Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) potentially represent a way to deliver services to the public that would previously have require human staff. Making an ECA available online allows out-of-hours access to information and services, as well as allowing users to access the information anywhere there is an internet connection. As handheld devices grow in popularity and become the primary source of internet connection for many users, it is necessary to examine whether an ECA is appropriate for use on a handheld device, and what factors affect its usability. Over the course of four experiments this research examines how using a handheld device is different from using a PC, how an ECA should be presented on a handheld device, how using an ECA service in a public space affects the experience, and how an ECA should interact with users. It was determined that the usability of an ECA service is not affected by the device on which it is experienced, that on smaller screens or in demanding environments the ECA should be emphasised, and that text should be included in an ECA service as long as the ECA remains intermittently visible. It was also found that usability results from the laboratory can be generalised to the real world, that ECA services are appropriate for all ages and genders, that incorporating disclosure elements into an ECA service is a beneficial feature, and that while financial topics are appropriate to be discussed with an ECA, they are best kept to general rather than personal information. The following chapters present the necessary literary background to the field, before covering each experiment individually, and finally presenting detailed conclusions about the usability of ECAs on handheld devices.

<p>Today, several tourist attractions use handheld devices that act as tour guides to give the customers an improved experience and better knowledge of the attraction. A graphical user interface on the devices provides the users with information through sound, pictures and video. In order to improve the information delivered to the users, some of these guides are location-aware. However, location-aware tour guides are expensive to develop. They have to be developed tailored for each attraction, which is a time consuming job.</p><p>By having a framework for the development of location-aware tour guides, the tour guides will be both easier and less expensive to develop. In addition, it will be easy to make changes to the guides if necessary.</p><p>This project resulted in the development of a prototype for a framework for location-aware tour guides. The framework consists of three main tools; a Creator Tool, a Statistical Tool and a Runtime System. The Creator Tool is used to create and configure new tour guides. The Statistical Tool is used by the staff of the attraction. It generates statistics based on information stored in a log. The Runtime System is the system that provides the mobile devices information, adjusted to their location during a guided tour. To demonstrate the use of the framework, we have developed two client applications, one for PDAs and the other for cellphones. Both applications are electronically location-aware tour guides made for the Nidaros Cathedral.</p><p>The cellphone application is an innovative application that may result in a tremendous evolvement in the development of cellphone applications. It shows great potentials in the area of location-aware cellphone applications with high accuracy, and can be used not only in tour attractions, but also in several other fields. Thus, the project has gained a great deal of publicity, both from newspapers and television.</p>

Today, several tourist attractions use handheld devices that act as tour guides to give the customers an improved experience and better knowledge of the attraction. A graphical user interface on the devices provides the users with information through sound, pictures and video. In order to improve the information delivered to the users, some of these guides are location-aware. However, location-aware tour guides are expensive to develop. They have to be developed tailored for each attraction, which is a time consuming job. By having a framework for the development of location-aware tour guides, the tour guides will be both easier and less expensive to develop. In addition, it will be easy to make changes to the guides if necessary. This project resulted in the development of a prototype for a framework for location-aware tour guides. The framework consists of three main tools; a Creator Tool, a Statistical Tool and a Runtime System. The Creator Tool is used to create and configure new tour guides. The Statistical Tool is used by the staff of the attraction. It generates statistics based on information stored in a log. The Runtime System is the system that provides the mobile devices information, adjusted to their location during a guided tour. To demonstrate the use of the framework, we have developed two client applications, one for PDAs and the other for cellphones. Both applications are electronically location-aware tour guides made for the Nidaros Cathedral. The cellphone application is an innovative application that may result in a tremendous evolvement in the development of cellphone applications. It shows great potentials in the area of location-aware cellphone applications with high accuracy, and can be used not only in tour attractions, but also in several other fields. Thus, the project has gained a great deal of publicity, both from newspapers and television.

Mobile hand-held communication device (smart phone) use is very prevalent and growing rapidly. In addition, there is empirical support for heavy use to be associated with musculoskeletal disorders. This study therefore addressed the physical demand and performance when using these devices. The natural texting style for 20 participants was identified and then participants performed standardized static and dynamic tasks on 4 different types of mobile hand-held devices; a touch screen device and 3 devices with different keyboard sizes and layout; a flip or clamshell design, a PDA style device and a phone with a pull out QWERTY keyboard. Participants rated the effort required to complete each task and for dynamic tasks, keystroke speed was also measured. The time history of angles of the carpometacarpal, metacarpophalangeal and interphalageal joints of the thumb as well as motion of the wrist were determined using small surface makers and an optoelectronic motion capture system. Thumb kinematics were normalized to the maximum range of motion of each joint. Statistically significant and substantial differences were found for the dynamic condition: The tasks which required the most motion in the flexion/extension axis of the thumb also required the most effort, and that there is an inverse relationship between effort and typing speed, namely that those tasks, or devices which required the highest effort resulted in the lowest typing speeds, and visa-versa. Similarly, results showed that those static tasks which required the most thumb flexion also required the most effort. Overall, use of the touch screen phone required the least effort for dynamic and static tasks, and also resulted in the highest typing speeds. This could be a result of having the lowest force required to engage the keys. The device which resulted in the lowest typing speed and highest required effort was the flip phone, which also had the highest required force to engage the keys. There was also a weak relationship between user thumb length and required effort, with longer thumb length necessitating a greater about of effort. Those subjects who used the texting style indentified as the slide style which used forearm rotation with a less flexed thumb reported significantly less effort for all tasks than those who used the claw style which used extreme flexion of the thumb joints. However, texting style had no significant effect on typing speed, indicating that someone could adopt the slide style to reduce muscular effort and potentially the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders in the upper limbs and neck without sacrificing performance.

Mobile hand-held communication device (smart phone) use is very prevalent and growing rapidly. In addition, there is empirical support for heavy use to be associated with musculoskeletal disorders. This study therefore addressed the physical demand and performance when using these devices. The natural texting style for 20 participants was identified and then participants performed standardized static and dynamic tasks on 4 different types of mobile hand-held devices; a touch screen device and 3 devices with different keyboard sizes and layout; a flip or clamshell design, a PDA style device and a phone with a pull out QWERTY keyboard. Participants rated the effort required to complete each task and for dynamic tasks, keystroke speed was also measured. The time history of angles of the carpometacarpal, metacarpophalangeal and interphalageal joints of the thumb as well as motion of the wrist were determined using small surface makers and an optoelectronic motion capture system. Thumb kinematics were normalized to the maximum range of motion of each joint. Statistically significant and substantial differences were found for the dynamic condition: The tasks which required the most motion in the flexion/extension axis of the thumb also required the most effort, and that there is an inverse relationship between effort and typing speed, namely that those tasks, or devices which required the highest effort resulted in the lowest typing speeds, and visa-versa. Similarly, results showed that those static tasks which required the most thumb flexion also required the most effort. Overall, use of the touch screen phone required the least effort for dynamic and static tasks, and also resulted in the highest typing speeds. This could be a result of having the lowest force required to engage the keys. The device which resulted in the lowest typing speed and highest required effort was the flip phone, which also had the highest required force to engage the keys. There was also a weak relationship between user thumb length and required effort, with longer thumb length necessitating a greater about of effort. Those subjects who used the texting style indentified as the slide style which used forearm rotation with a less flexed thumb reported significantly less effort for all tasks than those who used the claw style which used extreme flexion of the thumb joints. However, texting style had no significant effect on typing speed, indicating that someone could adopt the slide style to reduce muscular effort and potentially the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders in the upper limbs and neck without sacrificing performance.

Handheld device users want to work collaboratively on large wall-sized displays with other handheld device users. However, no software frameworks exist to support this type of collaborative activity. This thesis introduces a collaborative application framework that allows users to collaborate with each other across handheld devices and large wall displays. The framework is comprised of a data storage system and a set of generic interactive techniques that can be utilized by applications. The data synchronization system allows data to be synchronized across multiple handheld devices and wall displays. The interactive techniques enable users to create data items and to form relationships between those data items. The framework is evaluated by creating two sample applications and by conducting a set of user study interactive tasks. The data recorded from these evaluations shows that the framework is easy to extend, and that with minimal training, the generic interactive techniques are easy to learn and effective.

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A diminuiÃÃo dos custos de hardware associado ao aumento da capacidade de processamento dos dispositivos portÃteis tem causado um crescimento muito acelerado do mercado consumidor no Brasil e no mundo, de maneira que estes dispositivos tornaram-se uma parte indispensÃvel no nosso cotidiano. Contudo, o crescente fator de miniaturizaÃÃo de componentes gerou problemas em relaÃÃo à interaÃÃo eficiente com perifÃricos de entrada e saÃda tradicionais, como os cursores e o teclado. Assim, para evitar custos adicionais, uma alternativa à utilizar componentes jà existentes no dispositivo, como sua cÃmera integrada. Neste contexto, o objetivo geral desta tese à o desenvolvimento de um novo algoritmo para a interaÃÃo humano-dispositivo portÃtil multiplataforma baseado em fluxo Ãptico. Embora o fluxo Ãptico de Horn (1981) ser conhecido por ser um algoritmo de extrema complexidade computacional, nesta tese à proposto um conjunto de adaptaÃÃes neste algoritmo para tornar possÃvel seu processamento em tempo real em dispositivos portÃteis. O algoritmo proposto à desenvolvido em C ANSI e embarcado em dispositivos com sistemas operacionais Qualcomm REX, Symbian e Android. O algoritmo implementado à comparado com mÃtodos presentes na literatura especializada para detecÃÃo de movimentos atravÃs de simulaÃÃes computacionais e testes de usabilidade. Os resultados mostram que o algoritmo proposto possui um baixo esforÃo computacional associado a uma efetiva detecÃÃo de movimentos, mostrando que à possÃvel o uso do mÃtodo de Fluxo Ãptico como sensor para interaÃÃo em sistemas embarcados. AlÃm disto, atravÃs da metodologia de implementaÃÃo proposta nesta tese, à possÃvel utilizar as funcionalidades desenvolvidas em diversos tipos de sistemas operacionais. / The decrease in hardware costs associated with improvement of processing power of embedded devices has caused a rapid growth of the consumer market, which make these devices an indispensable part of our daily life. However, the miniaturization of these components leads to problems in the usability of mobile devices, especially with traditional input interfaces, such as the cursors and keyboard. One solution to avoid this kind of problem without increase production cost of these devices is use resources available, like the embedded camera. Following this idea, the objective of this thesis is the development of a new multi-platform human-handheld interaction algorithm based in optical flow. Although the traditional optical flow algorithms have high computational effort, in this thesis, adaptations and optimizations of this algorithm are proposed to overcome hardware limitations of embedded systems. The proposed algorithm is implemented in ANSI C and is embedded at devices with Android, Rex and Symbian OS. The implemented algorithm is compared with traditional motion detection algorithm through computational simulations and usability tests. The results shown that the proposed algorithm associates a low computational effort associated with effective motion detection. So it is possible to use the optical flow as sensor to interact with handheld devices. Furthermore, through the implementation methodology of this thesis, is possible use the developed functionalities in various operational systems.

Despite the increase in popularity of handheld devices, text entry on such devices is becoming more difficult due to reduced form factors that limit display size, input modes, and interaction techniques. In an effort to circumvent these issues, research has found that five-key methods are effective for text entry on devices such as in-car navigation systems, television and gaming controllers, wrist watches, and other small devices. Five-key text entry methods use four directional keys to move a selector over an on-screen keyboard and an Enter key for selection. Although other researchers have described five-key character layouts using alphabetical order and predictive layouts based on digraph frequencies, there is considerable latitude in designing the rest of a comprehensive on-screen keyboard. Furthermore, it might be possible to capitalize on the relative strengths of the alphabetic and predictive layouts by combining them in a hybrid layout. Thus, this research examines the design of alternative keyboard layouts for five-key text entry techniques. Three keyboard layouts (Alphabetical, Predictive, and Hybrid) were selected to represent standard and less familiar arrangements. The analysis centered on a series of controlled experiments conducted on a research platform designed by the author. In this work, when the immediate usability of three alternative keyboard layouts for supporting five-key text entry was investigated, results indicated no statistically significant differences in performance across the tested keyboards. Furthermore, experimental results show that following immediate usability, but still at the onset of learning, there was no overall difference in performance among the three keyboard layouts across four text types. However, the Alphabetical keyboard surpassed both the Predictive and Hybrid keyboards in text entry speed in typing Web addresses. The nonstandard keyboards performed superior to the Alphabetical keyboards in typing Words/Spaces and Sentences, but performed no better in typing Address strings than the Alphabetical. Use of mixed effects modeling suggested that the longitudinal data was best fitted by a quadratic model. Text entry performance on all three layouts improved as a function of practice, demonstrating that participants could learn the unfamiliar layouts to complete text entry tasks. Overall, there was no indication that use of nonstandard layouts impedes performance. In fact, trend in time data suggests that the learning rates were greater for the nonstandard keyboards over the standard layout. Overall, participants preferred the Hybrid layout. In summary, this dissertation focused on creating and validating novel and effective five-key text entry techniques for constrained devices.

Some applications on mobile handheld devices are involved in exchanging critical information e. g. sending positioning data of heavy-good vehicles as a basis for road toll. This information must not be accessed or modified illegitimately; however, there is the risk that can be accessed or modified by modifying the application or during communication of the handheld device with its counterpart. This thesis report investigates concepts to shelter software from modification and how the communication of these applications running on a handheld device over public mobile network can be made more secure. This work was performed by carefully identifying relevant literature and developing the concept that how a smart card can enhance the security of the software running on it particularly for handheld devices. It also discusses the issues and threats to smart cards. Furthermore it proposes a solution based on the specified scenario. The security of the software comprises on two layers; one layer is for analysis prevention, making it hard to understand the behaviour of the program both at static and dynamic levels. The other layer is responsible for verifying the integrity of the software to ensure that it is not modified. The software is installed on smart card which acts as an extra security layer. The communication relies on the security features of the public mobile network with some enhancement. In order to shelter the communication via public Internet, a border based VPN solution is deployed between the public mobile network and the remote server using the network assisted approach. This thesis will serve as basis for designing a secure communication path for Swedish road toll system. / Some applications on mobile handheld devices are involved in exchanging critical information e. g. sending positioning data of heavy-good vehicles as a basis for road toll. This information must not be accessed or modified illegitimately; however, there is the risk that can be accessed or modified by modifying the application or during communication of the handheld device with its counterpart. This thesis report investigates concepts to shelter software from modification and how the communication of these applications running on a handheld device over public mobile network can be made more secure. This work was performed by carefully identifying relevant literature and developing the concept that how a smart card can enhance the security of the software running on it particularly for handheld devices. It also discusses the issues and threats to smart cards. Furthermore it proposes a solution based on the specified scenario. The security of the software comprises on two layers; one layer is for analysis prevention, making it hard to understand the behaviour of the program both at static and dynamic levels. The other layer is responsible for verifying the integrity of the software to ensure that it is not modified. The software is installed on smart card which acts as an extra security layer. The communication relies on the security features of the public mobile network with some enhancement. In order to shelter the communication via public Internet, a border based VPN solution is deployed between the public mobile network and the remote server using the network assisted approach. This thesis will serve as basis for designing a secure communication path for Swedish road toll system. / +46 762733374 +46 737038932

Studiens syfte är att analysera hur man i förskolan använder lärplattan för att få barn att röra på sig, mer konkret om förskolans digitalisering kan komma att påverka barns möjligheter till fysisk aktivitet. Studien är baserad på en kvalitativ metod där vi genom intervjuer valt att fokusera på pedagogers syn och arbetssätt kring lärplattan samt om den används och isåfall även hur i förhållande till den fysiska aktiviteten. I studien deltog sex förskollärare på tre olika förskolor och intervjuerna som genomfördes var semistrukturerade. För att kunna bryta ner vårt syfte har vi använt oss av följande frågeställningar: Hur ser pedagoger på barns behov av fysisk aktivitet i förhållande till hur lärplattan kan användas i förskolan? Hur arbetar pedagoger för att stimulera fysisk aktivitet bland barn med hjälp av lärplattan? Vi tog avstamp i Lev Vygotskijs teori om samspelets betydelse i sociala sammanhang. Studien ställs även i relation till Agneta Ljung-Djärfs teori kring olika lärmiljöer som etableras runt digitala verktyg. Resultatet av studien visar att fysisk aktivitet är något som alltid finns i verksamheten och som alltid bör finnas där. Det samtliga förskollärare menar är att barns fysiska aktivitet inte blir lidande av en allt mer digitaliserad förskola. Vidare framgår det att sättet pedagoger stimulerar denna fysiska aktivitet bland barn är densamma på de olika förskolorna. Samtliga förskollärare tar alltså utgångspunkt i liknande aktiviteter när de både planerat som spontant utför dessa. Det som skiljer de olika förskolorna åt är förskollärarnas inställning kring vilken funktion lärplattan får under dessa aktiviteter och i verksamheten generellt.