοποίηση ενός συστήματος ανάκτησης επαφών σε συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού. Συγκεκριμένα, υλοποιήθηκε ο αλγόριθμος που παρουσιάστηκε στο προηγούμενο κεφάλαιο και στη συνέχεια σχεδιάστηκαν και υλοποιήθηκαν context aware προσαρμοστικές διεπαφές, για την ανάκτηση επαφών σε συσκευές κινητού υπολογισμού. Στη συνέχεια, παρουσιάζεται η αξιολόγηση του συστήματος που υλοποιήθηκε, με την πραγματοποίηση πειράματος πεδίου, διάρκειας ενός μήνα. Κατά τη διάρκεια του πειράματος, συλλέγονταν ανώνυμα στατιστικά χρήσης του συστήματος, ενώ, στο τέλος του πειράματος, έγινε και συλλογή ποιοτικών δεδομένων, με χρήση ερωτηματολογίων. Στο τελευταίο, πέμπτο, κεφάλαιο, παρουσιάζεται μία σύνοψη της διδακτορικής διατριβής, καταγράφονται τα συμπεράσματα της και γίνεται αναφορά στις μελλοντικές επεκτάσεις του ερευνητικού έργου. / Recent technological advances have transformed the mobile phones from simple communication devices to pervasive computing devices. Today’s mobiles are equipped with a great variety of hardware, such as high definition cameras, GPS receivers, WiFi capabilities, NFC chips, 3G/4G mobile network connections, compass, accelerometers etc. Those sensors collect a huge amount of information about mobile device’s user and her environment (user’s context), for example, the location, current day and time, device’s orientation, if she is on the move and how fast, the current task (e.g. talking, typing text) etc. Besides the automatically generated information, users keep a lot of personal information on their mobile devices like communication history, short messages, photos, emails, music and videos, reminder and calendar events etc. If we combine the user’s context with the stored social information, a dynamic context is created, which can be termed the user’s mobile social context. The aim of this PhD thesis is the exploitation of user’s mobile social context in order to support the extraction of personal information from mobile computing devices. As an example of personal information, this thesis studies the support of user’s communication by extracting the desired contacts. However, the same methodology applies to all kinds of personal information like photos, videos, music etc. First of all, real mobile usage statistics from two different datasets were analyzed in order to design and implement a new prediction algorithm of the future user’s communication on mobile devices. Secondly, a comparison between the proposed algorithm and relative algorithms was conducted. Then, a system for mobile devices that embeds the proposed algorithm was developed. At the same time, adaptive interfaces for the presentation of the proposals of the algorithm were designed and evaluated, conducting both lab and field experiments. Chapter 1 presents the current status in the field of mobile computing devices, in terms of hardware, mobile networks and mobile operating systems. The terms “context” and “context aware” systems are also briefly presented. Finally, Chapter 1 presents the research question of this thesis and its research contribution. Chapter 2 presents the related work in the field. First, the terms “context” and “context aware” are discussed in detail and then the terms of “mobile” and “social context” are introduced. The chapter discusses proposals for retrieving and modeling the user’s context, giving detailed information about the mobile user’s context. Also, in the same chapter, examples of context aware systems are presented, focusing mainly to context aware systems for communication management and contacts retrieval. Finally, novel, adaptive, context aware interfaces are also presented. Chapter 3 presents the first part of the thesis’ research. A new algorithm for the task of contacts retrieval is proposed. In order to choose the proper dimensions of the user’s context for the specific task, an analysis and examination of two different dataset is perfomed. The first dataset is preliminary and it is collected in the context of this thesis. The second one is provided by NOKIA and is the outcome of a large scale initiative that took place in Geneva area of Switzerland, the NOKIA Lausanne Data Collection Campaign. A comparative evaluation of the proposed algorithm against the two mentioned datasets is finally performed. Finally, a comparison of the proposed algorithm with similar approaches and algorithms is presented. In Chapter 4, the design and implementation of a Google Android system for contacts retrieval from mobile computing devices is presented. A set of context aware adaptive interfaces for contacts retrieval was designed and developed, to make use of the algorithm discussed in Chapter 3. These interfaces were tested using a large scale field experiment (1 month duration) in order to evaluate the system in real conditions and with real users. During the experiment, anonymous usage statistics from users were collected and a questionnaire for the qualitative evaluation of our system was also distributed. In the final chapter (chapter 5), the conclusions of the thesis and future work suggestions are presented.