The thesis "Perception of Chinese hi-tech brands in Europe" examines how Chinese origin affects the perception of hi-tech brands by European customers. The theoretical part deals with the concept of country of origin and its relationship to the concept of brand equity. The practical part is devoted to the research on the topic of perception of Chinese smartphones in Europe. The research results confirm both hypotheses: 1. Customers when choosing a smartphone brand are not affected by the country of origin. 2. European customers do not perceive Chinese hi-tech products as of low quality.

The diploma thesis is focused on smartphones and user product reviews. The purpose of the diploma thesis is to establish a link between user product reviews and their willingness to buy the product. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part deals with consumer behavior, brands, willingness to buy a product and user product reviews. In the practical part there is a research demonstrated. The research is applied on a target group of czech consumers in the age from 16 to 24. In the last part of the thesis there is an evaluation and some recommendations. These recommendations can help to realize the key aspects which influence the customers willingness to buy the product.

This thesis presents a usability evaluation of a non conventional way to visualize virtual objects in Augmented Reality (AR). The virtual objects consists of a window that can be placed on a real surface and then opened to view a virtual room containing some virtual objects. This concept was applied to a smartphone application created and designed to evaluate the usability of the concept. The usability was evaluated with user testing methods designed to gather information about the interaction and the perception of handheld Augmented Reality (HAR) applications. The usefulness of the concept was also evaluated by designing the application to be intended for entertainment and then evaluating the users interest for such an application. Design guidelines and design patterns created for HAR applications was followed when designing the application. The results of this project has shown that the concept is easy to both comprehend and interact with. This applies to users with previous smartphone experience but not much experience with AR. The results has also shown that smartphone users find an interest in using an application of this type. An application designed for entertainment and with the described concept. The purpose of evaluating this concept has been to verify its usefulness to promote its use in AR applications. This would create a variety in the visualization of virtual objects in AR. It would also open up for new opportunities in the use of AR.

This master thesis is focused on topic of using mobile devices in work environment of enterprises, specifically on using mobile devices owned by employees. The thesis is divided into two parts. First part of the thesis describes benefits and risks of using mobile devices in enterprises while allowing usage of mobile devices owned by employees and compares individual mobile platforms in terms of security. Also there is a comparison of individual mobile devices management solutions in terms of security in this part of the thesis. Second part of the thesis is focused on methodology of mobile devices implementation in enterprises and their security. Methodology describes activities required for implementation of mobile devices in enterprises. At the end of this part there are security recommendations which are suitable to apply to mobile devices in enterprises.

While GPS long has been an industry standard for localization of an entity or person anywhere in the world, it loses much of its accuracy and value when used indoors. To enable services such as indoor navigation, other methods must be used. A new standard of the Wi-Fi protocol, IEEE 802.11mc (Wi-Fi RTT), enables distance estimation between the transmitter and the receiver based on the Round-Trip Time (RTT) delay of the signal. Using these distance estimations and the known locations of the transmitting Access Points (APs), an estimation of the receiver’s location can be determined. In this thesis, a smartphone Wi-Fi RTT based Indoor Positioning System (IPS) is presented using an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). The UKF using only RTT based distance estimations as input, is established as a baseline implementation. Two extensions are then presented to improve the positioning performance; 1) a dead reckoning algorithm using smartphone sensors part of the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) as an additional input to the UKF, and 2) a method to detect and adjust distance measurements that have been made in Non-Line-of-Sight (NLoS) conditions. The implemented IPS is evaluated in an office environment in both favorable situations (plenty of Line-of-Sight conditions) and sub-optimal situations (dominant NLoS conditions). Using both extensions, meter level accuracy is achieved in both cases as well as a 90th percentile error of less than 2 meters.

Föräldrars användning av en smartphone i barns närhet är ett aktuellt och omtalat ämne. Vi intervjuade föräldrar och förskollärare baserat på deras erfarenheter av föräldrars användning av en smartphone runt barn i allmänhet men också gällande den sociala interaktion. Det finns inga studier om långsiktig påverkan men vi har analyserat respondenternas berättelser med hjälp av tidigare forskning och teorier om barns anknytning och utveckling. Föräldrarnas närvaro och tillgänglighet är avgörande för barnets anknytning och utveckling. Forskning visar att interaktionen kan påverkas och att barn reagerar på föräldrars smartphoneanvändning. Samtidigt visar forskning att det är en minoritet av föräldrar som använder sin smartphone i närheten av barnet. Den sociala interaktionen mellan förälder och barn är viktig för barnets utveckling då det är genom denna barnet utvecklar viktiga förmågor. I situationer som är relaterade till anknytningen är det viktigt att föräldern är tillgänglig och närvarande för barnets signaler och behov. Slutsatsen av vår studie är att den sociala interaktionen mellan förälder och barn kan påverkas om föräldern använder en smartphone i barnets närhet. Men det handlar om hur ofta, hur länge, i vilka situationer och om föräldern är tillgänglig och närvarande för barnets signaler och behov för om det ska komma att påverka barnet. / Parents use of a smartphone around children is a current and well spoken topic. We interviewed parents and preschool teachers based on their experiences of parents use of a smartphone around children generally but also regarding the social interaction. There are no studies on long-term impact but we have analyzed the respondents stories with the help of previous research and theories on child attachment and development. The parents presence and availability are crucial for the child's attachment and development. Research shows that the interaction can be affected and that children respond to parents smartphone use. At the same time, research shows that it is a minority of parents who use their smartphone in the vicinity of the child. The social interaction between parent and child is important for the child's development as it is through this the child develops important abilities. In situations related to the attachment it is important that the parent is available and present for the child's signals and needs. The conclusion of our study is that the social interaction between parent and child kan be affected if the parent use a smartphone around the child. However it is about how often, how long, in what situations and if the parent is available and present for the child's signals and needs for it to affect the child.

Les réseaux sans fils et mobiles se sont énormément développés au cours de ces dernières années. Loin d'être réservés aux pays industrialisés, ces réseaux nécessitant une infrastructure fixe limitée se sont aussi imposés dans les pays émergents et les pays en voie de développement. En effet, avec un investissement structurel relativement très faible en comparaison de celui nécessaire à l'implantation d'un réseau filaire, ces réseaux permettent aux opérateurs d'offrir une couverture du territoire très large, avec un coût d'accès au réseau (prix du téléphone et des communications) tout à fait acceptable pour les utilisateurs. Aussi, il n'est pas surprenant qu'aujourd'hui, dans la majorité des pays, le nombre de téléphones sans fil soit largement supérieur à celui des téléphones fixes. Ce grand nombre de terminaux disséminé sur l'ensemble de la planète est un réservoir inestimable d'information dont une infime partie seulement est aujourd'hui exploitée. En effet, en combinant la position d'un mobile et sa vitesse de déplacement, il devient possible d'en déduire la qualité des routes ou du trafic routier. Dans un autre registre, en intégrant un thermomètre et/ou un hygromètre dans chaque terminal, ce qui à grande échelle impliquerait un coût unitaire dérisoire, ces terminaux pourraient servir de relai pour une météo locale plus fiable. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de cette thèse consiste à étudier et analyser les opportunités offertes par l'utilisation des données issues des terminaux mobiles, de proposer des solutions originales pour le traitement de ces grands masses de données, en insistant sur les optimisations (fusion, agrégation, etc.) pouvant être réalisées de manière intermédiaire dans le cadre de leur transport vers les(s) centre(s) de stockage et de traitement, et éventuellement d'identifier les données non disponibles aujourd'hui sur ces terminaux mais qui pourraient avoir un impact fort dans les années à venir. Un prototype présentant un exemple typique d'utilisation permettra de valider les différentes approches. / Mobile and wireless networks have developed enormously over the recent years. Far from being restricted to industrialized countries, these networks which require a limited fixed infrastructure, have also imposed in emerging countries and developing countries. Indeed, with a relatively low structural investment as compared to that required for the implementation of a wired network, these networks enable operators to offer a wide coverage of the territory with a network access cost (price of devices and communications) quite acceptable to users. Also, it is not surprising that today, in most countries, the number of wireless phones is much higher than landlines. This large number of terminals scattered across the planet is an invaluable reservoir of information that only a tiny fraction is exploited today. Indeed, by combining the mobile position and movement speed, it becomes possible to infer the quality of roads or road traffic. On another level, incorporating a thermometer and / or hygrometer in each terminal, which would involve a ridiculous large-scale unit cost, these terminals could serve as a relay for more reliable local weather. In this context, the objective of this thesis is to study and analyze the opportunities offered by the use of data from mobile devices to offer original solutions for the treatment of these big data, emphasizing on optimizations (fusion, aggregation, etc.) that can be performed as an intermediate when transferred to center(s) for storage and processing, and possibly identify data which are not available now on these terminals but could have a strong impact in the coming years. A prototype including a typical sample application will validate the different approaches.

Environmental factors can have a significant impact on an individual's health and well-being, and a primary characteristic of environments is air quality. Air sensing equipment is available to the public, but it is often expensive,stationary, or unusable for persons without technical expertise. The goal of this project is to develop an inexpensive and portable sensor module for public use. The system is capable of measuring temperature in Celsius and Fahrenheit, heat index, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration. The sensor module, referred to as the "sniffer," consists of a printed circuit board that interconnects a carbon dioxide sensor, a temperature/humidity sensor, an Arduino microcontroller, and a Bluetooth module. The sniffer is small enough to be worn as a pendant or a belt attachment, and it is rugged enough to consistently collect and transmit data to a user's smartphone throughout their workday. The accompanying smartphone app uses Bluetooth and GPS hardware to collect data and affix samples with a time stamp and GPS coordinates. The accumulated sensor data is saved to a file on the user's phone, which is then examined on a standard computer.

abstract: Abnormally low or high blood iron levels are common health conditions worldwide and can seriously affect an individual’s overall well-being. A low-cost point-of-care technology that measures blood iron markers with a goal of both preventing and treating iron-related disorders represents a significant advancement in medical care delivery systems. Methods: A novel assay equipped with an accurate, storable, and robust dry sensor strip, as well as a smartphone mount and (iPhone) app is used to measure total iron in human serum. The sensor strip has a vertical flow design and is based on an optimized chemical reaction. The reaction strips iron ions from blood-transport proteins, reduces Fe(III) to Fe(II), and chelates Fe(II) with ferene, with the change indicated by a blue color on the strip. The smartphone mount is robust and controls the light source of the color reading App, which is calibrated to obtain output iron concentration results. The real serum samples are then used to assess iron concentrations from the new assay and validated through intra-laboratory and inter-laboratory experiments. The intra-laboratory validation uses an optimized iron detection assay with multi-well plate spectrophotometry. The inter-laboratory validation method is performed in a commercial testing facility (LabCorp). Results: The novel assay with the dry sensor strip and smartphone mount, and App is seen to be sensitive to iron detection with a dynamic range of 50 - 300 µg/dL, sensitivity of 0.00049 µg/dL, coefficient of variation (CV) of 10.5%, and an estimated detection limit of ~15 µg/dL These analytical specifications are useful for predicting iron deficiency and overloads. The optimized reference method has a sensitivity of 0.00093 µg/dL and CV of 2.2%. The correlation of serum iron concentrations (N=20) between the optimized reference method and the novel assay renders a slope of 0.95, and a regression coefficient of 0.98, suggesting that the new assay is accurate. Lastly, a spectrophotometric study of the iron detection reaction kinetics is seen to reveal the reaction order for iron and chelating agent. Conclusion: The new assay is able to provide accurate results in intra- and inter- laboratory validations and has promising features of both mobility and low-cost. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Chemical Engineering 2020

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