A Privacy-Aware Protocol for Sociometric Questionnaires

In the paper we design a protocol for sociometric questionnaires, which serves the privacy of responders. We propose a representation of a sociogram by a weighted digraph and interpret individual and collective phenomena of sociometry in terms of graph theory. We discuss security requirements for a privacy-aware protocol for sociometric questionnaires. In the scheme we use additively homomorphic public key cryptosystem, which allows single multiplication. We present the threshold version of the public key system and define individual phases of the scheme. The proposed protocol ensures desired security requirements and can compute sociometric indices without revealing private information about choices of responders

FROM A RESEARCH PROTOTYPE TO A DEPLOYED SYSTEM: THE CASE OF THE HECHT MUSEUM VISITOR\u27S GUIDE

Cultural heritage, Deployment, Mobile guides, Research prototype

Peer relations of children with hemiplegia in mainstream primary schools

The study forms part of a longitudinal study of the psychopathological consequences of childhood hemiplegia. Impressions gained from an earlier study suggested that school life was problematic for many children with hemiplegia (index children) in mainstream primary schools. Previous measures were derived from the social world of the family; current measures relate to the social world of the school. Differences between index children and classroom controls were explored through sociometry, teacher interviews/questionnaires and parent questionnaires (index children only). Multivariate analyses included previous and current measures for index children and current measures for classroom controls. Index children were found to be less popular, with fewer reciprocal friendships—they were also more victimised. No differences were obtained in background characteristics of the two groups, although victimisation was related to lower intelligence. Current peer problems for both groups were predicted by teacher measures of psychopathology. Even when background factors were allowed for, index children had fewer friendships and were less popular than controls. Additional multivariate analyses of the index group found that difficulties in making friendships are likely to be greater if the child has a more severe neurological condition. Current measures, though correlated with previous predictors, added no further predictive power in terms of reciprocal friendships, popularity and victimisation but did predict current teacher and parent reported peer problems

Predicting Creativity in the Wild: Experience Sampling Method and Sociometric Modeling of Movement and Face-To-Face Interactions in Teams

abstract: With the rapid growth of mobile computing and sensor technology, it is now possible to access data from a variety of sources. A big challenge lies in linking sensor based data with social and cognitive variables in humans in real world context. This dissertation explores the relationship between creativity in teamwork, and team members' movement and face-to-face interaction strength in the wild. Using sociometric badges (wearable sensors), electronic Experience Sampling Methods (ESM), the KEYS team creativity assessment instrument, and qualitative methods, three research studies were conducted in academic and industry R&D; labs. Sociometric badges captured movement of team members and face-to-face interaction between team members. KEYS scale was implemented using ESM for self-rated creativity and expert-coded creativity assessment. Activities (movement and face-to-face interaction) and creativity of one five member and two seven member teams were tracked for twenty five days, eleven days, and fifteen days respectively. Day wise values of movement and face-to-face interaction for participants were mean split categorized as creative and non-creative using self- rated creativity measure and expert-coded creativity measure. Paired-samples t-tests [t(36) = 3.132, p < 0.005; t(23) = 6.49 , p < 0.001] confirmed that average daily movement energy during creative days (M = 1.31, SD = 0.04; M = 1.37, SD = 0.07) was significantly greater than the average daily movement of non-creative days (M = 1.29, SD = 0.03; M = 1.24, SD = 0.09). The eta squared statistic (0.21; 0.36) indicated a large effect size. A paired-samples t-test also confirmed that face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members during creative days (M = 2.69, SD = 4.01) is significantly greater [t(41) = 2.36, p < 0.01] than the average face-to-face interaction tie strength of team members for non-creative days (M = 0.9, SD = 2.1). The eta squared statistic (0.11) indicated a large effect size. The combined approach of principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) conducted on movement and face-to-face interaction data predicted creativity with 87.5% and 91% accuracy respectively. This work advances creativity research and provides a foundation for sensor based real-time creativity support tools for teams.Dissertation/ThesisPh.D. Computer Science 201

An approach to pervasive monitoring in dynamic learning contexts : data sensing, communication support and awareness provision

It is within the capabilities of current technology to support the emerging learning paradigms. These paradigms suggest that today’s learning activities and environments are pervas ive and require a higher level of dynamism than the traditional learning contexts. Therefore, we have to rethink our approach to learning and use technology not only as a digital information support, but also as an instrument to reinforce knowledge, foster collaboration, promote creativity and provide richer learning experiences. Particularly, this thesis was motivated by the rapidly growing number of smartphone users and the fact that these devices are increasingly becoming more and more resource-rich, in terms of their communication and sensing technologies, display capabilities battery autonomy, etc. Hence, this dissertation benefits from the ubiquity and development of mobile technology, aiming to bridge the gap between the challenges posed by modern learning requirements and the capabilities of current technology. The sensors embedded in smartphones can be used to capture diverse behavioural and social aspects of the users. For example, using microphone and Bluetooth is possible to identify conversation patterns, discover users in proximity and detect face-to-face meetings. This fact opens up exciting possibilities to monitor the behaviour of the user and to provide meaningful feedback. This feedback offers useful information that can help people be aware of and reflect on their behaviour and its effects, and take the necessary actions to improve them. Consequently, we propose a pervasive monitoring system that take advantage of the capabilities of modern smartphones, us ing them to s upport the awarenes s provis ion about as pects of the activities that take place in today’s pervas ive learning environments. This pervasive monitoring system provides (i) an autonomous sensing platform to capture complex information about processes and interactions that take place across multiple learning environments, (ii) an on-demand and s elf-m anaged communication infras tructure, and (ii) a dis play facility to provide “awarenes s inform ation” to the s tudents and/or lecturers. For the proposed system, we followed a research approach that have three main components. First, the description of a generalized framework for pervasive sensing that enables collaborative sensing interactions between smartphones and other types of devices. By allowing complex data capture interactions with diverse remote sensors, devices and data sources, this framework allows to improve the information quality while saving energy in the local device. Second, the evaluation, through a real-world deployment, of the suitability of ad hoc networks to support the diverse communication processes required for pervasive monitoring. This component also includes a method to improve the scalability and reduce the costs of these networks. Third, the design of two awareness mechanisms to allow flexible provision of information in dynamic and heterogeneous learning contexts. These mechanisms rely on the use of smartphones as adaptable devices that can be used directly as awareness displays or as communication bridges to enable interaction with other remote displays available in the environment. Diverse aspects of the proposed system were evaluated through a number of simulations, real-world experiments, user studies and prototype evaluations. The experimental evaluation of the data capture and communication aspects of the system provided empirical evidence of the usefulness and suitability of the proposed approach to support the development of pervasive monitoring solutions. In addition, the proof-of-concept deployments of the proposed awareness mechanisms, performed in both laboratory and real-world learning environments, provided quantitative and qualitative indicators that such mechanisms improve the quality of the awareness information and the user experienceLa tecnología moderna tiene capacidad de dar apoyo a los paradigmas de aprendizaje emergentes. Estos paradigmas sugieren que las actividades de aprendizaje actuales, caracterizadas por la ubicuidad de entornos, son más dinámicas y complejas que los contextos de aprendizaje tradicionales. Por tanto, tenemos que reformular nuestro acercamiento al aprendizaje, consiguiendo que la tecnología sirva no solo como mero soporte de información, sino como medio para reforzar el conocimiento, fomentar la colaboración, estimular la creatividad y proporcionar experiencias de aprendizaje enriquecedoras. Esta tesis doctoral está motivada por el vertiginoso crecimiento de usuarios de smartphones y el hecho de que estos son cada vez más potentes en cuanto a tecnologías de comunicación, sensores, displays, autonomía energética, etc. Por tanto, esta tesis aprovecha la ubicuidad y el desarrollo de esta tecnología, con el objetivo de reducir la brecha entre los desafíos del aprendizaje moderno y las capacidades de la tecnología actual. Los sensores integrados en los smartphones pueden ser utilizados para reconocer diversos aspectos del comportamiento individual y social de los usuarios. Por ejemplo, a través del micrófono y el Bluetooth, es posible determinar patrones de conversación, encontrar usuarios cercanos y detectar reuniones presenciales. Este hecho abre un interesante abanico de posibilidades, pudiendo monitorizar aspectos del comportamiento del usuario y proveer un feedback significativo. Dicho feedback, puede ayudar a los usuarios a reflexionar sobre su comportamiento y los efectos que provoca, con el fin de tomar medidas necesarias para mejorarlo. Proponemos un sistema de monitorización generalizado que aproveche las capacidades de los smartphones para proporcionar información a los usuarios, ayudándolos a percibir y tomar conciencia sobre diversos aspectos de las actividades que se desarrollan en contextos de aprendizaje modernos. Este sistema ofrece: (i) una plataforma de detección autónoma, que captura información compleja sobre los procesos e interacciones de aprendizaje; (ii) una infraestructura de comunicación autogestionable y; (iii) un servicio de visualización que provee “información de percepción” a estudiantes y/o profesores. Para la elaboración de este sistema nos hemos centrado en tres áreas de investigación. Primero, la descripción de una infraestructura de detección generalizada, que facilita interacciones entre smartphones y otros dispositivos. Al permitir interacciones complejas para la captura de datos entre diversos sensores, dispositivos y fuentes de datos remotos, esta infraestructura consigue mejorar la calidad de la información y ahorrar energía en el dispositivo local. Segundo, la evaluación, a través de pruebas reales, de la idoneidad de las redes ad hoc como apoyo de los diversos procesos de comunicación requeridos en la monitorización generalizada. Este área incluye un método que incrementa la escalabilidad y reduce el coste de estas redes. Tercero, el diseño de dos mecanismos de percepción que permiten la provisión flexible de información en contextos de aprendizaje dinámicos y heterogéneos. Estos mecanismos descansan en la versatilidad de los smartphones, que pueden ser utilizados directamente como displays de percepción o como puentes de comunicación que habilitan la interacción con otros displays remotos del entorno. Diferentes aspectos del sistema propuesto han sido evaluados a través de simulaciones, experimentos reales, estudios de usuarios y evaluaciones de prototipos. La evaluación experimental proporcionó evidencia empírica de la idoneidad del sistema para apoyar el desarrollo de soluciones de monitorización generalizadas. Además, las pruebas de concepto realizadas tanto en entornos de aprendizajes reales como en el laboratorio, aportaron indicadores cuantitativos y cualitativos de que estos mecanismos mejoran la calidad de la información de percepción y la experiencia del usuario.Postprint (published version

Configurable dynamic privacy for pervasive sensor networks

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 76-79).Ubiquitous computing sensor networks have greatly augmented the functionality of interactive media systems by adding the ability to capture and store activity-related information. Analyzing the information recorded from pervasive sensor networks can provide insight about human behavior for better personalized system services, as well as richer media content and social communication. With these increased capabilities, serious concerns which create great obstacles to the deployment of such network are raised with regard to privacy and boundaries. However, there exist no real data currently about privacy in pervasive media networks and most studies that have been made so far are speculative. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a configurable infrastructure that can protect users' dynamic levels of privacy in a pervasive sensor network. Through an active badge system, users have different options to disable each type of data transmission. This work evaluates approaches for privacy protection through conducting an extensive user study in an actual ubiquitous invasive sensing environment to obtain feedback via sensor system data and questionnaires and correlates that information for future reference in the design of privacy-protected ubiquitous sensor networks. Results from the user study indicated that an active badge for on-site control, especially periodically broadcast RF beacon for privacy control, is the most effective and acceptable method.(cont.) However, it also suggested that if every occupant in the building used this approach to constantly block all data transmission, significant system blinding (on the order of 30 % or more) would be incurred. These results allow a better understanding of what value is assessed to privacy versus capabilities/awareness beyond the current assumptions.by Nan-Wei Gong.S.M

Review of Wearable Devices and Data Collection Considerations for Connected Health

Wearable sensor technology has gradually extended its usability into a wide range of well-known applications. Wearable sensors can typically assess and quantify the wearer’s physiology and are commonly employed for human activity detection and quantified self-assessment. Wearable sensors are increasingly utilised to monitor patient health, rapidly assist with disease diagnosis, and help predict and often improve patient outcomes. Clinicians use various self-report questionnaires and well-known tests to report patient symptoms and assess their functional ability. These assessments are time consuming and costly and depend on subjective patient recall. Moreover, measurements may not accurately demonstrate the patient’s functional ability whilst at home. Wearable sensors can be used to detect and quantify specific movements in different applications. The volume of data collected by wearable sensors during long-term assessment of ambulatory movement can become immense in tuple size. This paper discusses current techniques used to track and record various human body movements, as well as techniques used to measure activity and sleep from long-term data collected by wearable technology devices

Aggression and the Failure of Friendship to Buffer Against Loneliness

Do children’s attributions of their friends’ aggressive behaviors matter? In short, yes, children’s attributions of their mutual friends’ aggressive behaviors do matter in terms of children’s reports of loneliness. The goal of the present research was to examine how children’s perceptions of their mutual friends’ aggressive behaviors related to loneliness after controlling for peer group factors (i.e. peer liking, peer popularity, number of mutual friends, and the child’s own level of aggression) known to contribute to loneliness. Self-report measures of loneliness, friendship nominations, and classroom nominations for liking, popularity, and aggression were collected from 185 third through sixth grade children. Preliminary analyses revealed that children do in fact attribute aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends. Both boys (n = 89) and girls (n = 96) were equally likely to ascribe relationally aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends. However, differential patterns emerged with respect to overt aggression. Boys were more likely than girls to ascribe overtly aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends. Moreover, boys were more likely to attribute overtly aggressive behaviors to their mutual friends than relationally aggressive behaviors.Attributions of relationally aggressive behavior were related to an increase in loneliness, even after controlling for other peer factors related to loneliness. However, attributions of overtly aggressive behavior were unrelated to children’s reports of loneliness. Moreover, gender did not moderate the relation between attributions of overt or relational aggression and loneliness. In sum, attributions of friends’ aggression are related to children’s reports of loneliness but differentially with respect to type of aggression

Discovering social networks from event logs

Process mining techniques allow for the discovery of knowledge based on so-called “event logs”, i.e., a log recording the execution of activities in some business process. Many information systems provide such logs, e.g., most WFM, ERP, CRM, SCM, and B2B systems record transactions in a systematic way. Process mining techniques typically focus on performance and control-flow issues. However, event logs typically also log the performer, e.g., the person initiating or completing some activity. This paper focuses on mining social networks using this information. For example, it is possible to build a social network based on the hand-over of work from one performer to the next. By combining concepts from workflow management and social network analysis, it is possible to discover and analyze social networks. This paper defines metrics, presents a tool, and applies these to a real event log from a Dutch organization

Beliefs and Practices of Parents and Teachers in Support of Friendships between Preschool Children with and without Disabilities

This qualitative study investigated the practices and beliefs of parents and teachers with regard to the support of reciprocal friendship dyads including one child with special needs (SN) and one typically developing (TD) child. The study addressed the following research questions through interviews completed by parents and teachers of preschool age children: (a) How do parents and teachers describe the nature and importance of the friendship between the SN child and the TD child? (b) What strategies do parents and teachers use to facilitate the SN-TD friendship, and what factors affect their use of these strategies? (c) What are the similarities and differences between parents' and teachers' beliefs and practices regarding the support of SN-TD friendships? and (d) What types of communication - if any - occur between parents and teachers about these friendships? Parents and teachers reported holding similar beliefs about the nature and importance of friendships, describing most of these preschool friendships as harmonious: characterized by children showing affection, playing well together, wanting to be together, talking about each other, having commonalities (e.g., similar interests), and being compatible (e.g., met each others' needs). The majority of parents and teachers believed specific friendships between two children were important because of the emotional benefits they provided children. Parents and teachers reported using a variety of strategies to help these preschool children become and stay friends, including general strategies that set up the social environment such as encouraging children's social skills in general, strategies that provided opportunities for the two friends to play together such as assigning friends to the same center or arranging playdates, and strategies that helped the friends interact and play with each other such as helping the friends resolve conflicts. Most parents and teachers communicated with each other through informal conversation (and preferred to communicate informally) on a variety of topics relating to specific friendships and most reported being satisfied with this parent-teacher communication. Implications for practice include increasing parent and teacher awareness of the importance of friendship and strategies for promoting friendship