Thesis (Ph.D.)--Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Aaron Bobick; Committee Member: Charles Isbell; Committee Member: David Hogg; Committee Member: Irfan Essa; Committee Member: James Rehg

Thesis (Ph.D)--Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Stasko, John T.; Committee Member: Edwards, Keith; Committee Member: Greenberg, Saul; Committee Member: Grinter, Beki; Committee Member: Guzdial, Mark. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität des Saarlands, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-268) and index.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2003--Darmstadt. / Dateien in unterschiedlichen Formaten.-Enth.: Textteil. CD-Daten.

Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2005--Aachen.

Thesis (doctoral) - Univ., Saarbrücken, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Τα μελλοντικά περιβάλλοντα υπολογισμού περιλαμβάνουν την ενσωμάτωση καθημερινών αντικειμένων, εφοδιασμένα με μικροσκοπικούς επεξεργαστές, αισθητήρες και κάρτες ασύρματων δικτύων. Τα έξυπνα αυτά αντικείμενα (τεχνουργήματα) μπορούν να εξερευνούν το περιβάλλον στο οποίο βρίσκονται και να επικοινωνούν μεταξύ τους. Η διαδραστικότητα με τον άνθρωπο μπορεί να παρέχει τη δυνατότητα αντιμετώπισης διαφόρων εργασιών με διαισθητικό τρόπο. Γίνεται αντιληπτό ότι μέσα σε ένα τέτοιο περιβάλλον, προκύπτουν σοβαρά ζητήματα που σχετίζονται με την ιδιωτικότητα των χρηστών. Αρχικά, εξαιτίας της αορατότητας των υπολογισμών που έχει σαν αποτέλεσμα οι χρήστες να μην τους αντιλαμβάνονται και έτσι να μην αισθάνονται ασφαλείς στο περιβάλλον αυτό. Επιπλέον, η παροχή ορισμένων υπηρεσιών απαιτεί τη μετάδοση και επεξεργασία προσωπικών δεδομένων και, ως εκ τούτου, εγκυμονεί κινδύνους για την προσωπική ζωή. Στην παρούσα εργασία ένα τέτοιο περιβάλλον (περιβάλλον περιρρέουσας νοημοσύνης) με τα παραπάνω χαρακτηριστικά, μοντελοποιείται μέσω των σφαιρών δραστηριοτήτων. Μια σφαίρα δραστηριοτήτων περιλαμβάνει όλη εκείνη την πληροφορία που απαιτείται για να εκτελεστεί μια συγκεκριμένη εργασία μέσα στο περιβάλλον. Στόχος της εργασίας είναι η μοντελοποίηση πολιτικών ιδιωτικότητας με κέντρο το χρήστη, η οποία μπορεί να πραγματοποιηθεί σε μια σφαίρα σε οποιοδήποτε περιβάλλον περιρρέουσας νοημοσύνης. Για να επιτευχθεί σημασιολογική ομοιογένεια, παρά την πιθανή ετερογένεια των πόρων ενός τέτοιου συστήματος, έχει σχεδιαστεί μια οντολογία για την αναπαράσταση αυτών των πολιτικών. Επιπλέον το σημασιολογικό αυτό πλαίσιο μοντελοποιεί τις βασικές αρχές και τους κανόνες αναφορικά με την προστασία των προσωπικών δεδομένων και την ιδιωτικότητα. Η προτεινόμενη οντολογία αξιολογείται βάσει αναγνωρισμένων κριτηρίων όπως είναι οι ερωτήσεις επάρκειας / Future computing environments involve integrating everyday objects equipped with tiny processors, sensors and wireless network cards. These smart objects (artifacts) may explore their environment and communicate with each other. Interactivity with humans may provide the ability of dealing with tasks in an intuitive way. It is clear that within this environment, serious issues related to the privacy of the users arise. Initially, due to the invisibility of all computations which results to the users being unaware of them. Moreover, the provision of certain services requires the transmission and processing of user’s personal data and thus poses a serious threat to their privacy. In the present project such an environment (ambient intelligence environment) with the above characteristics, is modeled through the concept of activity spheres. An activity sphere contains all the necessary information needed to realize a specific task within this environment. The aim of the project is to model a user-centered privacy policy which could be realized for a sphere in any ambient intelligence environment it is instantiated. To achieve semantic homogeneity, despite the possible heterogeneity of the resources within such an environment, an ontology has been designed. Furthermore, this semantic framework, models the fundamental principles and rules regarding personal data protection and privacy. The proposed ontology is evaluated by means of well-appreciated criteria such as competency questions

[pt] A diminuição do custo e a diversificação dos dispositivos computacionais vêm criando ambientes de computação cada vez mais completos e sofisticados, mas que ainda carecem de softwares de integração que simplifiquem sua utilização e que melhor explorarem seu potencial. Para responder a esta questão, sistemas de computação ubíqua vêm sendo desenvolvidos para criar mecanismos de controle remoto e unificado de aplicações e dispositivos. Além disso, grupos de pesquisa na área de multimídia abordam outras questões como a sincronização entre dispositivos, gerência de recursos e definição de padrões de documentos. Este trabalho visa unificar os esforços de ambas as áreas com o objetivo de realizar apresentações multimídia através do paradigma de computação ubíqua. Neste trabalho, apresentamos a infraestrutura de execução de apresentações ActivePresentation desenvolvida e baseada em diferentes protótipos. Além disso, propomos um formato de documento multimídia chamado NCLua para orquestrar tais apresentações. / [en] The diminishing costs and the diversity of computational devices are creating increasingly complex and sophisticated computational environments. Nonetheless, such environments still lack integration software to simplify their use and to better explore their potential. In response to this issue, ubiquitous computing systems are being developed to create remote control mechanisms of applications and devices. At the same time, research groups in the area of multimedia deal with other issues, such as synchronization between devices, resource management and document standard definitions. The purpose of this work is to join the efforts of both areas in order to build presentations using the ubiquitous computing paradigm. In this work, we introduce the ActivePresentation infrastructure, based and developed through the study of different prototypes. In addition, we propose a multimedia document format called NCLua to orchestrate such presentations.

This report covers a master’s thesis project in industrial design engineering, product design, at Luleå University of Technology. The objective for the thesis has been to develop a product that enables interaction between people in the public space. This to promote meetings and create an additional experience with the help of integrated technology. Studies of concerned theories have been research which included information about interaction design, ubiquitous computing, public space and social innovation. It was decided early in the project to focus on benches as they are a natural part of public spaces like parks. To seek an understanding for the projects context an benchmark on similar projects, interviews with experts in choosing furniture for public space and a cultural probe has been conducted. This research served as a base for the design process which started with an ideation phase where creative methods were used to generate a great amount of ideas for possible interactions. Experience prototyping was one of the key methods used and when enough ideas had been developed four different concepts where put together that focused on how the interaction would be perceived. With the help of a voting process and a concept-scoring matrix one concept was chosen to further develop. This concept was then detailed design were the design for the actual bench was decided and two prototypes were built to be able to demonstrate and test the final concept. The final result of the thesis project was the interactive bench named The Social Bench. The Social Bench has integrated technology in the form of lightning and sensors that detect when someone sits down. This triggers the interaction and enables the user to choose the color on the light underneath the bench by sitting on the different colored seating disks placed on the bench. The bench is supposed to function in a network of benches that are all connected and mimics each other’s interactional patterns. This is displayed by the choosing of color were every users choice is displayed on all of the benches in the network. The Social Bench lets the user share an experience together on remote locations. It promotes interaction between people in the public space and provides with a fun and innovative way to communicate. This thesis aims to contribute in knowledge of interaction design as a tool for promoting interaction in the public space and the thesis concludes in a discussion of the outcome and recommendations for future work. / Den här rapporten innefattar ett examensarbete inom Teknisk Design inriktning produktdesign vid Luleå Tekniska Universitet. Syftet med examensarbetet har varit att utveckla en produkt som stödjer interaktionen mellan människor i den offentliga miljön. Detta för att främja möten och skapa ytterliga användarupplevelser genom integrerad teknologi. En litteraturstudie utfördes på berörda områden och innefattade teorier om interaktionsdesign, ubiquitous computing, offentliga miljöer och social innovation. Från början av projektet gjordes en avgränsning till att titta på specifikt bänkar eftersom dessa är en naturlig del av offentliga miljöer såsom parker. Efter detta utfördes en marknadsundersökning på liknade produkter, intervjuer och en cultural probe för att undersöka arbetets kontext. Den informationsinsamling som bedrivits blev utgångspunkten för en idégenerering som sedan utfördes där olika kreativa metoder användes för att generera ett stort antal med idéer. En av dessa metoder var experience prototyping och efter att tillräckligt många idéer genererats framställdes fyra olika koncept. Dessa koncept innefattade hur interaktionen skulle upplevas och genom en röstnings-process och en utvärderingsmatris så valdes ett koncept för vidare utveckling. Detta koncept blev sedan detalj utvecklat där designen på den fysiska bänken togs fram. För att kunna testa och utvärdera det slutgiltiga resultatet framställdes också två stycken prototyper i full skala. Det slutgiltiga resultatet av examensarbetet är den interaktiva bänken The Social Bench. The Social Bench har inbyggd belysning och integrerade trycksensorer som läser av när någon sätter sig ned på bänken. Detta triggar själva interaktionen som möjliggör för användaren att välja färg på den integrerade belysningen under bänken genom att välja vilken av dom färgade sitt-ytorna som hen vill sitta på. Bänken är tänkt att fungera i ett nätverk av sammankopplade bänkar som interagerar med varandra och användarna. Detta illustreras genom att när en färg valts på en av bänkarna så visas också denna färg på dom andra bänkarna i nätverket. Bänken låter användare som befinner sig på olika platser dela en upplevelse tillsammans där fler användare som använder bänken leder till att fler färger adderas till interaktionen. Detta för att främja interaktionen mellan människor i den offentliga miljön på ett rolig och innovativ sätt. Examensarbetet ämnar till att bidra med kunskap inom interaktionsdesign som ett verktyg för att främja social interaktion i den offentliga miljön. Arbetet avslutas med en diskussion om resultatet och rekommendationer för framtida arbete.

O presente trabalho apresenta o resultado de um estudo comparando o uso de técnicas de aprendizado de máquina na adaptação dinâmica de vídeo. O sistema utiliza informações de contexto, como as características de um dispositivo, preferências do usuário e condições de rede, como entrada de um mecanismo de decisão responsável por encontrar parâmetros de codificação mais adequados ao contexto à geração de um novo fluxo de vídeo dinamicamente personalizado / This work presents the results of a comparative study about machine learning techniques used in dynamic video adaptation. The system uses contextual information, such as devices? characteristics, user?s preferences and network condition as an input for a decision engine, responsible to find the best encoding parameters to be used during the generation of a new dynamically personalized video stream