Recommender systems such as Amazon, offer uses recommendations, or suggestions of items to try or buy. We propose a novel classification of reasons for including explanations in recommender systems. Our focus is on the aim of effectiveness, or decision support, and we contrast it with other metrics such as satisfaction and persuasion. In user studies, we found that people varied in the features they found important, and composed a short list of features in two domains (movies and cameras). We then built a natural language explanation testbed system, considering these features as well as the limitations of using commercial data. This testbed was used in a series of experiments to test whether personalization of explanations affects effectiveness, persuasion and satisfaction. We chose a simple form of personalization which considers likely constraints of a recommender system (e.g. limited meta-data related to the user) as well as brevity. In these experiments we found that: 1. Explanations help participants to make decisions compared to recommendations without explanations, we saw as a significant decrease in opt-outs in item ratings – participants were more likely to be able to give an initial rating for an item if they were given an explanation, and the likelihood of receiving a rating increased for feature-based explanations compared to a baseline. 2. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, our method of personalization could damage effectiveness for both movies and cameras which are domains that differ with regard to two dimensions which we found affected perceived effectiveness: cost (low vs. high), and valuation type (subjective vs. objective). 3. Participants were more satisfied with feature-based than baseline explanations. If the personalization is perceived as relevant to them, then personalized feature-based explanations were preferred over non-personalized. 4. Satisfaction with explanation was also reflected in the proportion of opt-outs. The opt-out rate for the explanations was highest in the baseline for all experiments. This was the case despite the different types of explanation baselines used in the two domains.

The increasing availability of Web services and grid computing has made easier the access and reuse of different types of services. Web services provide network accessible interfaces to application functionality in a platform-independent manner. Developments in grid computing have led to the efficient distribution of computing resources and power through the use of stateful web services. At the same time, mobile devices as a platform of computing have become a ubiquitous, inexpensive, and powerful computing resource. Concepts such as cloud computing has pushed the trend towards using grid concepts in the internet domain and are ideally suited for internet-supported mobile devices. Currently, there are a few complete implementations that leverage mobile devices as a member of a grid or virtual organization. This thesis presents a framework that enables the use of mobile devices to access stateful Web services on a Globus-based grid. To illustrate the presented framework, a user-friendly mobile application has been created that utilizes the framework libraries do to demonstrate the various functionalities that are accessible from any mobile device that supports Java ME. / by Jan Christian Mangs. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Web services have become increasingly important over the past decades. Versatility and platform independence are just some of their advantages. On the other hand, grid computing enables the efficient distribution of computing resources. Together, they provide a great source of computing power that can be particularly leveraged by mobile devices. Mobile computing enables information creation, processing, storage and communication without location constraints [63], not only improving business' operational efficiency [63] but actually changing a way of life. However, the convenience of anytime and anywhere communication is counterbalanced by small screens, limited computing power and battery life. Despite these limitations, mobile devices can extend grid functionality by bringing to the mix not only mobile access but sensing capabilities as well, gathering information from their surroundings through built in mechanisms, such as microphone, camera, GPS and even accelerometers. Prior work has already demonstrated the possibility of enabling Web Services Resource Framework (WSRF) access to grid resources from mobile device clients in the WSRF-ME project [39], where a representative Nokia S60 Smartphone application was created on a framework, which extends the JSR-172 functionality to achieve WSRF compliance. In light of today's mobile phone market diversity, this thesis extends the solution proposed by WSRF-ME to non-Java ME phones and to Android devices in particular. Android-based device numbers have grown considerably over the past couple of years despite its recent creation and reduced availability of mature software tools. / Therefore, Android's web service capabilities are studied and the original framework is analyzed in order to propose a modified framework version that achieves and documents WSRF compliant communication form Android for the first time. As a case study, an illustrative mobile File Explorer application is developed to match the mod framework' functionality to the original WSRF-ME's use case. An additional case study, the LIGO Monitor application, shows the viability of mobile web services for monitoring purposes in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) grid environment for the first time. The context that an actual application implementation such as LIGO provides, allows some of the challenges of real mobile grid clients to surface. As a result, the observations made during this development give way to the drafting of a preliminary set of guidelines for Globus service implementation suitable for Android consumption that still remain open for proof in future works. / by Adriana Garcia-Kunzel. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This report describes the development of a low cost open source semiautonomous robotic car and a way to communicate with it. It is a continuation of prior research done by other students at FAU and published in recent ASEE conferences. The objective of this project was the development of a new robotic platform with improved precision over the original, while still keeping the cost down. It was developed with the aim to allow a hands-on approach to the teaching of mathematics topics that are taught in the K-12 syllabus. Improved robustness and reliability of the robotic platform for visually solving math problems was achieved using a combination of PID loops to keep track of distance and rotation. The precision was increased by changing the position of the encoders to the shafts of each motor. A mobile application was developed to allow the student to draw the geometric shapes on the screen before the car draws them. The mobile application consists of two parts, the canvas that the user uses to draw the figure and the configure section that lets the user change the parameters of the controller. Results show that the robot can draw standard geometric and complex geometric shapes. It has high precision and sufficient accuracy, the accuracy can be improved with some mechanical adjustments. During testing a Pythagorean triangle was drawn to show visually the key mathematics concept. The eventual goal of this project will be a K-12 class room study to obtain the feedback of the teachers and students on the feasibility of using a robotic car to teach math. Subsequent to that necessary changes will be made to manufacture a unit that is easy to assemble by the teacher. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

While new technologies are often used to facilitate regular people's lives, they often fail to see their potential in helping disabled people. Augmented reality, one of the newest state-of-the-art technologies, offers users the opportunity to add virtual information to their real world surroundings in real time. It also has the potential to not only augment the sense of sight, but also other senses such as hearing. Augmented reality could be used to offer the opportunity to complement users' missing sense. In this thesis, we study augmented reality technologies, systems and applications, and suggest the future of AR applications. We explain how to integrate augmented reality into iOS applications and propose an augmented reality application for hearing augmentation using an iPad2. We believe mobile devices are the best platform for augmented reality as they are widespread and their computational power is rapidly growing to be able to handle true AR applications. / by Julie Carmigniani. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Lee Fu Wing. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-104). / Abstract --- p.i / Chapter 1. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Background --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- The contribution of this project --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Scope of Thesis --- p.3 / Chapter 2. --- Background Study --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- Related works of General DBMS User Interface --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Linear System --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Form-Based System --- p.6 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Other Approaches --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- Related works of Chinese System --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Artificial Natural Language --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- """Chinesized"" English Database Query Language" --- p.9 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Chiq1 --- p.10 / Chapter 3. --- Design Principles --- p.11 / Chapter 3.1 --- Data Model --- p.11 / Chapter 3.2 --- Language Naturalness --- p.11 / Chapter 3.3 --- Novice Users vs Expert Users --- p.12 / Chapter 3.4 --- Practical Requirements --- p.14 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Relational Algebra Operators --- p.15 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Divide and Conquer Querying Strategy --- p.16 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Unit of Operations --- p.17 / Chapter 3.4.4 --- Graphical User Interface (GUI) --- p.18 / Chapter 3.4.5 --- Direct Object Manipulation --- p.19 / Chapter 3.5 --- SQL Expressiveness --- p.19 / Chapter 4. --- Query Specification in Chinese --- p.21 / Chapter 4.1 --- Defining Elementary Operations --- p.21 / Chapter 5. --- Implementation of the System Design --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1 --- Hardware and Software Configuration --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Basic Components --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Procedures for Data Retrieval --- p.30 / Chapter 5.2 --- System Design --- p.32 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Common Operations --- p.32 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Select the Required Tables --- p.33 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Performing Join --- p.35 / Chapter 5.2.4 --- Performing Restriction --- p.36 / Chapter 5.2.5 --- Performing Projection --- p.37 / Chapter 5.2.6 --- Completion of Query --- p.38 / Chapter 5.2.7 --- Other Basic Operations --- p.39 / Chapter 5.2.8 --- Set Operations --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2.9 --- Composing and Decomposing a Complex Query --- p.41 / Chapter 6. --- Query Formulation in the Interface --- p.42 / Chapter 6.1 --- Example 1 (Simple Query - Novice User) --- p.45 / Chapter 6.2 --- Example 2 (Simple Query - Expert User) --- p.65 / Chapter 6.3 --- Example 3 (Simple Query with Group-By Feature) --- p.77 / Chapter 6.4 --- Example 4 (Complex Query with Set Operations) --- p.87 / Chapter 7. --- Summary and Conclusions --- p.90 / Chapter 7.1 --- Summary of Accomplishment --- p.90 / Chapter 7.2 --- Future Work --- p.94 / Chapter 7.3 --- Conclusion --- p.95 / Chapter 8. --- References --- p.96 / Chapter 9. --- Appendix A : 66 Testing Queries --- p.105 / Chapter 10. --- Appendix B : Glossary --- p.112 / Chapter 11. --- Appendix C : Programs Listing --- p.115

Textile forms of wearable technology offer the potential for users to interact with electronic devices in a whole new manner. However, the operation of a wearable system can result in non-traditional on-body interactions (including gestural commands) that users may not be comfortable with performing in a public setting. Understanding the societal perceptions of gesture-based interactions will ultimately impact how readily a new form of mobile technology will be adopted within society. The goal of this research is to assess the social acceptability of a user's interaction with an electronic textile wearable interface. Two means of interaction were studied: the first was to assess the most acceptable input method for the interface (tapping, sliding, circular rotation); and the second assessment was to measure the social acceptability of a user interacting with the detachable textile interface at different locations on the body. The study recruited participants who strictly identified themselves as being of American nationality so as to gain insight into the culture-specific perceptions of interacting with a wearable form of technology.

Networks have expanded from the workplace and scientific labs into the home. Consequently, managing networks is no longer only a job for skilled network administrators, but has also become one for general home users, who have to deal with various home network management tasks such as network/device configuration, security management, and troubleshooting to name but a few. However, many home network users have difficulty managing these tasks due to the inherent complexity of the home network and the lack of management tools designed for non-skilled network users. This dissertation addresses the problem of network management for non-skilled network users by investigating a home network management tool with a new interaction model called Eden. Eden is an interactive home network management tool based on direct manipulation. It eliminates the need for users to see all the technical minutia of the network while still allowing users to perform management tasks with a simple drag-and-drop of visually represented networking devices and network settings. The user interface evaluation showed that Eden is intuitive and easy enough for general home users to use. The usability evaluation showed that Eden performed better overall than existing tools and that the majority of the study participants preferred Eden over the existing tools for future use. My contributions are twofold. First, I present what is to my knowledge the first fully direct manipulation system designed specifically for home network management. Secondly, my evaluation highlights a number of properties in my design--particularly in my conceptual model--that improve users' understandings of the network, and their ease with managing it.

While much attention has been paid to the usability of desktop computers, mobile com- puters are quickly becoming the dominant platform. Because mobile computers may be used in nearly any situation--including while the user is actually in motion, or performing other tasks--interfaces designed for stationary use may be inappropriate, and alternative interfaces should be considered. In this dissertation I consider the idea of microinteractions--interactions with a device that take less than four seconds to initiate and complete. Microinteractions are desirable because they may minimize interruption; that is, they allow for a tiny burst of interaction with a device so that the user can quickly return to the task at hand. My research concentrates on methods for applying microinteractions through wrist- based interaction. I consider two modalities for this interaction: touchscreens and motion- based gestures. In the case of touchscreens, I consider the interface implications of making touchscreen watches usable with the finger, instead of the usual stylus, and investigate users' performance with a round touchscreen. For gesture-based interaction, I present a tool, MAGIC, for designing gesture-based interactive system, and detail the evaluation of the tool.

This thesis aims to explore how to physically interact with computational models on an interactive tabletop display. The research began with the design and implementation of several prototype systems. The research of the prototype systems showed that tangible interactions on interactive tabletops have the potential to be more effective on some tasks than traditional interfaces that use screen displays, keyboards and mice. The prototype work shaped the research to focus on the effectiveness of adopting tangible interactions on interactive tabletops. To substantiate the thesis claims, this thesis develops an interactive tabletop application, Pathways, to support the fitting process in modeling biological systems. Pathways supports the concepts of Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) and tabletop visualizations. It realizes real-time simulation of models and provides comparisons of simulation results with experimental data on the tabletop. It also visualizes the simulation of the model with animations. In addition to that, Pathways introduces a new visualization to help systems biologists quickly compare the simulation results. This thesis provides the quantitative and qualitative evaluation results of Pathways. The evidence showed that using tangible interactions to control numerical values is practical. The results also showed that in experimental conditions users achieved better fitting results and faster fitting results on Pathways than the control group, which used the systems biologists' current tools. The results further suggested that it is possible to recruit non-experts to perform the fitting tasks that are usually done by professional systems biologists.