Tools for image annotation Using context-awareness, NFC and image clustering

Annotation of images is crucial for enabling keyword based imagesearch. However, the enormous amount of available digital photos makesmanual annotation impractical, and requires methods for automaticimage annotation. This paper describes two complementary approachesto automatic annotation of images depicting some public attraction. TheLoTagr system provides annotation information for already captured,geo-positioned images, by selecting nearby, previously tagged imagesfrom a source image collection, and subsequently collect the mostfrequently used tags from these images. The NfcAnnotate systemenables annotation at image capture time, by using NFC (Near FieldCommunication) and NFC information tags provided at the site ofthe attraction. NfcAnnotate enables clustering of topically relatedimages, which makes it possible annotate a set of images in oneannotation operation. In cases when NFC information tags are notavailable, NfcAnnotate image clustering can be combined with LoTagrto conveniently annotate every image in the cluster in a single operation

Первазивность как неотъемлемое свойство социокультурного пространства

The socio-cultural space in the information society is subject to the so-called "digital transformations", the basis of which is the large-scale use of information and communication technologies. This space is fully informational, it is permeated with information streams between elements and actors. At the same time, streams exist both in the traditional "analog" form and in digital. The digital existence of socio-cultural information is based on the widespread use of information systems, which are based on the principles of decentralization and distribution. The socio-cultural environment is saturated with cultural objects that exist both in real and digital form. They can be either an addition to real culture or "digital doubles" of real cultural objects, or they can be independent cultural phenomena that have no analogues in the real cultural space. Digital data is not stored in one information system, but is distributed among all digital components of the socio-cultural space. These data are both generated by systems and come from various sensors that saturate the physical environment of the socio-cultural space. In the world scientific discourse, the term "pervasiveness" is used to refer to such systems, which refers both to the computing systems themselves and to processes. The concepts of "pervasive computing", "pervasive systems" and "pervasive environments" are used as stable. Based on their analysis of these concepts, it is proposed to use the term "pervasiveness" to designate as one of the main characteristics of the socio-cultural space itself, the development of which in the information age is based on the widespread use of information and communication technologies.Социокультурное пространство в информационном обществе подвержено так называемым «цифровым трансформациям», основой которых является широкомасштабное использование информационно-коммуникационных технологий. В полной мере это пространство является информационным, оно пронизано информационными потоками между элементами и акторами. При этом потоки существуют как в традиционной «аналоговой» форме, так и в цифровой. Цифровая бытийность социокультурной информации основана на повсеместном использовании информационных систем, которые строятся на основах децентрализации и распределённости. Социокультурная среда насыщена объектами культуры, которые существуют как в реальной, так и в цифровой форме. Они могут быть как дополнением реальной культуры или «цифровыми двойниками» реальных объектов культуры, так и быть самостоятельными культурными феноменами, не имеющими аналогов в реальном пространстве культуры. Цифровые данные не хранятся в одной информационной системе, а распределены между всеми цифровыми компонентами социокультурного пространства. Эти данные как генерируются системами, так и поступают с различных датчиков, которыми насыщена физическая среда социокультурного пространства. В мировом научном дискурсе для обозначения таких систем используется термин «первазивность», который относится как к самим вычислительным системам, так и к процессам. Как устойчивые используются понятия «первазивные вычисления», «первазивные системы» и «первазивные среды». Исходя их анализа этих понятий предлагается использовать термин «первазивность» для обозначения как одной из основных характеристик самого социокультурного пространства, развитие которого в информационную эпоху основывается на повсеместном применении информационно-коммуникационнх технологий

Mobile applications approaches using near field communication support

Nowadays, the society is constantly evolving technologically and new products and technologies appears every day. These technologies allow the well-being of societies and their populations. Mobile gadgets evolution, mainly the smartphones, has always been at the forefront, everyday new devices appear and with them, more recent technologies. These technologies provide a better quality of life of everybody who uses them. People need to have at their disposal a whole array of new features that make their life increasingly more easily. The use of gadgets to simplify the day-to-day is growing and for this people use all disposal types of devices, such as computers, laptops, file servers, smartphones, tablets, and among of others. With the need to use all these devices a problem appears, the data synchronization and a way to simplify the usage of smartphones. What is the advantage of having so much technology available if we need to concern about the interoperability between all devices? There are some solutions to overcome these problems, but most often the advantage brought by these technologies has associated some setup configurations and time is money. Near field communication (NFC) appeared in 2004 but only now has gained the market dominance and visibility, everybody wants to have a NFC based solution, like Google, Apple, Microsoft and other IT giants. NFC is the best solution to overcome some problems like, file synchronization, content sharing, pairing devices, and launch applications without user interaction. NFC arises as a technology that was forgotten, but it has everything to win in every global solutions and markets. In this dissertation two based solutions are presented, an application to transfer money using NFC and an application launcher. Both solutions are an innovation in market because there are nothing like these. A prototype of each application was build and tested. NFC Launcher is already in Android Market. NFC Launcher and Credit Transfer were built, evaluated and are ready for use

State of the Art, Trends and Future of Bluetooth Low Energy, Near Field Communication and Visible Light Communication in the Development of Smart Cities

The current social impact of new technologies has produced major changes in all areas of society, creating the concept of a smart city supported by an electronic infrastructure, telecommunications and information technology. This paper presents a review of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Near Field Communication (NFC) and Visible Light Communication (VLC) and their use and influence within different areas of the development of the smart city. The document also presents a review of Big Data Solutions for the management of information and the extraction of knowledge in an environment where things are connected by an “Internet of Things” (IoT) network. Lastly, we present how these technologies can be combined together to benefit the development of the smart city

Solução ubíqua baseada em NFC para a análise de dados turísticos em cidades inteligentes.

El registro y el análisis detallado de las trayectorias del visitante y los movimientos individuales en tiempo real de las decenas de miles de visitantes es una de las áreas más importantes de la investigación en turismo. Para observar los movimientos turísticos, está disponible una variedad de técnicas. Nuevas técnicas de seguimiento se están explorando y gracias al avance de la tecnología es posible disponer en cualquier momento y desde cualquier lugar (computación ubicua) de la de información que se ha utilizado para registrar el movimiento de turistas, con alta resolución. En estos entornos (ambientes etiquetados) donde el usuario interactúa con su medio ambiente, una tecnología emergente conocida como Near Field Communication [NFC] ofrece una manera natural para la interacción entre los usuarios y su entorno. Este artículo elabora una propuesta ubicua, basada en NFC, que permite obtener datos turísticos en tiempo real que son analizados con el método de cadenas de Markov por medio de pruebas experimentales y estadísticas, gracias a que se demuestra que el movimiento de un turista está influenciado por el estado o sitio turístico donde se encuentre antes de pasar a otro, corroborando la hipótesis que indica que es posible capturar información dejada por los turistas por medio de herramientas tecnológicas, y que gracias al procesamiento de esa información se puede obtener una traza que muestre la actividad realizada, la misma que, por medio de su visualización permitirá la toma de decisiones que favorezcan la actividad turística como parte de la economía regional y nacional. Detailed recording and analysis of visitor paths and individual mouse movements in real time of tens-of-thousands of visitors is one of the most important areas of tourism research, and to observe tourist movements a variety of techniques are available. New tracking techniques are explored and due to the advance of technology we can have information at any time and from anywhere (pervasive computing). This has been used to record movement information of tourists with high resolution. In these environments (tags environments) where the user interacts with the environment, an emerging technology called NFC (Near Field Communication) is providing a natural means of interaction between the users and their environment. This paper shows the implementation of an NFC-based pervasive solution that allows tourist tracking data to be obtained in real time; it is simplified and analyzed with the Markov chains method by experimental and statistical testing. It is also demonstrated that the movement of a tourist is influenced by the state or tourist site where he or she is to move to another, corroborating the hypothesis "that if you can capture the information left by tourists through technological tools, thanks to the processing of such information you can obtain a trace that is a sample of the activity which, through its display, allows decisions that promote tourism as part of the regional and national economy".O registro e a análise pormenorizados dos percursos do visitante bem como os movimentos individuais em tempo real das dezenas de milhares de visitantes pertencem a uma das mais importantes áreas de pesquisa em turismo. Para observar os movimentos turísticos, encontra-se disponível uma variedade de técnicas. Novas técnicas de monitorização estão sendo exploradas e graças aos avanços da tecnologia é possível ter em qualquer momento e desde qualquer lugar (computação ubíqua) a informação que foi usada para registrar o movimento de turistas, com alta resolução. Nesses ambientes (ambientes etiquetados) onde o usuário interage com o seu ambiente, uma tecnologia emergente conhecida como Near Field Communication [NFC] fornece uma maneira natural para a interação entre os usuários e seu ambiente. Este artigo desenvolve uma proposta ubíqua, baseada em NFC, que permite obter dados turísticos em tempo real que são analisados com o método de cadeias de Markov através de testes experimentais e estatísticas, graças a que se demonstra que o movimento de um turista é influenciado pelo estado ou local turístico onde se encontra antes de passar para outro, confirmando a hipótese que é possível capturar informação deixada pelos turistas através de ferramentas tecnológicas, e que graças ao processamento dessa informação pode obter-se um traço que mostre a atividade realizada, o mesmo que, através da sua visualização permitirá tomar decisões que promovam o turismo como parte da economia regional e nacional.

NFC-Teknologiaan Pohjautuvan Älyilmoitustaulun Konseptin Suunnittelu ja Toteutus

Tampere railway station area is going through a renovation in following decades and thus it is a relevant time to research possibilities to improve the area with smart city technologies. KÄPÄLÄ project which is a collaboration of Tampere University and Tampere University of Technology focusing on smart city technologies initiated a research towards innovative service concepts on railway station area. This thesis describes planning, deployment and evaluation of prototype system titled Smart Bulletin Board which is an electronic Bulletin board with motion detection and NFC interaction which was concluded to be suitable topic of research. The aim for this thesis was to test the SBB concept’s user experience and appeal, map possibilities and problems encountered in the deployment of public display system utilizing motion detection and NFC interaction. The goal is also to explore if the NFC technology is suitable and novel technology to act as a data transfer bridge between public display and personal smartphone. This thesis consists of literary review, description of design and implementation phases and two user evaluation studies. The results of the research suggest that there is promise for the SBB concept as user experience for the system was prominently positive. The user evaluations uncovered multiple interesting usability problems related to combination of public display system, NFC and motion detection interaction which could be researched further. The results of this thesis could be used by parties planning to implement a public display system or parties involved with NFC or motion detection controls to gain insight on issues related to their usage on public setting

Diseño e implementación de una aplicación móvil basada en la tecnología NFC para acceso a información de las piezas de arte de un museo

La presente tesis desarrolla el diseño e implementación de una aplicación móvil enfocado en el sistema operativo Android para agilizar y dinamizar el acceso a información de las piezas de arte de un museo. Para este propósito, se adaptará la base de datos del museo arqueológico Josefina Ramos de Cox. Además, se implementará una aplicación web en el framework Web2py para la gestión de contenidos que serán mostrados en la aplicación móvil. La aplicación móvil estará basada en la tecnología Near Field Communication para obtener el identificador de la pieza de arte de un tag NFC. Adicionalmente, se desarrolla un servicio web en Web2py para consultar a la base de datos y retornar la información en formato JSON a la aplicación móvil. En el capítulo 1 se desarrolla el análisis de entornos y situación actual respecto a la visita a un museo, se identifica la problemática, se plantea los objetivos de la presente Tesis y se justifica su desarrollo. En el capítulo 2 se revisan las tecnologías necesarias para la implementación de la aplicación móvil y la aplicación web, entre ellas la tecnología NFC, los sistemas operativos móviles con mayor cobertura de mercado, PhoneGap y Web2py. En el capítulo 3 definimos el diseño de nuestras aplicaciones en base a la justificación del uso de NFC sobre otras tecnologías. Asimismo, se definen los diagramas de casos de uso, mockups de las aplicaciones y sus especificaciones. Por último, en el capítulo 4 se indica el proceso de construcción de la aplicación móvil y la aplicación web de administración. Se explica la escritura de un tag NFC a través de a aplicación TagWriter, se muestra las aplicaciones finales con sus funcionalidades definidas y se exponen los resultados.Tesi

Transitional response model for post-crisis tourism: A case study of Libya

The thesis provides an integrated approach to tourism development within a destination (in this case Libya) that is currently suffering from lack of both short and long term investment due to an extremely uncertain political and social environment. The influences are both internal and external and could be classed as a ‘perfect storm’ affecting the country. The thesis identifies the stages of development, and those responsible for development by using an adapted butler model. It then suggests potential interventions at stages within the development, and ways in which the industry can respond quickly to the ever-changing environment of both investment and capacity building. The responses are based within the concept E-Marketing; a broad term but a modern approach to marketing that can respond quickly to changing environmental conditions. The thesis asserts that with these new methodologies the uncertainty element within a destination can be somewhat negated by the ability of the tourism industry to respond quickly both to market and de-market a destination. The suggestion is that for the foreseeable future tourism development in Libya will always be in a transitional period. The why for the thesis is because tourism has the potential to generate sizeable revenues within the Middle East and Africa, but has always suffered from significant underinvestment and varying levels of development. Libya has tourism development potential, and the thesis outlines the large number of tourist areas and unique attractions. To understand the current position of Libya in touristic terms an exploratory, qualitative, cross-sectional research strategy was adopted based on interviews with Libya stakeholders, Muslims consumers and country case analysis. The theoretical framework draws on contemporary marketing and e-Marketing theory intersecting development theory and destination management theory to investigate the role of e-Marketing. The key findings indicate that e-marketing represents a diverse toolbox that can be brought to bear in a highly integrated and focused approach that in itself becomes a source of competitive advantage. A technology-enabled e-marketing driven tourism framework provides Libya with the capacity to de-market its tourism programme, combined with the ability to reposition geographically and respond to crises caused by civil unrest. e - ii - Marketing systems provide significant potential to establish highly resilient and available infrastructures and the creation of a virtual space for planning management and tourism marketing. Critically, this thesis suggests tourism development is not wholly constrained by fragmented and transitional context. E-Marketing can counter physical and geographical constraints to facilitate diverse forms of information, communication, knowledge transfer and collaboration that enable creative forms of financing and resourcing and product development. The interconnectedness of e-Marketing processes and systems and the links between diverse actors, and institutions reflects in essence an ecosystem that is significant in allowing countries in transition to develop in highly dynamic and responsive approach. There is thus the substantial potential for the model proposed to progressively mobilise collective action, market knowledge and engagement that is critical for transitional economies.Libyan Embass