Leveraging Smart Technology for User Experience Personalization – A Comparative Case Study of Innovative Payment Systems

Background: This study seeks to understand how the attributes of smart technology (SMT) can be leveraged to enable personalized services and optimize unique user experiences to attract and retain customers. Based on Kang et al.’s (2020) study of SMT attributes and quality effects and Liang et al.’s (2006) study on personalized recommendation and user satisfaction, we constructed a SMT personalization model to analyze how the SMT attributes of smart functionality and smart content enable personalization in different ways and create unique customer experiences throughout the user journey. Method: Two representative payment systems were selected to depict how they integrated the strengths of personalized smart functionalities and contents to innovate their business models, optimize user experiences, and sustain business growth. Results: Based on the comparative analysis of the two payment cases, the functionality and content attributes of smart chips and omni-channel platforms were explored, and the tailored advisory and responsive support for customers both offline and online were validated. Conclusion: The life-enriching service innovations provide valuable insights for leveraging SMT for personalization. It is hoped that the SMT personalization model can be extended to other types of SMT applications and can be used as a framework for designing innovative services

ORC Layout: Adaptive GUI Layout with OR-Constraints

We propose a novel approach for constraint-based graphical user interface (GUI) layout based on OR-constraints (ORC) in standard soft/hard linear constraint systems. ORC layout unifies grid layout and flow layout, supporting both their features as well as cases where grid and flow layouts individually fail. We describe ORC design patterns that enable designers to safely create flexible layouts that work across different screen sizes and orientations. We also present theORC Editor, a GUI editor that enables designers to apply ORC in a safe and effective manner, mixing grid, flow and new ORC layout features as appropriate. We demonstrate that our prototype can adapt layouts to screens with different aspect ratios with only a single layout specification, easing the burden of GUI maintenance. Finally, we show that ORC specifications can be modified interactively and solved efficiently at runtime

ORCSolver: An Efficient Solver for Adaptive GUI Layout with OR-Constraints

OR-constrained (ORC) graphical user interface layouts unify conventional constraint-based layouts with flow layouts, which enables the definition of flexible layouts that adapt to screens with different sizes, orientations, or aspect ratios with only a single layout specification. Unfortunately, solving ORC layouts with current solvers is time-consuming and the needed time increases exponentially with the number of widgets and constraints. To address this challenge, we propose ORCSolver, a novel solving technique for adaptive ORC layouts, based on a branch-and-bound approach with heuristic preprocessing. We demonstrate that ORCSolver simplifies ORC specifications at runtime and our approach can solve ORC layout specifications efficiently at near-interactive rates.Comment: Published at CHI202

Vanadium Oxide as a Key Constituent in Reconfigurable Metamaterials

Tunable materials are paving the way towards improved functionality of metamaterials. Vanadium oxide (VO2) with its prototypical near-room-temperature transition between phases featuring greatly contrasting electrical and optical behavior is an appealing candidate as an active component in metamaterials. However, it is seldom known that VO2 in itself has metamaterial characteristics. VO2 under certain temperature conditions demonstrates a phase coexistence enabling highly tunable electrical and optical properties. In this chapter, we describe how VO2 in its hysteretic region behaves as a smart responsive Metasurface with cutting edge applications

SEEC: A Framework for Self-aware Management of Multicore Resources

This paper presents SEEC, a self-aware programming model, designed to reduce programming effort in modern multicore systems. In the SEEC model, application programmers specify application goals and progress, while systems programmers separately specify actions system software and hardware can take to affect an application (e.g. resource allocation). The SEEC runtime monitors applications and dynamically selects actions to meet application goals optimally (e.g. meeting performance while minimizing power consumption). The SEEC runtime optimizes system behavior for the application rather than requiring the application programmer to optimize for the system. This paper presents a detailed discussion of the SEEC model and runtime as well as several case studies demonstrating their benefits. SEEC is shown to optimize performance per Watt for a video encoder, find optimal resource allocation for an application with complex resource usage, and maintain the goals of multiple applications in the face of environmental fluctuations

Automated Mapping of Adaptive App GUIs from Phones to TVs

With the increasing interconnection of smart devices, users often desire to adopt the same app on quite different devices for identical tasks, such as watching the same movies on both their smartphones and TV. However, the significant differences in screen size, aspect ratio, and interaction styles make it challenging to adapt Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) across these devices. Although there are millions of apps available on Google Play, only a few thousand are designed to support smart TV displays. Existing techniques to map a mobile app GUI to a TV either adopt a responsive design, which struggles to bridge the substantial gap between phone and TV or use mirror apps for improved video display, which requires hardware support and extra engineering efforts. Instead of developing another app for supporting TVs, we propose a semi-automated approach to generate corresponding adaptive TV GUIs, given the phone GUIs as the input. Based on our empirical study of GUI pairs for TV and phone in existing apps, we synthesize a list of rules for grouping and classifying phone GUIs, converting them to TV GUIs, and generating dynamic TV layouts and source code for the TV display. Our tool is not only beneficial to developers but also to GUI designers, who can further customize the generated GUIs for their TV app development. An evaluation and user study demonstrate the accuracy of our generated GUIs and the usefulness of our tool.Comment: 30 pages, 15 figure

Designing Normative Theories for Ethical and Legal Reasoning: LogiKEy Framework, Methodology, and Tool Support

A framework and methodology---termed LogiKEy---for the design and engineering of ethical reasoners, normative theories and deontic logics is presented. The overall motivation is the development of suitable means for the control and governance of intelligent autonomous systems. LogiKEy's unifying formal framework is based on semantical embeddings of deontic logics, logic combinations and ethico-legal domain theories in expressive classic higher-order logic (HOL). This meta-logical approach enables the provision of powerful tool support in LogiKEy: off-the-shelf theorem provers and model finders for HOL are assisting the LogiKEy designer of ethical intelligent agents to flexibly experiment with underlying logics and their combinations, with ethico-legal domain theories, and with concrete examples---all at the same time. Continuous improvements of these off-the-shelf provers, without further ado, leverage the reasoning performance in LogiKEy. Case studies, in which the LogiKEy framework and methodology has been applied and tested, give evidence that HOL's undecidability often does not hinder efficient experimentation.Comment: 50 pages; 10 figure

Google Glass App for Displaying ASL Videos for Deaf Children – The Preliminary Race

Glass Vision 3D is a grant-funded project focused on the goal of developing and researching the feasibility & usability of a Google Glass app that will allow young Deaf children to look at an object in the classroom and see an augmented reality projection that displays an American Sign Language (ASL) related video. Session will show the system (Glass app) that was developed and summarize feedback gathered during focus-group testing of the prototype

Inside the Transition Bubble: International Expert Assistance in Tunisia

Following the January 2011 revolt against President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali,Tunisia had its first exposure to the vast complex of international expert assistance for transitions. It was a new experience as well for international actors, many of whom had turned a blind eye or been denied full access to the country and were thus unfamiliar with its aspirations. More than two years into Tunisia's transition, results have been mixed: growing ambivalence and confusion about roles and responsibilities prevail. Yet internationals can take simple measures to implement their activities more effectively, and nationals can become more directive in the relationship. This would put the transition on a better track, and help inspire more effective international engagement to replace the haphazard dynamics that persist in transitioning countries within and beyond the Arab world.Internationals were immediately interested when Tunisia suddenly opened. They also had ample reason to respond in a way that reflected their own lessons learned -- from Central America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and Southern Africa in the 1990s, to West Africa, South East Asia, Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s. But providing well-structured, organised expertise has proven difficult -- and in ways all too familiar.IFIT studied Tunisia's experience with media, security sector and judicial reforms and youth employment. These are readily recognisable policy sectors that both nationals and internationals identified as priorities early in the country's transition. Developing a clear picture of dynamics within these sectors was nevertheless difficult, since international assistance efforts in each one overlapped with the broader fields of democracy, development, and rule of law. Yet the reported net effect was consistent: most Tunisians find the international influx confusing and, at times, overwhelming.This report contains information about general assistance given as well as specifically in the areas of media reform, security sector reform, judicial reform, and youth employment

Google Glass App for Displaying ASL Videos for Deaf Children – The Preliminary Race

Glass Vision 3D is a grant-funded project focused on the goal of developing and researching the feasibility & usability of a Google Glass app that will allow young Deaf children to look at an object in the classroom and see an augmented reality projection that displays an American Sign Language (ASL) related video. Session will show the system (Glass app) that was developed and summarize feedback gathered during focus-group testing of the prototype