The future of work is rapidly evolving, particularly in knowledge-based professions such as programming, engineering, and scientific research. These fields traditionally rely on physical monitors in office settings. However, with the rise of hybrid work models fueled by technological advances and the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing need for flexible and portable display solutions. Workers can now operate from remote settings, their homes, or mobile scenarios while still requiring substantial screen space to complete their tasks. This dissertation investigates the design and evaluation of virtual displays rendered through head-worn displays (HWDs) as a promising alternative, aiming to optimize them for productive work. These displays offer flexibility, allowing users to achieve large monitor spaces in virtual or augmented reality environments, adaptable to any location. We aim to answer three research questions: (1) ``How does replacing or extending physical monitors with virtual displays using current technology impact the user experience of productivity tasks?'', (2) ``How can we take advantage of the spatial flexibility property of virtual displays to eliminate screen boundaries and increase the amount of space available to users?'', and (3) ``How can we leverage properties of virtual displays to design techniques that minimize overhead in window management tasks without reducing user freedom?'' Through careful interface design and empirical user studies, we seek to understand how to leverage the unique capabilities of HWDs to enhance productivity, preparing the groundwork for future virtual display systems as technology advances. / Doctor of Philosophy / The future of work is rapidly evolving, particularly in knowledge-based professions such as programming, engineering, and scientific research. These fields traditionally rely on physical monitors in office settings. However, with the rise of hybrid work models fueled by technological advances and the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing need for flexible and portable display solutions. Workers can now operate from remote settings, their homes, or mobile scenarios while still requiring substantial screen space to complete their tasks. This dissertation investigates the design and evaluation of virtual displays rendered through virtual or augmented reality headsets as a promising alternative, aiming to optimize them for productive work. These displays offer flexibility, allowing users to achieve large monitor spaces while being adaptable to any location. Our research aims to understand how replacing or extending physical monitors with virtual displays impacts productivity, how to maximize the available space and organization, and how to design techniques that make it easier to organize and access windows. Through careful design of these displays and testing with users, we seek to understand how we can take advantage of the capabilities provided by AR/VR headsets to enhance productivity and pave the way for future displays.

Outdoor air pollution is a major contributor to adverse health effects of citizens, in particular those living in urban environments. Air quality monitoring networks are set up to measure air quality in different environments in compliance with national and European legislation. Generally, only a few fixed monitoring sites are located within a city and thus cannot represent air pollutant concentrations in urban areas accurately enough to allow for a detailed human exposure assessment. Other approaches to derive detailed urban air pollutant concentration estimates exist, such as dispersion models and land-use regression (LUR) models. Low-cost portable air quality monitors are also emerging, which have the potential to add value to existing monitoring networks by providing measurements at greater spatial resolution and also to provide individual-level exposure assessment. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate how measurements and modelling in combination allow detailed investigations of the variability of air pollutants in space and time in urban area, and in turn improve on the current exposure assessment methods. Three types of low-cost portable monitors measuring NO2, O3 (Aeroqual monitors) and PM2.5 (microPEM monitor) were evaluated against their respective reference instruments. The Aeroqual O3 monitor showed very good correlation (r2 > 0.9) with the respective reference instruments, but biases in the slope and intercept coefficients indicated that calibration of Aeroqual O3 monitor was needed. The Aeroqual NO2 monitor was subject to cross-sensitivity from O3, which, as demonstrated, can be effectively corrected by making O3 and NO2 measurements in tandem. Correlation between the microPEM monitor and its reference instrument was poor (r2 < 0.1) when PM2.5 concentrations were low (< 10 μg m-3), but significantly improved (r2 > 0.69) during periods with elevated PM2.5 concentrations. Relative humidity was not found to affect the raw results of PM2.5 measurements in a consistent manner. All three types of monitors cannot be used as equivalent or indicative methods instead of reference methods in studies that require quantification of absolute pollutant concentrations. However, the generally good correlations with reference instruments reassure their application in studies of relative trends of air pollution. Concentrations of PM2.5, ultrafine particles (UFP) and black carbon (BC) were quantified using portable monitors through a combination of mobile and static measurements in the city of Edinburgh, UK. The spatial variability of UFP and BC was large, of similar magnitude and about 3 times higher than the spatial variability of PM2.5. Elevated concentrations of UFP and BC were observed along streets with high traffic volumes whereas PM2.5 showed less variation between streets and a footpath without road traffic. Both BC and UFP significantly correlated with traffic counts, while no significant correlation between PM2.5 and traffic counts was observed. The relationships between UFP, NO2 and inorganic components of PM2.5 were further investigated through long-term measurements at roadside, urban background and rural sites. UFP moderately correlated with NOx (NO2 + NO) and showed varying relationships with NOx depending on the particle size distribution. Principal component analysis and air-mass back trajectory analysis revealed that PM2.5 concentrations were dominated by long-range transport of secondary inorganic aerosols, whereas UFP were mainly related to varying local emissions and meteorological conditions. These findings imply the need for different policies for managing human exposure to these different particle components: control of much BC and UFP appears to be manageable at local scale by restricting traffic emissions; however, abatement of PM2.5 requires a more strategic approach, in cooperation with other regions and countries on emissions control to curb long-range transport of PM2.5 precursors. A dispersion model (ADMS-Urban) was used to simulate high resolution NO2 and O3 concentrations in Edinburgh. The effects of different emission and meteorological input datasets on the resulting modelled NO2 concentrations were investigated. The modelled NO2 and O3 concentrations using the optimal model setup were validated against reference instrument and diffusion tube measurements. Temporal variability of NO2 was predicted well at locations that were not heavily influenced by local effects, such as road junctions and bus stops. Temporal variability of O3 was predicted better than for NO2. Long-term spatial variability of NO2 was found to correlate well with diffusion tube measurements, while modelled spatial variability of O3 in ADMS-Urban compared poorly with diffusion tube measurements. However, it was found that the O3 diffusion tube measurements may be subject to some unidentified biases affecting their accuracy. Land-use regression (LUR) models are widely used to estimate exposure to air pollution in urban areas. An appropriately sized and designed monitoring network is an important component for the development of a robust LUR model. Concentrations of NO2 were simulated by ADMS-Urban at ‘virtual’ monitoring sites in 54 different network designs of varying numbers and types of site, using a 25 km2 area including much of the Edinburgh city area. Separate LUR models were developed for each network. These LUR models were then used to estimate ambient NO2 concentrations at all residential addresses, which were evaluated against the ADMS-Urban modelled concentration at these addresses. The improvement in predictive capability of the LUR models was insignificant above ~30 monitoring sites, although more sites tended to yield more precise LUR models. Monitoring networks containing sites located within highly populated areas better estimated NO2 concentrations across all residential locations. LUR models constructed from networks containing more roadside sites better characterised the high end of residential NO2 concentrations but had increased errors when considering the whole range of concentrations. No particular composition of monitoring network resulted in good estimation simultaneously across all residential NO2 concentration and of the highest NO2 levels implying a lack of spatial contrast in LUR-modelled pollution surface compared with the dispersion model. Finally, the results from the measurement and modelling studies presented in thesis are synthesised in the context of current exposure assessment studies. Low-cost air-quality monitors currently do not possess and are unlikely in the near future to provide the robustness and accuracy to replace the existing routine monitoring network. Development of the low-cost air-quality should be aiming at upgrading them as the indicative method as defined in the data quality objective in the EU directive. The monitoring sites used to build LUR models should capture well the population distribution in the study area as opposed to capturing the greatest pollution contrast. The traditional methods of evaluating LUR models are also ineffective in characterising the models’ capability at estimating pollutant concentration at residential address. Given that the dispersion models are also subject to the availability and uncertainties in the input data, future air quality model development should endeavour to incorporate both dispersion and land-use regression models, where the uncertainty in the input data can be reduced by using LUR models built on actual measurements, and the limitation in the statistical modelling can be replaced by adopting the deterministic approach used in the dispersion model.

Monitoring is hugely important for musicians in any type of live situation for them to provide a good musical performance, and In-ear Monitoring (IEM) is increasingly popular among both musicians and audio engineers. Despite this, there has been little research on the topic and musicians and audio engineers would benefit from knowing more about the system, to utilize it in the best way possible. Because of the potentially added issues with structure borne sound, the study has chosen to focus on vocalists that use IEM. Through interviews with both Less experienced IEM users and Experienced IEM users, this study aims to find out what issues IEM users experience in live situations. Other than perceived issues, the study investigates how issues evolve with increased experience, comparing the two user groups, what solutions can be found and how an IEM mix should be for a vocalist. Through a Thematic analysis, the study reaches the conclusion that the main issue with the IEM system for vocalists is isolation from the surrounding world, and that the isolation leads to other perceived issues such as worsening the live feeling and obstructing contact with the audience. The study also concludes that there is a clear connection between monitoring and musical performance with poor monitoring leading to worse performance. The main solution observed is habit with the system, good communication between the audio engineers and musicians and an understanding for both sides workflow to increase efficiency in mixing. With this knowledge, further research can be made to increase the understanding for musicians and audio engineers respectively, and audio engineers and musicians can already focus on increasing cooperation.

Esta é uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa elaborada através da metodologia de grupo focal em sua coleta de dados e da estratégia de análise textual para o corpus resultante da transcrição dos dados. Procurou-se neste trabalho indagar e escutar qual era a compreensão de monitores de espaços científicos de educação não formal sobre sua atuação junto ao ambiente e ao público. Além disso, buscou-se analisar as experiências narradas pelos monitores à luz da biologia cultural e identificar no discurso destes elementos relacionados ao seu \"encantamento\" pelas atividades desenvolvidas nos museus e centros de ciências. Percebe-se neste trabalho que a mediação humana é essencial no processo de transformação do indivíduo. Considerando o indivíduo não apenas o monitor ou o público, mas ambos. A mediação humana proporciona experiências de encantamento, mas o monitor pode também representar um papel de morte. O fenômeno social humano permeia todas as relações que se estabelecem entre os sujeitos, e estas podem caracterizar-se pela aceitação ou negação do outro. Na aceitação do outro, e de nós mesmos, podemos ter experiências de encantamento que de forma direta ou indireta atuam na tranformação pessoal e coletiva dos indivíduos sociais. Nesse contexto, a ação do monitor dentro de um espaço de educação não formal como museus ou centros de ciência pode ter resultados positivos ou negativos sobre o público atendido, além de gerar experiências de encantamento quando essas ações são positivas, as ações do monitor podem representar um papel de morte na vida de cada indivíduo que passa pelo museu. Diante dessa perspectiva inicial, surgiu neste trabalho o processo de conquista de território de um grupo de estudantes do curso de Licenciatura em Ciências da Natureza, da Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades da Universidade de São Paulo, que participaram desta pesquisa. Esse processo envolveu a linguagem como parte de um fenômeno social, a ruptura de certos padrões de negação impostos por determinados grupos sociais ou instituições, experiências de encantamento que surgiram a partir dessas rupturas e de um ambiente de aceitação mútua que possibilita transformação pessoal e coletiva. / This is a qualitative research using focus group as methodology in its data collection and textual analysis as strategy for the corpus resulting from the transcription of the data. In this work we investigate the monitor\'s understanding about their activities in museums and science centers of non-formal education. The question was based on their perception about the space and the visitors. In addition, to analyze the experiences narrated by monitors in the light of cultural biology and to identify in the speech of these, some elements related to their \"enchantment\" by activities carried out in museums and science centers. We realize in this work that the human mediation is essential in the process of transformation of the individual. Considering the individual not just the monitor or the public, but both. The human mediation provides experiences of enchantment, but the monitor can also represent a part of death experiences. The social phenomenon permeates all human relationships that are established between the subjects, and these can be characterized by the acceptance or denial of the other. On acceptance of the other and of ourselves, we can have experiences of enchantment that directly or indirectly act on personal and collective transformation of social subjects. In this context, the action of the monitor within an area of non-formal education such as museums or science centers can have positive or negative results about the public answered, besides generating enchantment experiences when these actions are positive. On the other hand, the actions of the monitor can represent a part of death in the life of every individual that passes by the museum. On this initial perspective, in this work emerged the process of conquest of territory of a group of students of the course of degree in natural sciences, from the school of Arts, Sciences and Humanities of the University of São Paulo, who participated in this survey. This process involved the language as part of a social phenomenon, the rupture of patterns of denial imposed by certain social groups or institutions, experiences of enchantment that emerged from these ruptures and of an environment of mutual acceptance which results in a continuous process of personal and collective transformation.

Esta Dissertação apresenta um modelo de paralelismo de grão fino para utilização em aplicações baseadas em objetos distribuídos. A pesquisa é desenvolvida sobre o modelo de distribuição de objetos da linguagem DPC++, uma extensão de C++ concebida na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. A motivação para o desenvolvimento deste modelo é a crescente disponibilidade de arquiteturas multiprocessadas e de tecnologias de comunicação de alto desempenho, o que permite o aproveitamento eficiente de um nível de concorrência de menor granularidade. O objetivo do trabalho é integrar de forma adequada e eficiente a utilização de tal nível de concorrência no modelo original de distribuição de objetos de DPC++, permitindo que as aplicações desenvolvidas com a linguagem possam explorar ao máximo o poder computacional oferecido pelas arquiteturas citadas. Como principais características, o modelo proposto apresenta a capacidade de concorrência entre os métodos de um mesmo objeto distribuído e a introdução de um mecanismo de sincronização baseado na semântica de monitores. Os resultados obtidos com a implementação de uma aplicação de geração de fractais de Mandelbrot demonstram que, em termos de desempenho, o modelo apresentado efetivamente atinge seus objetivos. Além disso, a extinção a sintaxe original de programação de DPC++ revela importante contribuição no sentido de aumentar o poder de expressão da linguagem para o desenvolvimento de aplicações paralelas. / This Thesis presents a fine-grain concurrency model for applications based on distributed objects. The basis for the development of this research is the model of distribution of objects presented by the language DPC++, an extension of C++ conceived at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The motivation for the development of this model is the growing availability of multiprocessor architectures and high-performance communication technologies, which allows for the efficient use of a finer grain of concurrency. The purpose of this work is to efficiently integrate such level of concurrency into the original model of distribution of objects of DPC++, making it possible for the applications developed with the language to thoroughly explore the computational power offered by the mentioned architectures. As main features the proposed model presents the possibility of concurrency between the methods of a single distributed object and the introduction of a synchronisation mechanism based on the semantics of monitors. The results obtained with the implementation of aMandelbrot fractal generation application showthat, in relation to performance, the presented model effectively reaches its purposes. In addition, the extension to the original programming sintax of DPC++ reveals an important contribution towards a higher expressivity degree in the development of parallel applications.

In the event of a radioactive dispersal device (RDD), the assessment of the internal contamination level of victims is necessary to determine if immediate medical follow-up is necessary. Thermo Scientific's TPM-903B Portal Monitor was investigated to determine if it is a suitable first cut screening tool for internal contamination assessment of victims. A portal monitor was chosen for this study because they are readily accessible, transportable, easy to assemble, and provide whole body count rates due to the detector size. The TPM-903B was modeled in Monte Carlo N-Particles Transport Code Version 5 (MCNP). This computational model was validated against the portal monitor's response to a series of measurements made with four point sources in a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) slab box. Using the validated MCNP5 model and models of the MIRD male and female anthropomorphic phantoms, the response of the portal monitor was simulated for the inhalation and ingestion radionuclides from an RDD. Six representative phantoms were considered: Reference Male, Reference Female, Adipose Male, Adipose Female, Post-Menopausal Adipose Female, and 10-Year-Old Child. The biokinetics via Dose and Risk Calculation Software (DCAL) was implemented using both the inhalation and ingestion pathways to determine the radionuclide concentrations in the organs of the body which were then used to determine the count rate of the portal monitor as a function of time. Dose coefficients were employed to determine the count rate of the detector associated with specific dose limits. These count rates were then compiled into procedure sheets to be used by first responders during the triaging of victims following an RDD.

Modelling is an important technique in the comprehension and management of complex systems. Queueing network models capture most relevant information from computer system and network behaviour. The construction and resolution of these models is constrained by many factors. Approximations contain detail lost for exact solution and/or provide results at lower cost than simulation. Information at the resource and interactive command level is gathered with monitors under ULTRIX'. Validation studies indicate central processor service times are highly variable on the system. More pessimistic predictions assuming this variability are in part verified by observation. The utility of the Generalised Exponential (GE) as a distribution parameterised by mean and variance is explored. Small networks of GE service centres can be solved exactly using methods proposed for Generalised Stochastic Petri Nets. For two centre. systems of GE type a new technique simplifying the balance equations is developed. A very efficient &quot;building bglloocbka&quot;l. is presented for exactly solving two centre systems with service or transfer blocking, Bernoulli feedback and load dependent rate, multiple GE servers. In the tandem finite buffer algorithm the building block illustrates problems encountered modelling high variability in blocking networks. A parametric validation study is made of approximations for single class closed networks of First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) centres with general service times. The multiserver extension using the building block is validated. Finally the Maximum Entropy approximation is extended to FCFS centres with multiple chains and implemented with computationally efficient convolution.

Thesis (M. S.)--Literature, Communication, and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Mazalek, Ali; Committee Member: Bolter, Jay David; Committee Member: Do, Ellen Yi-Luen; Committee Member: Nitsche, Michael; Committee Member: Winegarden, Claudia R.

Submitted by Emanuel Varela Cardoso (emanuel.varela@ufcg.edu.br) on 2018-08-31T22:34:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RONY MARCOLINO DE ANDRADE – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGCC) 2016.pdf: 3165388 bytes, checksum: e26452f5e3e73c3c717d633f0d6743b7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-31T22:34:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RONY MARCOLINO DE ANDRADE – DISSERTAÇÃO (PPGCC) 2016.pdf: 3165388 bytes, checksum: e26452f5e3e73c3c717d633f0d6743b7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-02 / Os Sistemas Físico-Cibernéticos (SFC) são sistemas que surgiram da confluência da conectividade das redes, dos dispositivos embarcados e do controle computacional sobre processos físicos. Dessa forma os SFC se caracterizam como sistemas de controle, monitoramento e supervisão com componentes físicos e virtuais, que dependem de agentes humanos no processo. Nesse sentido, a combinação dos SFC à física dinâmica e complexa dos pacientes clínicos faz surgir uma classe distintas de sistemas médicos denominada de Sistemas Médicos Físico-Cibernéticos (SMFC). No domínio industrial há plantas que possuem sensores e atuadores que muitas vezes dependem de agentes humanos para manutenção e controle. Diferentemente, no domínio da saúde, o ser humano é o próprio processo a ser controlado, onde sensores e atuadores são os dispositivos médicos, e os agentes humanos são os cuidadores. Esse trabalho propõe uma abordagem para a construção de modelos de dispositivos médicos, como parte de um conjunto de artefatos para apoiar os testes de SMFC. Esta abordagem se baseia em modelos de referência que simulam o funcionamento de dispositivos médicos. Especificações técnicas fornecidas pelos fabricantes desses dispositivos, juntamente com diretrizes disponibilizadas por agências reguladoras, foram utilizadas para a definição da abordagem proposta. Além disso, um estudo de caso com três dispositivos médicos foi desenvolvido com o fim de validar a abordagem, criando artefatos e modelos de referência. / Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are systems that have emerged from the confluence of the connectivity of networks, embedded devices and computer control of physical processes. Thus, SFC are characterized as control, monitoring and supervision systems with physical and virtual components, which depend on human agents in the process. In this sense, the combination of SFC dynamic and complex physics of medical patients enable a distinct class of medical systems called Medical Cyber Physical Systems (MCPS). In the industrial area, there are plants with sensors and actuators that often rely on human agents for maintenance and control. On the other hand, in the field of health, human being is the process itself to be controlled, where sensors and actuators are medical devices and human agents are caregivers. MCPS perform monitoring and control of human health with high levels of security. This paper proposes an approach to build models of medical devices, as part of a set of artifacts to support MCPS testing. This approach is based on reference models which simulate the operation of medical devices. Technical specifications provide by manufacturers of these devices, along with guidelines provided by regulatory agencies, were used for the definition of the proposed approach. Moreover, a case study with three medical device was designed to validate the approach, creating some artifacts and reference models.

Esta Dissertação apresenta um modelo de paralelismo de grão fino para utilização em aplicações baseadas em objetos distribuídos. A pesquisa é desenvolvida sobre o modelo de distribuição de objetos da linguagem DPC++, uma extensão de C++ concebida na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. A motivação para o desenvolvimento deste modelo é a crescente disponibilidade de arquiteturas multiprocessadas e de tecnologias de comunicação de alto desempenho, o que permite o aproveitamento eficiente de um nível de concorrência de menor granularidade. O objetivo do trabalho é integrar de forma adequada e eficiente a utilização de tal nível de concorrência no modelo original de distribuição de objetos de DPC++, permitindo que as aplicações desenvolvidas com a linguagem possam explorar ao máximo o poder computacional oferecido pelas arquiteturas citadas. Como principais características, o modelo proposto apresenta a capacidade de concorrência entre os métodos de um mesmo objeto distribuído e a introdução de um mecanismo de sincronização baseado na semântica de monitores. Os resultados obtidos com a implementação de uma aplicação de geração de fractais de Mandelbrot demonstram que, em termos de desempenho, o modelo apresentado efetivamente atinge seus objetivos. Além disso, a extinção a sintaxe original de programação de DPC++ revela importante contribuição no sentido de aumentar o poder de expressão da linguagem para o desenvolvimento de aplicações paralelas. / This Thesis presents a fine-grain concurrency model for applications based on distributed objects. The basis for the development of this research is the model of distribution of objects presented by the language DPC++, an extension of C++ conceived at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. The motivation for the development of this model is the growing availability of multiprocessor architectures and high-performance communication technologies, which allows for the efficient use of a finer grain of concurrency. The purpose of this work is to efficiently integrate such level of concurrency into the original model of distribution of objects of DPC++, making it possible for the applications developed with the language to thoroughly explore the computational power offered by the mentioned architectures. As main features the proposed model presents the possibility of concurrency between the methods of a single distributed object and the introduction of a synchronisation mechanism based on the semantics of monitors. The results obtained with the implementation of aMandelbrot fractal generation application showthat, in relation to performance, the presented model effectively reaches its purposes. In addition, the extension to the original programming sintax of DPC++ reveals an important contribution towards a higher expressivity degree in the development of parallel applications.