yes / This is the tenth workshop to be organised under the postgraduate programmes in electrical and electronic engineering (EEE). Over the past ten years, the Research Seminar Series has provided a snapshot of the research agenda. Early Proceedings addressed issues such as third-generation (3G) mobile and GPS satellite navigation, while in this issue, the importance of the green agenda and the influence of broadband mobile communications, smartphones and the World Wide Web are in evidence. In total, forty-five papers have been selected for the Proceedings.

Given increased immigration rates in recent years and the rapid rate technology has become part of daily life, understanding the role of technology in the immigration process is important. Smartphones, in particular, are now commonplace, yet little is known about their role in immigration, still less from an information perspective. This study explores how immigrants to Sweden engage with information, with a particular focus on the function of smartphones and smartphone applications as intermediary tools between their adopted Swedish society and their countries of origin. A framework consisting of two theoretical lenses is employed: a practice approach, specifically information practices and transnational practices, and theories of belonging. Adopting a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 12 participants. This study finds that smartphones can serve as a space through which immigrants can develop an understanding of the new information landscape and maintain a connection to the home country, primarily through contact with social networks. However, some form of prior knowledge, often from a third party, is commonly needed to use smartphones effectively in the new landscape. By facilitating an understanding of the new information landscape, and maintaining a connection to the home country, smartphones can be seen as involved in the development of a sense of belonging in the new environment. This study creates new insights into how immigrants engage with information, especially through smartphones, however, further research in this area is encouraged.

No description available.

The Computers are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm was proposed more than two decades ago to understand humans’ interaction with computer technologies. Today, as emerging media technologies including social robots and smartphones become more personal and persuasive, questions of how users respond to them socially, what individual factors leverage the relationship, and what constitutes the social influence of these technologies need to be addressed. As an expansion of the CASA paradigm, the Media are Social Actors (MASA) paradigm was applied in the current dissertation to understand users’ social perception, social attitudes, and social behavior in their interactions with humanoid social robots and smartphones. Two lab experiments with between-subjects factorial design were conducted. A total of 110 participants were asked to interact with a humanoid social robot and a smartphone respectively in a socio-emotional context and a task-oriented context. Four pairs of social cues were compared to understand their influence on users’ anthropomorphism of the technologies. Multivariate analyses and textual analyses were conducted. Results suggested that users developed more trust in the social robot with a human voice than with a synthetic voice. Users also developed more intimacy and more interest in the social robot when the robot was paired with humanlike gestures. However, individual differences such as users’ attitudes toward robots, robot use experiences, and suspension of disbelief affected users’ psychological responses to the social robot. Although users’ responses to the smartphone did not vary based on the language styles and the modalities, factors such as individuals’ intensive smartphone use, mobile use habits, and their source orientation and re-orientation moderated the social influence of the smartphone. The dissertation has theoretical value in expanding the CASA paradigm to social robots and smartphones. It also tests the validity of the propositions of the MASA paradigm. The results can lead to more comprehensive, nuanced, and exciting discoveries of the social implications, ethical implications, and practical guides of using these emerging media technologies in the future. / Media & Communication

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-25T22:46:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CUNHA_Marcel_2016.pdf: 12825811 bytes, checksum: fe0b61494670e2e5bcf510bf3689ef64 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-25T22:46:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CUNHA_Marcel_2016.pdf: 12825811 bytes, checksum: fe0b61494670e2e5bcf510bf3689ef64 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2016-10-25T22:46:50Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CUNHA_Marcel_2016.pdf: 12825811 bytes, checksum: fe0b61494670e2e5bcf510bf3689ef64 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-25T22:46:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CUNHA_Marcel_2016.pdf: 12825811 bytes, checksum: fe0b61494670e2e5bcf510bf3689ef64 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-22 / Não recebi financiamento / Nowadays smartphones are composed of a wide range of sensors and resources such as GPS (Global Positioning System), Bluetooth and Internet connection through Wi-Fi, 3G, among others resources. Along with the smartphone’s increasing popularity around the world, there is an increasing development and popularity of power-hungry applications: applications that take advantage from these resources and may reduce the smartphones autonomy. This fact is known as one of the biggest to be solved when talking about nowadays smartphones. Considering this, many solutions were proposed and approach this topic in different ways. These solutions can be classified in two major groups: software layer solutions and hardware layer solutions. In one hand, the software layer solutions are the ones that try to reduce the smartphone’s energy drain by only changing the software that composes the smartphone. For example, by improving the Wi-Fi interface or managing the running applications of the smartphone. On the other hand, the hardware layer solutions are the ones that try to improve or increase the energy availability of the smartphone changing or improving only the physical components, for example evolving the technology regarding the batteries. This study presents an approach in software layer for this problem: a system for managing the states of the smartphone’s sensors and components, based on the user profile, aiming energy savings. This work consisted of three steps. In the first step the literature research was done and also a research of the existing solutions in the same area. In the second step the mechanism, called MyBatRecommender, composed by the server and client sides, was presented and developed for the Android operational system. In the last step some validation tests were applied aiming to verify the system efficiency. The results show that when applied to a controlled scenario, the MyBatRecommender achieves around thirty-two per cent of energy savings. / Os smartphones atuais são compostos por uma grande gama de sensores e componentes como GPS, Bluetooth e conexão com a Internet através das interfaces de rede Wi-Fi, 3G, entre diversos outros recursos. Junto com a crescente popularização dos smartphones ao redor do mundo está também o crescente desenvolvimento e popularização dos aplicativos que fazem uso desses recursos e tendem a diminuir a autonomia dos smartphones. Esse fato é considerado como um dos maiores problemas a ser superado no contexto de smartphones atualmente. Tendo esse problema em vista, diversas soluções abordam a questão de diferentes maneiras, e podem ser classificados em dois grupos: soluções em nível de software e soluções em nível de hardware. As soluções em nível de software são aquelas que procuram melhorar o consumo de energia dos smartphones apenas com alterações nos softwares que compõe o smartphone. Por exemplo, melhorando a eficiência da interface de rede Wi-Fi, controlando aplicativos que rodam no smartphone, entre outras. Por outro lado, as soluções em nível de hardware procuram melhorar ou ampliar a disponibilidade de energia nos smartphones através dos seus componentes físicos, como por exemplo evoluindo a tecnologia das baterias dos mesmos. Esta dissertação apresenta uma abordagem em nível de software para esse problema através de um sistema de gerenciamento dos estados dos sensores e componentes de um smartphone, baseado no perfil do usuário, visando a economia de energia. Esse estudo consistiu de três etapas. Na primeira etapa foi feito o levantamento bibliográfico e desenvolvida uma pesquisa de soluções existentes na área, identificando possíveis sistemas e aplicativos com a mesma proposição. Na segunda etapa foi elaborado o mecanismo denominado MyBatRecommender, composto pelas partes servidora e cliente, e implementado para o sistema operacional Android. Por fim, na última etapa, foram aplicadas algumas formas de validação no sistema proposto a fim de verificar a sua eficiência. Os resultados obtidos mostram que o sistema implementado, quando aplicado em cenário de testes controlado, apresenta um resultado que traz uma economia de energia de aproximadamente trinta e dois por cento em relação ao uso sem o mecanismo proposto.

This thesis consists of the development of a web based wireless sensor network (WSN) monitoring system using smartphones. Typical WSNs consist of networks of wireless sensor nodes dispersed over predetermined areas to acquire, process, and transmit data from these locations. Often it is the case that the WSNs are located in areas too hazardous or inaccessible to humans. We focused on the need for access to this sensed data remotely and present our reference architecture to solve this problem. We developed this architecture for web-based wireless sensor network monitoring and have implemented a prototype that uses Crossbow Mica sensors and Android smartphones for bridging the wireless sensor network with the web services for data storage and retrieval. Our application has the ability to retrieve sensed data directly from a wireless senor network composed of Mica sensors and from a smartphones onboard sensors. The data is displayed on the phone's screen, and then, via Internet connection, they are forwarded to a remote database for manipulation and storage. The attributes sensed and stored by our application are temperature, light, acceleration, GPS position, and geographical direction. Authorized personnel are able to retrieve and observe this data both textually and graphically from any browser with Internet connectivity or through a native Android application. Web-based wireless sensor network architectures using smartphones provides a scalable and expandable solution with applicability in many areas, such as healthcare, environmental monitoring, infrastructure health monitoring, border security, and others. / by Anthony M. Marcus. / Thesis (M.S.C.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This thesis deals with the use of mobile touch technologies in German language teaching. The theoretical part of the work collects basic facts and knowledge about mobile touch devices, which are important as a didactic tool. Furthermore, the work on the theoretical level deals with information on teaching applications and teaching methods in which these touch technologies can be used. The Practical part of the work is devoted to the results of the research survey, namely the questionnaire research survey and the results from a sample lesson. The questionnaire survey revealed that mobile touch technologies are not widely distributed in schools and are not widely used during lessons. This thesis seeks to give readers a comprehensive description of the possibilities of didactic and methodical use of mobile touch devices in the teaching of German language.

Submitted by Edineia Teixeira (edineia.teixeira@unioeste.br) on 2019-03-11T18:41:13Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Heloyse_ Rossi_2018.pdf: 11853805 bytes, checksum: c9714d90ddb5b2c8134a833f815ea8e6 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2019-03-11T18:41:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Heloyse_ Rossi_2018.pdf: 11853805 bytes, checksum: c9714d90ddb5b2c8134a833f815ea8e6 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019-02-06 / The smartphones have become a vital part of human life, their great expansion and modernization make people connect in cyberspace from the moment they wake up until the time they go to sleep. Taking this into account, the educational processes can create strategies so that this everyday use of smartphones can be converted, at least in parts, into Learning activities. This dissertation, called English for Everybody and Everywhere: Connections and Convergences, linked to the research line Language: Linguistic, Cultural and Teaching Practices in the Master of Art from the State University of the West of Paraná (UNIOESTE), proposes the use of four smartphone applications, Let's Learn English, Duolingo, LyTrans English, and WhatsApp, in the process of English Language Learning, aiming to approach learning to the reality of 21st century students, in order to provide a more creative, interactive and dynamic environment in the classroom, in a process of convergence that establishes connections between students, teachers, cyberspace and their knowledge. This study is an action research with a qualitative approach, in which the researcher assumed the role of teacher, developing practical activities in the applications for smartphone, mentioned above, with a group of high school students from a public school in the city of Cascavel - PR. At the end of the activities with the applications in the school, the research used as data generation, besides the reflections on the practice, an interview with the regent teacher of the selected class, who participated as a listener of all the classes, a diagnostic questionnaire with the students involved and a journal, containing all the observations and impressions of the practice developed with the students. With the research, we sought to verify the possibility of smartphones being used as another way to access information that through integration and interactivity should become an additional knowledge in the students' lives. In the activities developed in the classroom with the selected group, we based ourselves on all the theoretical contribution described in the initial part of the text, and we based on concepts and theories of renowned authors in the area, such as: the Learning of Assmann (1999) and Dal Molin (2003); the importance of planning activities based on the advances of cyberspace and cyberculture, as Lévy points out (1999) and the influences of the culture of convergence in this scenario, according to Jenkins (2009); the characteristics of a rhizomatic teaching that creates maps and escape from from the tree models and decals, based on the theory of Deleuze and Guattari (1995); the new relations with knowledge that emerge from the age of cyberspace, with a collective intelligence and a teacher who passes from the only holder of the knowledge to animator and supervisor of this intelligence, in a process of flipped learning, based on the studies of Lévy (1998b), Moran (2015), Prensky (2001) and others; the advantages that mobile learning can bring both within the classroom and beyond the school environment, following UNESCO (2014), Motter (2013), Souza (2012) among other authors who collaborated for the present study. / Os smartphones tem se tornado parte vital da vida dos seres humanos, sua grande expansão e sua modernização fazem com que as pessoas estejam conectadas no ciberespaço desde o momento que acordam até a hora em que vão dormir. Levando isso em conta, os processos educacionais podem criar estratégias para que esse uso cotidiano dos smartphones possa ser convertido, ao menos em partes, para atividades de Aprendência. Essa dissertação, intitulada English for Everybody and Everywhere: conexões e convergências, vinculada à linha de pesquisa Linguagem: Práticas Linguísticas, Culturais e de Ensino, do Mestrado em Letras da Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE) propõe o uso de quatro aplicativos para smartphone, Let’s Learn English, Duolingo, LyTrans English, e WhatsApp, no processo de Aprendência de Língua Inglesa, buscando aproximar a aprendizagem da realidade dos estudantes do século XXI, de modo a facultar um ambiente mais criativo, interativo e dinâmico em sala de aula, em um processo de convergência que estabelece conexões entre estudantes, professores, o ciberespaço e seus saberes. Esse estudo se configura como uma pesquisa-ação de abordagem qualitativa, na qual a pesquisadora assumiu o papel de professora, desenvolvendo atividades práticas nos aplicativos para smartphone, citados acima, com um grupo de estudantes do segundo ano do ensino médio de uma escola pública da cidade de Cascavel – PR. Ao final das atividades com os aplicativos na escola, a pesquisa utilizou como geração de dados, além das reflexões sobre a prática, uma entrevista com a professora regente da turma selecionada, que participou como ouvinte de todas as aulas, um questionário diagnóstico com os estudantes envolvidos e um diário de bordo, contento todas as observações e impressões da prática desenvolvida com os estudantes. Com a pesquisa, buscamos verificar a possibilidade dos smartphones serem utilizados como mais uma via de acesso às informações que pela integração e interatividade deve tornar-se um conhecimento a mais na vida dos estudantes. Nas atividades desenvolvidas em sala de aula com o grupo selecionado, baseamo-nos no aporte teórico descrito na parte inicial do texto, e nos embasamos em conceitos e teorias de autores renomados na área, tais como: a Aprendência de Assmann (1999) e Dal Molin (2003); a importância de planejar atividades fundamentadas nos avanços do ciberespaço e da cibercultura, como aponta Lévy (1999) e as influências da cultura de convergência nesse cenário, conforme Jenkins (2009); as características de um ensino rizomático que cria mapas e foge dos modelos de árvore e decalques, baseando-nos na teoria de Deleuze e Guattari (1995); as novas relações com o saber que surgem a partir da era do ciberespaço, com uma inteligência coletiva e um professor que passa de único detentor dos saberes para animador e orientador dessa inteligência, em um processo de flipped learning, tendo como base os estudos de Lévy (1998b), Moran (2015), Prensky (2001) e outros; as vantagens que a aprendizagem móvel pode trazer tanto para dentro de sala de aula quanto para além do ambiente escolar, seguindo UNESCO (2014), Motter (2013), Souza (2012) entre outros autores que colaboraram para o presente estudo.

Bicycle transportation has become a central priority of urban areas invested in improving sustainability, livability, and public health outcomes. Transportation agencies are striving to increase the comfort of their bicycle networks to improve the experience of existing cyclists and to attract new cyclists. The Oregon Department of Transportation sponsored the development of ORcycle, a smartphone application designed to collect cyclist travel, comfort, and safety information throughout Oregon. The sample resulting from the initial deployment of the application between November 2014 and March 2015 is described and analyzed within this thesis. 616 bicycle trips from 148 unique users were geo-matched to the Portland metropolitan area bicycle and street network, and the self-reported comfort level of these trips was modeled as a function of user supplied survey responses, temporal characteristics, bicycle facility/street typology, traffic volume, traffic speed, topography, and weather. Cumulative logistic regression models were utilized to quantify how these variables were related to route comfort level within separate variable groups, and then the variables were used in a pooled regression model specified by backwards stepwise selection. The results of these analyses indicated that many of the supplied predictors had significant relationships with route comfort. In particular, bicycle miles traveled on facilities with higher traffic volumes, higher posted speeds, steep grades, and less separation between bicycles and motor vehicles coincided with lower cyclist comfort ratings. User supplied survey responses were also significant, and had a greater overall model variance contribution than objectively measured facility variables. These results align with literature that indicates that built environment variables are important in predicting bicyclist comfort, but user variables may be more important in terms of the variance accounted for. This research outlines unique analysis methods by which future researchers and transportation planners may explore crowdsourced data, and presents the first exploration of bicyclist comfort perception data crowdsourced using a smartphone application.

Rapid diffusion and use of smartphones in Africa are challenging, given the state of its infrastructural facilities. The problem addressed was a lack of information on the adoption behavior and the sociodevelopmental effect of smartphone acceptance among rural and urban users in Nigeria. The purpose of this study was to examine the adoption behavior and the sociodevelopmental effect of smartphone acceptance among rural and urban residents. Research questions examined the relationship of performance expectancy, social influence, price value, and habit on adopters' intentions to use smartphones, continued use of smartphones, and the sociodevelopmental effect on smartphone users lives and standard of living. The theoretical foundation of the study was based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, and expectation confirmation theory. A nonexperimental cross-sectional survey design was used to collect and analyze data obtained from the target population of approximately 14 million with a sample size of 385 based on 95% confidence level. Survey data were collected using a research instrument developed by Bhattacherjee, Venkatesh, and others and analyzed via multivariate regression. Findings indicated that the positive effect of performance expectancy on intent to use smartphones was stronger among urban than among rural dwellers. No other location-moderated relationships were found. There was a strong positive correlation (β = .761, p < .001) between intent to use smartphones and continued use of smartphones. The findings of this study may promote social change by providing valuable data to service providers and regulators for realignment of investment strategies and the reevaluation of national policies on communication technology development.