Design Considerations for the "New Normal" Work Environment Using Thematic Analysis

The coronavirus pandemic that first began sweeping the globe in 2020—and more commonly referred to as COVID-19—caused the world to shut down with little notice. Every organization had the capacity to do so rapidly switched over to a virtual environment, but this transition was unfortunately far from seamless. That is, individuals who had never interacted with technology for purposes other than recreation—such as reading the news, watching shows or playing video games—were forced to quickly learn how to adapt to using technology that support working virtual, in order to complete tasks that were required of them while at work or school. In this work, we discuss the findings of a study that was conducted for the purpose of collecting information about people’s experiences in different work environments (i.e., in-person, virtual, hybrid), in order to learn more about whether age, profession, distance to work, and several other factors make a difference in how people were affected by the transition to virtual environments due to the coronavirus pandemic. By analyzing the survey results of 104 individuals and the interview data of 12 of those individuals using both qualitative and quantitative approaches, we identified some of the key issues that people were facing. Despite discovering a variety of issues that were brought up in the survey results and interview data, we also discovered several common themes that were present that also often appeared to irritate users the most. Through a deep comparison of individuals’ experiences in in-person, online, and hybrid spaces, we describe how issues that were previously faced by people when attending work, school, events, or other activities in-person were reduced or eliminated by the shift to virtual. However, we also observed that some new issues surfaced and that existing issues were aggravated. In conclusion, we propose best practices for enabling individuals to be better informed and to more seamlessly transition to virtual environments

Virtual Online Worlds: Towards a Collaborative Space for Architects

Although research has been trickling forth in the last eight years about online collaboration and use of virtual online worlds (VOW) amongst architects and architectural students (2006-2010), little discussion is dedicated to how the use of VOWs have improved collaboration, communication and quality of design for those that have used it. Researching VOWs and their use in architecture was a difficult task since much of what needed to be found was scattered amongst the fields of education, construction engineering, computer science and even online blogs dedicated to architecture in video games. An analysis of those findings has contributed to the development of a pilot project conducted in a VOW called Blue Mars. The project was set up in order to discover how VOWs improve communication skills of its users and analyze what happens when architecture students are allowed to virtually experience their designs as avatars. This study is part of a growing body of research on the exploration of virtual online worlds in the practice of architecture both in the classroom and out in the field

Chinese Women and the Cyberspace

This volume examines how Chinese women negotiate the Internet as a research tool and a strategy for the acquisition of information, as well as for social networking purposes. Offering insight into the complicated creation of a female Chinese cybercommunity, Chinese Women and the Cyberspace discusses the impact of increasingly available Internet technology on the life and lifestyle of Chinese women-examining larger issues of how women become both masters of their electronic domain and the objects of exploitation in a faceless online world. University of Hong Kong

On Programmable Interactions: Principles, Concepts and Challenges of Co-Located and Social Interplay

Computing machines and humans interacting has long followed similar principles – A human gives an input command to a machine, which the machine then executes, gives an output, and waits for the next human input. Thus the interactions are user-initiated, requiring constant active participation, and much attention. Despite this, the number of such interactions has kept increasing since computing has now pervaded all areas of human life. Take mobile devices as an example: they are now considered as magic remote controllers that enable interaction with the whole world. Hence, people are now glued to their mobiles, which makes them more detached from their surroundings and other people nearby. Consequently, there is no need nor desire to socialize with other people in close proximity. Presently, the physical world and the cyber world are melting into each other, and new cyber-physical devices are rapidly emerging. This means that an ever-increasing number of computers are awaiting user input.This wide array of computing devices and heterogeneous networking capabilities have great potential for improving the ways human interactions with computing can work. The problem is that the current ways of implementing software are not well-suited for implementing interactions where multiple co-located people and devices participate. The tools mainly support implementing apps where a sole user interacts with the device, and possibly, remotely with another person. Vendor-neutrality also causes many challenges as some manufacturers only focus on improving interoperability within ecosystems.This thesis approaches computing with a novel concept of programmable interactions. The idea is to consider the interactions as first class citizens in software development. Instead of focusing on how a human interacts with a machine, the focus is on how the machines in the same space can share resources and jointly interact with each other, serving the humans – the programmable interactions are based on principles that put humans into a central role in the interactions. For developing such interactions, the thesis presents an Action-Oriented Programming model and its runtime environment. Human and social aspects are considered with a concept of companion devices. These companions carry personal profiles about their owners, and represent them for other devices that are nearby. The devices socialize and interact with each other as well as with their owners proactively, meaning that they are also allowed to initiate interactions.The approaches and concepts that are presented form the basis for developing software where interactions play a key role. These programmable interactions are based on a set of human-centric principles, and the task of enabling them is highly demanding. Therefore, enabling programmable interactions should rather be considered as a continuous process that improves over time. The most crucial challenges have been identified in this thesis together with a view on how the current technology can be used to respond to them

Time-Dependent Eco-Efficiency Assessment in the Production of Composite Structures Case study from manufacturing aircraft ribs made of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)

Heutzutage unterliegen Technologien zur effizienten Produktion von Strukturen aus faserverstärkten Polymeren in verschiedenen Industriezweigen einschließlich der Luftfahrt einer ständigen Weiterentwicklung. Dies macht es erforderlich, die Ökoeffizienz von Prozessvarianten zu bewerten, um die Treiber ihrer ökonomischen und ökologischen Auswirkungen aufzuspüren. Daher spielen Entscheidungsunterstützungswerkzeuge zur Prozessbewertung eine entscheidende Rolle bei zukünftiger Produktion der Strukturen aus faserverstärkten Polymeren. In der Praxis sollten solche Bewertungsunterstützungssysteme auf gesammelten Prozessdaten basieren und sie müssen für relevante Prozessszenarien anpassbar sein. Darüber hinaus ist diese Entscheidungsfindung ein zeitgemäßer Ansatz in moderner Produktion. Deshalb ist die zeitabhängigen Bewertungsfähigkeit ein Schlüssel zur Abdeckung dieser Prozessvarianten und zur rechtzeitigen Entscheidungsfindung. In der Literatur gibt es eine Vielzahl von Rahmenwerken und Konzepten, die nur bestimmten Aspekten der zeitabhängigen Ökoeffizienz-Bewertung in der Produktion von Strukturen aus faserverstärkten Polymeren dienen. In der Literaturübersicht dieser Arbeit sind nicht nur Rahmenwerke für die Ökobilanzierung, Modellierung und Industrie 4.0, sondern auch ausgewählte Konzepte und Studien zur zeitabhängigen Bewertung und Echtzeit-Datenerfassung betrachtet. Basierend auf diesen konventionellen Ansätzen wurde in dieser Arbeit ein umfassender Rahmen für die zeitabhängige Ökoeffizienzbewertung in der Produktion von Strukturen aus faserverstärkten Polymeren eingeführt. Um diesen Rahmen zu realisieren, wird das zuvor entwickelte Ökoeffizienz-Bewertungsmodell, das als Eco-Efficiency Assessment Model (EEAM) benannt wurde, erweitert und für die Bewertung der parametrisierten Produktion implementiert. Darüber hinaus wurde das Konzept der Smart-Work-Station (SWS) etabliert, um Prozessdaten in Echtzeit bereitzustellen und die Prozesse zu parametrisieren. Ähnlich wie das Rahmenwerk wurde das SWS-Konzept so entwickelt, dass es für eine Vielzahl zugehöriger Produkte und Prozessszenarien innerhalb definierter Systemgrenzen anpassbar ist. Es umfasst die Bestimmung der erforderlichen Sensorknoten für die Messung der zugehörigen initialen Daten. Die in dieser Arbeit eingeführte zeitabhängige Ökoeffizienzbewertung ist ein Schlüssel nicht nur zur Durchführung der Bewertung und des Vergleichs von Produktions- und Produktvarianten, sondern auch zur Erleichterung der Abschätzung in frühen Entwicklungsphasen. Als Fallstudie ist die hochautomatisierte Fertigung von Seitenleitwerksrippen in Verkehrsflugzeugen ausgewählt, um den Rahmen zu untersuchen, das Datenerfassungskonzept der SWS zu realisieren und die Ergebnisse aus EEAM zu validieren. Die Ergebnisse der Bewertung dieser Fallstudie zeigen direkte Kosten von rund 221,3 e/kg und einen Kohlenstoffdioxid-Fußabdruck von etwa 105,7 kgCO2/kg aus den betrachteten Vorbereitungs-, Zuschnitt-, Vorform- und Trimmteilprozessen. Diese zeitabhängigen ökonomischen und ökologischen Auswirkungen werden in jedem Teilprozess ihren Treibern zugeordnet und validiert