Display Content Adaptation Using a Force Sensitive Office Chair

In this paper, the author introduces a novel method for non-invasive, implicit human-computer interaction based on dynamically evaluated sitting postures. The research question addressed is whether or not the proposed system is able to allow for non-obtrusive screen content adaptation in a reading situation. To this end, the author has integrated force sensor array mats into a traditional office chair, providing sitting postures/gestures of the person seated in real time. In detail, variations in the center of pressure were used for application control, starting more generally with usability assessment of cursor control, breaking them down to simple(r) pan and zoom of screen content. Preliminary studies have indicated that such a system cannot get close to the performance/accuracy of keyboard or mouse, however its general usability, e.g., for handicapped persons or for less dynamic screen content adaptation, has been demonstrated and some future potential has been recognized.

Ambient Assisted Living and Care in The Netherlands

Technology can assist older adults to remain living in the community. Within the realm of information and communication technologies, smart homes are drifting toward the concept of ambient assisted living (AAL). AAL-systems are more responsive to user needs and patterns of living, fostering physical activity for a healthier lifestyle, and capturing behaviours for prevention and future assistance. This study provides an overview of the design-requirements and expectations towards AAL-technologies that are formulated by the end-users, their relatives and health care workers, with a primary focus on health care in The Netherlands. The results concern the motivation for use of technology, requirements to the design, implementation, privacy and ethics. More research is required in terms of the actual needs of older users without dementia and their carers, and on AAL in general as some of the work included concerns less sophisticated smart home technology.

Analysis of Older Users’ Perceived Requests and Opportunities with Technologies

The HERMES Cognitive Care and Guidance for Active Aging project proposes an integrated approach to cognitive assistance, promoting the autonomy of elderly users through pervasive technology. This work aims to describe elderly people’s opinions when they are presented scenarios developed in this project. Two focus groups were organized in Austria and Spain with a view to collecting their impressions about the way in which the technological device can cover their needs; complementarily, a second session was conducted including a quantitative questionnaire. Although some participants were reluctant to use the technology, they welcomed some functionalities of the HERMES system and they considered that using them can help them to become familiar with them. Usefulness, usability, and use of real-life information for functionalities such as cognitive games are considered to be key areas of the project. This evaluation has provided the developers of the system with meaningful information to improve it and it guarantees that the system addresses elderly people’s needs.

Analysis of the Effect of Human Presence on a Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are gaining an increasing industry wide adoption. However, there remain major challenges such as network dimensioning and node placement especially in Built Environment Networks (BENs). Decisions on the node placement, orientation, and the number of nodes to cover the area of interest are usually ad-hoc. Ray tracing tools are traditionally employed to predict RF signal propagation; however, such tools are primarily intended for outdoor environments. RF signal propagation varies greatly indoors due to building materials and infrastructure, obstacles, node placement, antenna orientation and human presence. Because of the complexity of signal prediction, these factors are usually ignored or given little weight when such networks are analyzed. The paper’s results show the effects of the building size and layout, building materials, human presence and mobility on the signal propagation of a BEN. Additionally, they show that antenna radiation pattern is a key factor in the RF propagation performance, and appropriate device orientation and placement can improve the network reliability. Further, the RSS facility in RF transceivers can be exploited to detect the presence and motion of humans in the environment.

The Role of Augmented Reality within Ambient Intelligence

An Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology which provides the user with a real time 3D enhanced perception of a physical environment with addition virtual elements—either virtual scenery, information regarding surroundings, other contextual information—and is also capable of hiding or replacing real structures. With Augmented Reality applications becoming more advanced, the ways the technology can be viably used is increasing. Augmented Reality has been used for gaming several times with varying results. AR systems are seen by some as an important part of the ambient intelligence landscape. Therefore, the authors present several types of augmentation applications of AR in the domestic, industrial, scientific, medicinal, and military sectors which may benefit future ambient intelligent systems.

SYLPH

The significance that Ambient Intelligence (AmI) has acquired in recent years requires the development of innovative solutions. In this sense, the development of AmI-based systems requires the creation of increasingly complex and flexible applications. The use of context-aware technologies is an essential aspect in these developments in order to perceive stimuli from the context and react upon it autonomously. This paper presents SYLPH, a novel platform that defines a method for integrating dynamic and self-adaptable heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). This approach facilitates the inclusion of context-aware capabilities when developing intelligent ubiquitous systems, where functionalities can communicate in a distributed way. A WSN infrastructure has been deployed for testing and evaluating this platform. Preliminary results and conclusions are presented in this paper.

IT-ASSIST

IT-ASSIST is a twenty months research project which has the goal to give elderly people the opportunity to profit from digital media. Suffering from age related impairments concerning vision, hearing, or dexterity and bad hand-eye coordination are challenges when designing user interfaces for elderly people. Common approaches are trying to model systems for specific impairments. In this project, the authors follow the approach to set up interfaces and systems that can be used independent from personal impairments. Customization has adapted these systems to be in accordance with personnel impairments. Common applications like photo editing, digital mailing or internet browsing in a redesigned form provide social communication accordingly. In this article, a prototype of a customized user interface, its implementation, and results of user studies are presented and discussed.

Future Multimedia System

In future multimedia systems, seamless access to application services on different devices available to users in their vicinity, will be commonplace. The availability of these services will change as the mobile user moves. Current 3G multimedia systems do not support access to multiple applications operating on multiple different devices in context of a session or indeed seamless device session handover. Considering these requirements, the authors outline two multimedia communication platforms which potentially solve this problem. This paper describes a backward compatible architecture based on the widely adopted Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and also outlines a clean slate approach from ITU-T SG 16 called the Advanced Multimedia System (AMS). For each of these solutions the paper describes in terms of architecture, signalling, and capability negotiation, what are viewed as the most critical functions in future multimedia systems design. The result of this comparison displays the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and outlines solutions to satisfy challenges of current and future multimedia systems based on the service access requirement in ubiquitous environments. Furthermore, this comparison is used to suggest approaches that are best suited for future multimedia system design.

The Problems of Jurisdiction on the Internet

The relationship between jurisdiction and the internet has been the subject of wide ranging discussion ever since the boom in domestic internet usage. Without clear legislation, laws have been created on an ad hoc basis, often in response to specific cases. It is difficult to predict whether any one law will ever be sufficient to cope with the great variety of alleged crimes which take place on the internet. This paper discusses the problems associated with jurisdiction on the internet, presenting sample cases which have influenced the current laws and have fuelled a long term debate that continues to get more heated especially in recent times with UK celebrities being exposed on sites such as Twitter.

Enjoy.IT!

The evolution of the Internet has been spectacular in recent decades. However, the Internet is still a linear scenario, focused on showing contents and dissociated from the physical world. On the other hand, there are many social groups that don’t know how to use the opportunities that ICT can offer them, such as children. In this scenario, Project Enjoy.IT! designs, develops, and validates an entertainment platform with advanced contents that will set up a practical realization of the new products and services from the Future Internet. Project Enjoy.IT! integrates the physical world as an extension of the virtual world and vice versa. Thus, the project creates an AmI system that is able to act depending on the children’s knowledge and necessities. The platform is based on a Services Choreography that allows an easy, simple integration of the necessary elements to give support to interactive entertainment activities.