Highly mobile people (HMPs) require flexible, reactive service delivery due to their regularly changing location and activities and the lack of a wired network connection. A mobile service delivery system should be able to detect relevant events that occur such as change of location, availability of new last-minute specials, sales opportunities and safety issues and then reactively take action in response to these events. This work describes a situation management ontology based framework for delivering such a system. Issues addressed include HMP and service states and events, context, situations and situation-action rules, and syntactically and semantically compatible XML ontologies for their specification. A generic situation management ontology is developed in OWL using the ontology development tool, Protégé. This ontology is combined with domain specific classes in the travel domain to create a travel situation management ontology that can be used as the basis for a ubiquitous mobile travel service application. Using a typical independent traveller scenario, the travel situation management ontology is instantiated to demonstrate its effectiveness. The flexibility of the generic situation management ontology is demonstrated by creating an academic situation management ontology by simply replacing a small number of domain specific classes. A framework is also proposed that is based on the situation management ontology, distributed, co-operating software agents, and context based filtering, and is suitable for mobile service delivery. The example framework uses the situation management ontologies developed in this work and action rules to link situation specification to situation detection and action. The ontologies and action rules are semantically consistent and are specified in the XML based, industry standard language, OWL, thus drawing together previous independent work in a number of diverse disciplines.

This dissertation presents the god-like interaction framework, consisting of tools and techniques for remote communication of situational and navigational information. The framework aims to facilitated intuitive and effective communication between a group of experts and remote field workers in the context of military, fire-fighting, and search and rescue.

Highly mobile people (HMPs) require flexible, reactive service delivery due to their regularly changing location and activities and the lack of a wired network connection. A mobile service delivery system should be able to detect relevant events that occur such as change of location, availability of new last-minute specials, sales opportunities and safety issues and then reactively take action in response to these events. This work describes a situation management ontology based framework for delivering such a system. Issues addressed include HMP and service states and events, context, situations and situation-action rules, and syntactically and semantically compatible XML ontologies for their specification. A generic situation management ontology is developed in OWL using the ontology development tool, Protégé. This ontology is combined with domain specific classes in the travel domain to create a travel situation management ontology that can be used as the basis for a ubiquitous mobile travel service application. Using a typical independent traveller scenario, the travel situation management ontology is instantiated to demonstrate its effectiveness. The flexibility of the generic situation management ontology is demonstrated by creating an academic situation management ontology by simply replacing a small number of domain specific classes. A framework is also proposed that is based on the situation management ontology, distributed, co-operating software agents, and context based filtering, and is suitable for mobile service delivery. The example framework uses the situation management ontologies developed in this work and action rules to link situation specification to situation detection and action. The ontologies and action rules are semantically consistent and are specified in the XML based, industry standard language, OWL, thus drawing together previous independent work in a number of diverse disciplines.

Les personnes en situation de handicap moteur des membres supérieurs ont besoin de système de suppléance pour leur autonomie. Cependant 1/3 de ces aides de compensation sont abandonnées car pas encore suffisamment centrées sur les besoins et les aptitudes de l'utilisateur. La problématique centrale de cette thèse concerne la mise en œuvre d'une méthode de conception centrée utilisateur, adaptée en fonction de la population d'études (personnes en situation de handicap ayant des troubles neuro-moteurs langagiers) pour la conception de trois aides de compensation. La première concerne la commande d'un bras robotique de préhension JACO pour laquelle la conception centrée utilisateur classique a été appliquée. Celle-ci est adaptée pour les personnes pouvant s'exprimer oralement mais qu'en est-il lorsque ces personnes ne peuvent participer directement ou bien ont besoin de leurs aidants pour exprimer leurs besoins ou répondre aux questionnaires? Une alternative est de recueillir les besoins par l'intermédiaire d'experts. Nous montrerons comment la méthode de conception centrée utilisateur a été adaptée pour la conception du système HandiMathKey pour la saisie de formules Mathématiques. Notre dernière adaptation est d'utiliser l'écosystème de la personne comme médiateur pour communiquer et un profil utilisateur. Cette méthode a permis de concevoir l'interface de communication intégrée et de contrôle d'environnement nommée CECI. Nous décrirons également comment la plateforme SoKeyTo permet le prototypage des aides de compensation. Pour chacune des aides de compensation, nous rapporterons les évaluations réalisées et nous discuterons la manière dont la méthode de conception a été adaptée. / People with motor impairment of the upper limbs need an assistive technology for their autonomy. However, 1/3 of these assistive technologies are abandoned because they are not yet sufficiently focused on the needs and abilities of the user. The central problem of this thesis concerns the implementation of a user-centered design method adapted to the study population (persons with disabilities with neuro-motor language impairments) for the design of three applications. The first concerns the control of a robot arm JACO for which the classic user centered design has been applied. This is appropriate for people who can speak orally, but what if they cannot participate directly or need their caregivers to express their needs or answer questionnaires? An alternative is to gather needs through experts. We will show how the user centered design method has been adapted for the design of the HandiMathKey system for entering mathematical formulas. Our last adaptation is to use the person's ecosystem as a mediator to communicate and a user profile. This method allowed to design the integrated communication and environmental control interface named CECI. We will also describe how the SoKeyTo platform allows prototyping of assistive technologies. For each of the assistive technologies, we will report the assessments made and discuss how the design method has been adapted.

Orientador: Maria Cecilia Calani Baranauskas / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T08:59:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hornung_HeikoHorst_M.pdf: 2237274 bytes, checksum: d8329b2e979c07802514aa9b26b8b128 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Serviços do governo eletrônico (eGov, do inglês: electronic government/e-government) são um veículo de comunicação entre as entidades do governo nos diferentes níveis (municipal, estadual, etc.) e os cidadãos. Além de tornar ações do governo mais transparentes e aumentar a eficiência e eficácia, esses serviços visam fortalecer a democracia oferecendo a possibilidade de participação dos cidadãos nos processos democráticos. Para tais fins, serviços de eGov precisam possibilitar o acesso pela população inteira, isto é para pessoas com diferentes competências ou necessidades específicas. A contribuição desse trabalho envolve mostrar caminhos para como interfaces de usuário de serviços de eGov podem ser projetados de uma maneira inclusiva, respeitando a diversidade de uma população. Partindo de uma análise do contexto brasileiro, esse trabalho mostra tanto as principais diferenças entre serviços de eGov e outras aplicações web quanto as diferenças entre países em desenvolvimento e países desenvolvidos a esse respeito. O principal desafio identificado é a adaptaçãao de métodos tradicionais ao contexto de serviços inclusivos de eGov. No próximo passo identificamos barreiras do acesso ao serviços de eGov por usuários com necessidades específicas como diferentes de eficiências, baixo letramento ou baixo letramento digital. Propomos o conceito de técnicas assistivas" que ampliam a visão limitada de tecnologias assistivas para o contexto de nosso cenário, isto é, um uso por pessoas que usam serviços em diferentes situações, inclusive de eficiências. Os desafios identificados e diferentes experiências trazidas de projetos nos motivaram a propor um framework para o design socialmente responsável. Os elementos principais desse framework são métodos e técnicas da Semiótica Organizacional e do Design Participativo para atingir uma visão sócio-tecnica dos problemas de design. Esses métodos e técnicas são aplicados em Práticas Participativas Inclusivas em um Cenário*, um grupo de representantes de usuários finais que foram escolhidos como imagem de características encontradas na sociedade brasileira. Por fim analisamos um conjunto de protótipos que foram criados dentro do contexto do framework de design socialmente responsável. Como o design de serviços inclusivos de eGov depende de fatores culturais entre outros, criamos um design rationale abstrato que discute diferentes questões de design e assim visa apoiar o designer na tomada de decisões adequadas ao respectivo contexto. / Abstract: Electronic government (eGov) services are means of communication between entities of the government (on local, state or other levels) and the citizens. Besides making actions of the government more transparent and increasing efficiency and effectiveness, such servicees aim to strengthen democracy by offering citizens possibilities to participate in democratic processes. Thus, eGov services have to enable access to the whole population, including people with different competencies or special needs. The contribution of this work involves showing ways of creating user interfaces to eGov services inclusively and respecting the diversity of the population. Starting with an analysis of the Brazilian country context, this work shows the main differences between eGov services and other web applications as well as differences between developing and developed countries regarding those applications. The principal challenge that has been identified is that of adapting traditional methods to the context of inclusive eGov services. In the next step we identify barriers of access to eGov services that are imposed on users with special needs like impairments, low literacy or low digital literacy. We propose the concept of \assistive techniques" to extend the limited vision of assistive technologies to the context of our scenario, i.e. to people with special needs besides impairments who make use of eGov services in different situations. The challenges identified and different experiences from diffrent projects motivated us to propose a framework for socially responsible design. The main elements of this framework are methods and techniques from Organizational Semiotics and Participatory Design in order to get a socio-technical vision of design problems. These methods and techniques are employed during Participatory Inclusive Practices in a Cenário*, a group of end user representatives that has been composed to mirror the characteristics of the Brazilian society. Finally, we analyze a set of prototypes that have been created within the context of the framework of socially responsible design. Since the design of inclusive eGov services depends on cultural and other factors, we created an abstract design rationale that discusses different design issues and thus supports the designer in taking decisions that are tailored to the respective context. / Mestrado / Mestre em Ciência da Computação

Inom 3D-grafik, visualiseringar, spel och VR finns ett behov av måttriktig modellering. Traditionellt så används CAD-program för att uppnå ett exakt eller precist resultat. Men då CAD-program inte utmatar polygonal geometri så fungerar det inte att använda resultatet direkt i tidigare nämnda kategorier. Denna studie ämnar att underlätta måttriktig polygonal modellering i Autodesk Maya genom ett tillägg i form av ett grafiskt användargränssnitt. Effektiviteten av detta mäts genom tidtagning på modellering av CAD-ritningar i polygoner hos en testgrupp både med och utan tillägget samt en kvalitetskontroll där resultatet jämförs med specifikationen. Medelresultatet av testgruppens användning av tillägget var en förbättring i tidsåtgång gentemot endast Maya. Geometrin hade även bättre måttriktighet.

Across a range of sectors, including transportation and healthcare, the use of automation to assist humans with increasingly complex tasks is also demanding that such systems are more interactive with human users. Given the role of cognitive factors in human decision-making during their interactions with automation, models enabling human cognitive state estimation and prediction could be used by autonomous systems to appropriately adapt their behavior. However, accomplishing this requires mathematical models of human cognitive state evolution that are suitable for algorithm design. In this thesis, a computational model of coupled human trust and self-confidence dynamics is proposed. The dynamics are modeled as a partially observable Markov decision process that leverages behavioral and self-report data as observations for estimation of the cognitive states. The use of an asymmetrical structure in the emission probability functions enables labeling and interpretation of the coupled cognitive states. The model is trained and validated using data collected from 340 participants. Analysis of the transition probabilities shows that the model captures nuanced effects, in terms of participants' decisions to rely on an autonomous system, that result as a function of the combination of their trust in the automation and self-confidence. Implications for the design of human-aware autonomous systems are discussed, particularly in the context of human trust and self-confidence calibration.

<p>Makerspaces can support educational experiences in prototyping for young learners, while physical computing platforms enable high levels of creativity and expression. However, each of these have high barriers of entry, especially for youth without prior experience. Commercial microcontrollers have become a popular tool to use when designing both basic and complex electro-mechanical devices. Block-based programming interfaces are an ideal environment to program these microcontrollers, lowering the barrier of entry for young, novice programmers. Finally, incorporating physical computing devices alongside Augmented Reality (AR) presents opportunities for shared experiences between users, leading to more engagement, which creates opportunities for social interaction, ideation, and creativity. This thesis presents the MakAR project, which aims to empower youth to design, build, and play through interactions with AR, physical prototyping, and the Internet of Things (IoT). We sought to design an interactive system with which we can (1) explore novel interactions between physical and virtual content, (2) lower the barrier to entry for young makers to design, build, and play with DIY electro-mechanical devices, and (3) engage and collaborate with one another both virtually and physically in an AR-IoT environment. Our results provide evidence to how our system enables youth, with and without prior experience with physical computing, to both engage and struggle with designing AR-IoT interactions while using our system, helps reduce the barrier to entry for young users to create complex electro-mechanical devices, and provides unique shared AR-IoT experiences for both novices and expert users.</p>

<p>Our generation is currently at the juncture of the fourth industrial revolution - Industry 4.0. Emergent technology such as Augmented Reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, big data, and ore are at the center of this. Amidst all these, the concept of  digital Twinning is a promising technology for realizing Industry 4.0. Simply put, a Digital Twin is a virtual representation of a real task, action, or object. This thesis explores the parameters and details required to generate a Digital Twin. Using these insights, we propose two applications that utilize digital twinning - EditAR and AnnotateXR. EditAR is an AR workflow for authoring kinesthetic instructions for spatial tasks. AnnotateXR is an Extended Reality (XR) workflow for automating data annotation to support multiple Computer Vision (CV) applications. We evaluate these systems through user studies and report the results on the usability and viability of these workflows. From an evaluation study, EditAR received an average system usability score (SUS) of 82.0. Over the course of a user study, using AnnotateXR, users were able to generate a total of 112,737 semantically segmented images and 144 videos annotated for action segmentation in 66.55 minutes. AnnotateXR received an average SUS score of 91.0.</p>

Augmented reality (AR) is beginning to show promise for training workers in industry. However, current methods of making AR instructions for training require technical expertise and high time cost. This thesis presents an AR instruction authoring system for assembly tasks through reducing the AR registration pipeline and keeping the creation process in-situ. We explore the design of an AR interface integrated with an object detection algorithm to accelerate AR registration. We developed an AR-based system to create tutorial content by capturing subject matter expert (SME) environment-object interactions along with voice instructions. To validate the design, a two part evaluation study deployed the system in 3 different real world spatial tasks. The first part showed that expert participants were able to create task instructions faster than other mediums through AR. The second part revealed expert AR instructions can successfully help novice users complete their tasks. The results were used to refine the design into a system that also captures and overlays 2D video in AR.