Abstract not available

Many work practices consist of repeated discussions among teams of people: status is discussed, decisions are made, alternatives are considered, and details are explained. A large amount of this rich, but informal, information that is generated during these discussions often does not get recorded in formal documentation. Yet this information is later useful for providing additional context, details, and decisions surrounding a project. One of the themes in ubiquitous computing is the capture, integration, and access of everyday activities. By applying automated capture techniques to work activities, we can potentially record a large amount of information for later use, some of which may not otherwise get recorded. Meeting capture has been a common subject of research in the ubiquitous computing community for the past decade. However, the majority of the research has focused on technologies to support the capture but not enough on the motivation for accessing the captured record and the impact on everyday work practices based on extended authentic use of a working capture and access system. In this thesis, we are designing and implementing capture and access prototypes for several domains. We are evaluating these prototypes in realistic use to gain an understanding of the motivations for using these prototypes, the patterns of reviewing meetings, and the effect of capture on the meeting.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-141).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Teaching and Learning)--Vanderbilt University, 2003. / Title from PDF title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 270-281).

published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In the area of indoor built environment modelling, the main focus was usually put on the accuracy of the modelled equipment within the given environment. There was not enough attention placed on the modelling of occupants inside the building, who represent the ultimate end?users and should be the most important element of an indoor built environment model. This deficiency was mainly due to the difficulties of modelling human behaviour with the traditional mathematical modelling methods usually adopted in the field. Therefore, in order to model the occupants more effectively, a more appropriate alternative approach is needed. This thesis examined the suitability of agent?based modelling and simulation (ABMS) for the indoor built environment. Philosophies of ABMS for the built environment were discussed, with the natural flow of progression stages in indoor built environment models outlined and explored, showing the need for switching a problem of simplicity to one in which a complex organised system was defined. Scenarios of single active agent case in ABMS for indoor built environment were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, with the finding that ABMS was versatile in modelling different types of occupants. It provided an illustration of the difference between people with different sensation time, and estimated energy savings between occupants with varied understanding of the environment. A classification scheme for different types of indoor built environment models with different levels of complexities was proposed and discussed. Based on the classification scheme, models with different levels of complexities were applied to the same building to explore the feasibility and practicality of the scheme. It was found that the simulation results provided insightful figures on probable energy consumption for different types of occupants and their crowd behaviour when interactions between occupants were considered. Findings included the amount of energy saved (around 10%) by a knowledgeable occupant over a less informed one, and the tendency for the majority (?66%) of occupants trying to save energy by assessing the environment themselves under different conditions. To further assist building management and the implementation of ABMS approach in built environment for simulations, the concepts of geographic information system (GIS) were modified for applications in the indoor environment, based on its similarity with ABMS for a grid?based environment. A prototype program was developed to test the applicability of the proposed concepts, with OPC connectivity for connections to real?world equipment. It was found that the idea of indoor GIS helps to solve problems such as the facility layout problem or the difficulties of information storage/retrieval in facility management, and this concept also integrated well with ABMS. With the successful modelling of different types of occupants and simulation results consistent with real data, it can be concluded from the work that ABMS is a promising approach for future generations of indoor built environment models. Also, with the inspiring framework of indoor GIS, the combination of ABMS and GIS in an integrated platform will certainly bring a powerful tool to the field. / published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The recent advancement in computer-integrated manufacturing related technologies (e.g. internet of things, information technology and service-oriented architecture) has prompted the need for a novel effective, efficient and economical automatic identification and data collection solution for manufacturing scenario. Accurate and timely manufacturing front line information is essential to guarantee the functions and performance of enterprise information systems (EISs) deployed, and is the basis of entire information flow in enterprise. Both researchers and commercial players have made great contributions to the fields of enterprise information systems and data capturing technologies. However, real-time data processing and on-line knowledge support to seamlessly link up the EISs and shop floor front-line operations are still open to discuss. This research discusses an overall solution for manufacturing real-time field data capturing, processing and disseminating strategy in ubiquitous manufacturing environment, named Ubiquitous Manufacturing Platform (UMP). This research discusses the design and development of UMP, which is an innovative framework to integrate Auto-ID hardware devices and software services for facilitating manufacturing shop floor production management. The proposed event-driven UMP aims to enable shop floor real-time visibility and traceability, and bridge the gap between frontline operations and management level activities (e.g. planning and scheduling). On one hand, production management objectives are fulfilled through defined and configured services, and eventually carried out at shop floor operating sites with managed Auto-ID devices. On the other hand, the generated shop floor real-time field data is captured as events, which are then processed and aggregated to leveled meaningful information to satisfy various information requirements for different roles in an enterprise. UMP is expected to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of production supervision and decision making, and to reduce the production disturbances. This research has made the following achievements and contributions. Firstly, a scalable and reconfigurable infrastructure for manufacturing real-time field data capturing, processing and disseminating, named UMP, is developed based on several core technologies to achieve seamless dual-way connectivity and interoperability among enterprise application systems, shop floor, production line and workstation levels. Secondly, an innovative information processing mechanism, namely critical event model, is designed to connect the real-time field data in manufacturing processes to implied business context information. Based on this model, real-time field data is able to be organized in various abstract levels, so as to be useful for making adaptive enterprise decisions. Thirdly, a lightweight devices middleware solution named Gateway Operating System (GOS), is designed and proposed to support UMP. GOS enables a unified system interface for manufacturing companies to deploy and manage their heterogeneous Auto-ID devices. Furthermore, it allows multiple back-end manufacturing applications to share the same Auto-ID infrastructure, and shields the application systems from the implementation detail of enabling hardware devices. Fourthly, the gateway event processing procedure is presented to implement the engine for shop floor real-time field data capturing, processing and disseminating. Based on the Auto-ID infrastructure, it combines the concept of event and software agents into workflow management to realize real-time reconfigurable ubiquitous manufacturing. / published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy